UAW president Shawn Fain appeared on the Sunday talk show circuit, criticizing the automakers and warning negotiations were dragging.
“Progress is slow,” Fain said on MSNBC’s “The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart,” adding, “I don’t really want to say we’re closer.” Fain also declined to elaborate on plans for the possibility of a second wave of plant strikes.
Around 12,700 UAW workers have walked off and remain on strike as part of a coordinated plan that affected three separate plants. The UAW is asking for wage hikes of nearly 40%, COLA (cost of living adjustments) built into a future contract, end of wage “tiers,” and a defined benefit pension plan, among other things.
The ripple effects of the current stand up strikes — at GM's Wentzville, Mo., plant (which assembles midsize trucks and full-size vans), Stellantis' Toledo Assembly (Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator), and Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne (Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV) — are starting to be felt on both sides.
Following the walk-offs at strike locations, Ford said it was laying off 600 workers in a different part of the Michigan Assembly plant, due to the striking workers in the paint and assembly division of that plant.
“This layoff is a consequence of the strike at Michigan Assembly Plant’s final assembly and paint departments, because the components built by these 600 employees use materials that must be e-coated for protection. E-coating is completed in the paint department, which is on strike," Ford said in a statement.
In addition, GM said the strike at the Wentzville Assembly plant in Missouri was affecting production at its Fairfax, Kansas factory, meaning 2,000 workers at the Fairfax location could be laid off by the end of the week. GM’s Fairfax plant assembles the Cadillac XT4 crossover, and the Chevrolet Malibu sedan.
"[The layoffs are] due to a shortage of critical stampings supplied by Wentzville's stamping operations to Fairfax," GM said in a statement. "We are working under an expired agreement at Fairfax. Unfortunately, there are no provisions that allow for company-provided SUB-pay in this circumstance."
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