(Washington) The strike movement that began Friday at the three main American automobile manufacturers could experience an “amplification” if better proposals are not made, the head of the sector’s workers’ union warned on Sunday.
“If we don’t get better deals […]we are going to carry out an amplification” of the strike, declared the boss of the UAW, Shawn Fain, during an interview with the CBS channel.
“We’ve been left behind for decades,” he added, explaining that the workers they represent “are fed up.”
Discussions between the union and the “Big 3” (General Motors, Ford, Stellantis) resumed on Saturday with the aim of putting an end to the strike movement.
“We had reasonably productive discussions with Ford today,” the UAW told AFP on Saturday.
Three sites have been shut down since Friday, a General Motors factory in Wentzville (Missouri), another of Stellantis in Toledo (Ohio), as well as a Ford branch in Wayne (Michigan).
“Stellantis and the UAW have entered a critical stage of negotiations,” the group born from the merger, in 2021, between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and the French Peugeot said on Saturday.
Stellantis has raised its offer and is now proposing an increase of “nearly 21%” over the duration of the new collective agreement, i.e. four years, compared to 14.5% just a week ago.
But for Shawn Fain, a 21% offer is largely insufficient while the UAW is demanding a 40% increase.
“We don’t even want to hear about it,” he said Sunday on CBS.
GM and Ford are offering to raise wages by a total of 20%.