The president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) indicated Friday that his union will expand its strike against major American automakers by walking out at 38 General Motors and Stellantis factories in 20 states.
Ford is spared from these new strikes, the manufacturer having responded to certain demands of the union during negotiations last week, explained the president of the UAW, Shawn Fain.
The UAW highlights huge recent corporate profits and calls for wage increases of 36% over four years. The companies offered a little more than half that amount.
The union has other demands, including a 32-hour work week for 40 hours of pay and the restoration of traditional pension plans for new workers.
Employers say they cannot afford to respond to union demands because they must invest their profits in a costly transition from gasoline cars to electric vehicles.
The UAW’s contract with automakers expired at midnight on September 14, and workers walked out at a Ford assembly plant near Detroit, a GM plant in Wentzville, Mo., and a Jeep plant run by Stellantis in Toledo, Ohio.
This initial strike involved approximately 13,000 of the union’s 146,000 members.
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