United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Friday that the union’s ongoing strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers is securing vital concessions, mooting the need to expand the work stoppage at least for now.
“We are winning, we are making progress and we are headed in the right direction,” he said in a broadcast on Facebook.
As evidence of that momentum, Fain said General Motors has agreed to fold employees at its electric vehicle battery plant in Arlington, Texas, into the UAW contract. “Today we made GM say yes when they’d rather say no,” he said.
Yet while Fain said negotiations are “headed in the right direction,” he also emphasized that Ford, GM and Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, along with several foreign car brands) still need to meet union demands on issues including retirement benefits.
“Our strike is working but we’re not there yet,” he said. “Everything we’ve done has been [with] one goal in mind: record contract that reflects Big Three record profits.”
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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