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Stellantis' last-minute bargaining move with the UAW saved Michigan jobs — for now
Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
8 min read
The United Auto Workers' latest escalation in its strike against General Motors and Ford Motor Co. has auto parts suppliers in Michigan relieved, for now.
For one thing, UAW President Shawn Fain stopped short of cutting the automakers off at the knees. It chose to strike midsize SUV plants at the two companies rather than target the plants where GM and Ford make their most profitable and highest-volume selling vehicles: pickups and large SUVs. So the damage remains relatively contained.
And, in a last-minute maneuver by Stellantis, the automaker saved itself from further strike action when it offered to reinstate a cost of living adjustment and meet some other union demands minutes before Fain's Friday 10 a.m. deadline. It is a move that industry observers say likely saved thousands of ancillary parts supplier jobs in the state.
UAW president Shawn Fain talks with the news media after his speech from the bed of a Ford F-150 to striking workers many of whom caravanned in Ford Broncos and Jeeps to hear him at the UAW Solidarity House on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.
"It would have been an interesting fallout in Michigan had he taken the Stellantis JNAP (Jefferson North Assembly Plant) in Detroit down, with the two other SUV plants going out,” said Laure Harbour, CEO of Harbour Results Inc.
'Good thing Stellantis came to the table'
Instead, Fain ordered some total 7,000 UAW members who work at Ford's Chicago Assembly — where Ford makes the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator SUVs — and workers at GM's Lansing Delta Township assembly — where GM makes the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse SUVs — to walk off the job at noon Friday. The strike action did not include GM Lansing Regional Stamping plant or Ford's Chicago Stamping Plant.
Members of the United Auto Workers union walk out of the Chicago Ford Assembly Plant as Lance Williams from Lansing, Ill., waves the UAW flag on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023,
Stellantis builds its Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango SUVs at JNAP. In the second quarter, sales of the Grand Cherokee rose 19% compared with the year-ago period.
“I thought, ‘Good thing Stellantis came to the table’ because that’s their moneymaker," Harbour said. "If he had hit JNAP, it would have hurt Sterling Stamping Plant and a host of other plants.”
Pat Green sighed in relief at the news Stellantis would be skipped over, too. Green is CEO of Cascade Die Casting Group, which makes aluminum and zinc die casting for the automotive and appliance industries.
"We have content on the Jeep Grand Cherokee and content on the Ram pickup," Green said. "So far, the full-size pickups have been spared. Every time I hear one of these announcements, that’s my concern that we’ll hit the full-size pickup each week."
It means each week, Green has had to quickly assess the impact of the latest strike target on his business, react to it and communicate with his 450 employees across two plants in Grand Rapids.
Striking workers, many of whom caravanned in Ford Broncos and Jeeps, listen to UAW President Shawn Fain talk with them at the UAW Solidarity House on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023.
"So far, we’re better than most, but it’s a real challenge," Green said. "We're managing by reducing overtime so everybody is still working. If this continues, we will have to have some volunteers take time off."
But, he said, come Oct. 1, as another hunting season starts in Michigan, he figures he’ll get volunteers.
'Deadline behavior'
The Stellantis last-minute intervention was also significant because it falls in with the logic of collective bargaining, said Harley Shaiken, professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley.
“All of a sudden the people at Stellantis said, ‘Wait a minute, what’s it going to cost to have more plants out several weeks versus sweetening the pot now?’ They did the math and that problem was solved. This indicates, not that we’re on the verge of a settlement, but that one is possible."
Stellantis, maker of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat brands, said it "has been intensely working with the UAW to find solutions to the issues that are of most concern to our employees while ensuring the company can remain competitive given the market’s fierce competition. We have made progress in our discussions, but gaps remain. We are committed to continue working through these issues in an expeditious manner to reach a fair and responsible agreement that gets everyone back to work as soon as possible."
Standing in the bed of a Ford F-150, UAW president Shawn Fain speaks to the crowd of strikers at the parking lot of the UAW Solidarity House on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, during a rally.
The UAW's latest move means that there are now a total of about 25,000 UAW members on strike across the nation. Fain first declared a strike as contract talks failed before the current contract expired at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14. Fain announced the first wave of plants to strike: Ford Michigan Assembly Plant (Final Assembly and Paint only) in Wayne, Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio and GM's Wentzville Assembly in Missouri.
Then, last week on Sept. 22, Fain ordered union members who work at 38 parts distribution centers cross the nation belonging to GM and Stellantis to go on strike. Those facilities provide parts to dealerships to do repairs on customers' cars. Ford was spared that time because it had made "significant" bargaining progress by agreeing to reinstate cost of living adjustments (COLA), eliminate some wage tiers, give the union a right to strike over any plant closures and more.
Fain was about a half hour late in what was to be a Facebook Live presentation to members Friday. The delay turned out to be due to Stellantis making its last-minute offer.
Art Wheaton, director of Labor Studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
"It’s called deadline behavior," said Art Wheaton, director of Labor Studies at Cornell University. "A lot of times in bargaining the best contracts don’t come until the deadline's about to expire. In this case, it shows they were still bargaining right up to the last minute. It was not preordained. They were still working on it."
Wheaton said he was relieved to see Stellantis make movement because he was concerned that it was the automaker making the least progress in the negotiations with the UAW. He said given that Ford made progress the week before and was exempted from strike action on Sept. 22 and now with Stellantis doing the same this Friday, he sees a pattern that shows Fain's strategy of setting these deadlines as moving the needle.
"My crystal ball says that you will hear more on Friday next week and I think both Ford and General Motors will say, 'We’re all getting close in our three offers, maybe we should give a better offer?’ " Wheaton said. "I don’t think you’ll hear more before Friday.”
Fain listed the issues in which Stellantis has made "significant progress" as reinstating the 2009 COLA formula, allowing the right not to cross a picket line, the right to strike over product commitments and plant closures and agreeing to some outsourcing moratoriums.
Fain has 'considerable room to ramp up'
"Deadlines produce action," said Marick Masters, a labor expert and business professor at Wayne State University. "It’s noteworthy that he backed off including Stellantis in this strike wave and he’s encouraged the automakers to compete against each other.”
There is also room to ratchet things up. At Ford, the facilities the union is striking have accounted for 18% of the automaker's total North American production in the past eight months, Masters said. For GM, the facilities the union has taken down, including the Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas, which GM had to idle due to the strike at Wentzville, Missouri, has made up 23% of GM’s production in the past eight months.
Aerial view of a car distribution center in Jessup, Maryland which, due to the United Auto Workers strike, has seen delayed to no shipments of new cars to various dealerships on the East Coast on Sept. 28, 2023.
“That’s another way of saying the UAW has considerable room to ramp up the strike activity in incremental phases if they want to nudge the parties further along toward an agreement," Masters said.
Shaiken added that it was a surprise that the union did not get a tentative agreement with Ford this past week given the UAW spared Ford's parts distribution centers from strike action last week. But the Stellantis progress indicates that negotiations are continuing and taking out the two SUV plants, is not "a huge infliction of pain. It was a costly move to the companies, but it was meant to speed the negotiations and not go back to square one.”
Another month and the fallout is fierce
But Masters warned if the strike lasts another month and broadens, the fallout will be fierce.
"You will see suppliers will be increasingly affected and more layoffs," Masters said. He said he has counted about 6,000 layoffs at suppliers, including those at GM's Fairfax, along with some associated with Ford's Wayne Assembly.
GM Lansing Delta Township UAW members, including Ryan Kosloski, right, picket, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, near Millett Highway and Creyts Road. Koloski's shirt shows the four in his family who also work at GM.
“I think that will progress, as dealers are unable to service cars, they may be forced to lay off people due to lost revenues," Masters said, referring to the parts distribution facilities currently shut down. "You’ll see an increasing ripple effect.”
Also, the longer the UAW goes without an agreement with an automaker, the pressure will grow in the rank and file, Masters said. He noted some already feel guilt that they have income while their union colleagues on the picket line are living on $500-a-week strike pay.
"That frustration will grow over time," Masters said. "Workers will start pressuring Shawn Fain."
UAW Local 602 members picket Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, near Millett Highway and Creyts Road in Delta Township.
It has already happened to some extent as one UAW member at Lansing Delta Township Assembly told the Free Press that the week-to-week unknown of which facility will strike next is a real nail-biter among workers. The person is not being named to protect their job security.
"It’s great that (Fain's) using social media, but people are still saying he didn’t give a timeline or when the next update will be," this union member said. "So it is just a whole different strategy. It makes people uneasy."
