UAW's Fain blasts Stellantis for firing hundreds of temps, vows to visit VW this weekend
Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press
Updated 5 min read
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain called Stellantis' recent move to fire some 539 temporary employees "heinous" and "shameful," vowing to fight back to protect those workers at the Detroit Three.
Fain made the comments Tuesday evening during a Facebook Live speech where he also told some 1,100 viewers that the union will be sending Vice President Chuck Browning, who headed labor negotiations with Ford Motor Co., to Volkswagen's factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this weekend for some "mass meetings" to promote unionizing the facility.
Fain said it now has 2,000 signatures from workers at that Volkswagen plant seeking to join the union. As of December, the Chattanooga plant had about 5,500 employees, according to Volkswagen's website.
UAW President Shawn Fain speaks during a Facebook livestream on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024.
“We’re in this fight not to win it for them," Fain said of the UAW's recent push to organize nonunion automakers in the South. "We’re in this fight because we rise and fall together in solidarity in the truest sense of the word. That’s what this is about. The fate of the U.S. autoworker in the South is the fate of the autoworker in Michigan."
The problem with a 'UAW bump'
On the heels of its historic contract win with Detroit's three automakers last fall, the union has started a drive to try to unionize some 13 U.S. plants run by Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo. Electric vehicle makers Tesla, Rivian and Lucid also are targets.
The UAW's contracts with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — which makes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Fiat brands — include 25% pay raises by the end of the contract in April 2028. With cost-of-living increases, workers will see about 33% boosts in wages for a top assembly wage of $42 per hour, plus annual profit sharing.
Shortly after ratifying the contracts with the Detroit carmakers, Nissan, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and Volkswagen all offered raises of 9% to 14% to their U.S. workforces. Experts dub those raises a "UAW bump."
UAW President Shawn Fain speaks to the media in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. Fain visited the Volkswagen plant with workers, community and faith leaders, and CALEB (Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality, and Benevolence). The group delivered a letter to Volkswagen management, "demanding the company end its union-busting and intimidation."
Last week, the UAW said Tesla's factory workers have been told to expect pay raises this year, a move that comes as the union tries to organize Tesla's factories in Texas, California and Nevada. CEO Elon Musk is anti-union and, as the Free Press reported, he has said if Tesla workers did unionize, he would see it as "we failed in some way."
There's just one problem with that UAW bump, Fain said Tuesday. Without a union contract in place, the companies can make changes unchecked in the future.
“When they give a raise in the UAW contract, they can’t just come in and take it away," Fain said.
A trip to Tennessee
The UAW has said that more than 30% of workers at a Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have signed cards authorizing a vote on union representation. In recent weeks at Volkswagen's Tennessee factory, more than 1,000 workers signed similar cards authorizing a vote, boosting the total there to about 2,000 workers, the union has said.
As a result, he said, "This weekend, we’ll be hosting some mass meetings down at Chattanooga with Vice President Chuck Browning and folks from our two big Ford plants in Louisville, Kentucky. They’ll lay out simply what Volkswagen doesn’t want workers to know."
As the Free Press has reported, the union's strategy is to call for an election at factories when about 70% of the workers sign up. A union can seek an election run by the National Labor Relations Board once a majority of workers support it.
For most of these companies, Fain said, the only nonunion plants they operate in the world are in the United States. "From Germany to South Africa to Brazil, Volkswagen workers have a union, but in Tennessee they’re told, 'We can’t afford that here.' They’re told instead of a union contract, how about a Volkswagen hat and a cookie.”
Earlier this month, a group of 33 senators sent a letter to Tesla's Musk and other auto executives urging them not to interfere in the UAW's efforts to organize their workforces.
Volkswagen spokesman Michael Lowder sent this statement to the Detroit Free Press in reaction to Fain's latest remarks: "Volkswagen is proud of the world-class manufacturing facility we have created in Chattanooga and the 5,500 employees who make it run. We are committed to investing in America, in our community and, most importantly, in our employees — who have a strong voice in their workplace. We are also committed to providing clear, transparent, and timely information that helps inform our employees and managers on their legal rights and obligations, which is especially important in an atmosphere of deliberate misinformation."
Stellantis vs. UAW continues
This week Stellantis notified 539 supplemental employees, previously known as temporary workers, that they would no longer be needed across many of the company's manufacturing facilities.
In a statement, the company said the action "will help improve the efficiency, productivity and market competitiveness of our facilities as we implement our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan."
During the Facebook Live, Fain called the move "heinous activity" and "shameful activity."
After contract negotiations stalled with all three Detroit automakers, Shenby G., a Starbucks employee, and other UAW members picket outside the Toledo Assembly Complex plant after midnight on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023.
“We’re going to fight like hell to get people back to work and Vice President (Rich) Boyer and the labor department are working to make that happen," Fain said, noting the company chose to take that action, the union did not endorse it.
Fain said during the targeted Stand Up Strike last fall, the union got Stellantis to convert nearly 3,000 temporary workers to permanent jobs.
“These companies have played divide and conquer for years and now they’re doing it again … bringing the pain to the lowest paid workers and blaming the union," Fain said.
Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson declined to comment on Fain's comments.
