UAW strike: More 'stand up' strikes could be coming, as Trump and Biden enter the fray

The United Auto Workers (UAW) says it is ready to escalate its standup strike strategy if talks with automakers don’t progress — and now with presidential politics added to the mix.

Late Monday, in a video posted by the UAW, union president Shawn Fain said if Ford, GM, or Stellantis have not made “substantial progress” toward a new labor agreement by the end of the week, the UAW would expand its “stand up” strike to more locations.

“If we don’t make serious progress by noon on Friday, Sept. 22, more locals will be called on to stand up and join the strike,” Fain said. “That will mark more than a week since our first members walked out. And that will mark more than a week of the Big Three failing to make progress in negotiations toward reaching a deal that does right by our members.”

The UAW did not indicate which factories or facilities would be affected, or if workers would return to current strike-hit factories, which include GM’s Wentzville Assembly, Stellantis’ Toledo Assembly, and Ford’s Michigan Assembly, or if they will continue to stay on the picket line.

The automakers say they have been at the bargaining table ready to negotiate, with Stellantis the latest to confirm Monday that it is indeed in talks with the UAW following its latest contract proposal submitted over the weekend.

Stellantis said it improved its offer to the UAW, offering an immediate 10% pay increase, with wages increasing by 21% over the course of the contract. Though tiers would remain, Stellantis said it would bring down the number of years for union members to earn the highest wage, to four years from eight. Stellantis said it also offered an “inflation protection measure” to offset the costs of inflation, though details were not given.

GM hasn’t issued a public statement on its current negotiations since Sept. 14, the day before the stand up strikes began. Ford has not provided an update either, though it said on Tuesday that it has agreed to continue negotiations with autoworkers in Canada beyond the Sept. 18, 11:59 p.m. ET expiration of its current agreement with those workers.

Spillover effects … and presidential politics

With the strike entering its fifth day, spillover effects are being felt by other parts of the auto industry. Parts makers and other suppliers are starting to feel the pain.

Component maker CIE Newcor in Michigan said it may have to lay off nearly 300 people; German auto giant ZF said it has already started layoffs at certain locations in Michigan; and US Steel said it was idling one of its furnaces at a steel plant in Illinois as part of a "risk mitigation” plan.

Political pressure is heating up for President Joe Biden, with Democrats in states like Michigan saying the president should do more to shore up his base in the swing state, particularly as Republican opponent former President Donald Trump plans to hold a rally with autoworkers this week.

"President Biden can take over the narrative and show that the administration, and Democrats as a whole, are supporting their biggest base, which are unions and the working class," Michigan State Representative Donavan McKinney said to the Washington Post. "It would speak volumes … What can we do to get Biden here?"

McKinney added the prospect of Trump coming to Michigan to rally before Biden would be “terrible.”

Biden said last week that “record corporate profits mean record contracts for the UAW,” the question now being how far the president will go to show he supports that message, though joining the picket line may be a move too far.

For his part, Trump said he supports the union workers, just not union leadership.

“The auto workers are being sold down the river by their leadership, and their leadership should endorse Trump,” Trump said to NBC News' Kristen Welker in an interview. Trump added that with the industry's push toward electric vehicles and China's dominance with EV manufacturing, the UAW would not “have any jobs." Trump has attacked Biden’s EV push, claiming it impedes Americans' choices, among other issues.

Though the UAW has its own issues with Biden’s EV push, and subsequent loans for automakers to build new EV and battery factories, UAW's Fain won’t go so far as to endorse Trump.

“Every fiber of our union is being poured into fighting the billionaire class and an economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers,” Fain said in a statement issued early Tuesday morning. “We can’t keep electing billionaires and millionaires that don’t have any understanding what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to get by and expecting them to solve the problems of the working class.”

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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