UAW holds off on strike expansion after 'major breakthrough' with GM on battery plant wages

UAW President Shawn Fain on Oct. 6 cited a "major breakthrough" with General Motors over compensation for workers at electric-vehicle battery plants in choosing not to order more workers onto picket lines for the first time since the work stoppage began three weeks ago.

Fain, in his weekly Friday broadcast on Facebook, said GM had agreed to put the battery plants under its master agreement, which would "change the future of our union and the future of our industry." Workers at GM's Ultium Cells plant in Ohio — the first of four U.S. battery-making locations it's planning — currently receive lower pay than assembly workers.

It was not clear how GM would put battery plants under the master agreement. Most battery plants are being operated by joint ventures with other companies and cannot legally be part of Detroit 3 negotiations. The UAW and GM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fain said the achievement justifies the union's strategy to strike the Detroit 3. The UAW had planned to strike GM's hugely profitable full-size plant in Arlington, Texas, had the company not made the last-minute concession, he said.

"We're doing things differently and we're getting results," Fain said. "What has moved the needle is our willingness to take action, to be flexible, to be aggressive when we need to, and to be strategic."

Fain said GM's move made its offer "leapfrog the pack," but also noted progress at Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis. For example, he said Ford was offering raises totaling 23 percent over four years, topping the 20 percent GM and Stellantis are offering.

Two weeks ago, Fain expanded the strike to 38 parts depots owned by GM and Stellantis. Last week, he added a Ford assembly plant in Chicago and a GM plant near Lansing, Mich.

About 25,000 UAW members across the Detroit 3 are on strike. The automakers have laid off roughly 4,000 additional workers because of production disruptions.

Strikers are eligible for $500 a week from the UAW's strike fund after eight days off work, while the union has said it would also pay laid off workers the equivalent of strike pay.