United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain talks with members at a Labor Day parade in Detroit, on Sept. 4, 2023. Fain plans to understake strategic strikes at Big 3 automaker plants if talks fail on a new contract.
Paul Sancya/AP
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain has a big plan in case the Big Three automakers fail to agree on a new contract by the looming deadline: He calls it the “stand up strike.”
Under the plan disclosed by Fain on Facebook Live on Wednesday, UAW union members would be instructed to strike suddenly at strategic, targeted auto plants — and additional locations would follow at a moment’s notice, unless the automakers agree to new contracts before the current ones expire just before midnight on Thursday.
A gradual escalation of the strikes across the three companies, Fain said, would keep Stellantis, Ford and GM on their toes about how their operations would be disrupted, giving the union more leverage.
Only workers at a specific set of plants – to be announced Thursday evening – would walk off the job initially, while all others would keep working under expired contracts.
“It’s going to keep (the companies) guessing on what might happen next, and it’s going to turbocharge the power of our negotiators to be as effective as possible,” Fain said.
The strategy hearkens back to sit down strikes of the 1930s, when GM workers physically occupied plants in protest of economic inequality.
“We’re living in a time of stunning inequality throughout our society,” Fain said. “We’re living in a time where our industry is undergoing massive transformations, and we’re living in a time where our labor…
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