(Reuters) – The United Auto Workers (UAW) said on Friday General Motors will allow workers at joint-venture battery plants to be covered by a labor agreement, removing one of the major sticking points in negotiations.
However, an agreement with the ‘Detroit Three’ automakers remains elusive, UAW President Shawn Fain said on Friday, though he held off on expanding ongoing, coordinated strikes, citing progress in talks.
As the union’s strike enters its 22nd day, here is a timeline of events beginning with the election of Fain in March:
Date Development
March 25 Shawn Fain wins the race for UAW
president; vows to take a tough stance
against the Big Three automakers.
July 10 The union says it will open contract talks
with Detroit’s Big Three automakers starting
July 13.
July 11 Fain says the union is not afraid to hold a
strike at any of the automakers without a
fair contract.
July 19 Fain meets President Joe Biden at the White
House as the union briefed the staff on
contract talks with the automakers.
Aug. 1 The UAW presents demands to Stellantis, says
the union is seeking ambitious benefit
increases from the Detroit Three, including
double-digit pay rises and defined-benefit
pensions for all workers.
Aug. 2 The union presents contract demands to
General Motors
Aug. 3 The union presents contract demands to Ford
Aug. 8 Fain angrily tosses contract proposals from
Stellantis in a trash can, citing numerous
concessions that the Chrysler parent is
seeking in labor talks.
Aug. 25 The UAW says 97% of voting members were in
favor of authorizing a strike at the Detroit
Three if an agreement is not reached before
Sept. 14.
Aug. 31 The union says it has filed unfair labor
practice charges with the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) against GM and
Stellantis, saying they have refused to
bargain in good faith.
Aug. 31 Ford makes a contract offer to the UAW,
providing hourly employees with 15%
guaranteed combined wage increases, lumpsum
payments and improved benefits over the life
of the contract
Sept. 1 The NLRB says it will investigate unfair
labor practice charges filed by the UAW union
against GM and Stellantis.
Sept 6 The UAW makes a labor contract
counterproposal on economic issues to Ford
Sept. 7 GM makes counteroffer to the UAW that
includes a 10% wage hike and two additional
3% annual lumpsum payments over four years.
Fain calls the offer “insulting.”
Sept. 8 Stellantis says it offered U.S. hourly
workers a 14.5% wage hike over four years but
no lumpsum payments.
Sept. 8 Fain says the UAW union wants a deal to avoid
walkouts at the Detroit Three, but expects to
go on strike against all of them next week if
they do not improve their contract offers.
Sept. 11 Stellantis says it plans to make a new
counteroffer to the UAW after the union made
its own revised offer on Sunday ahead of the
expiration of the current four-year labor
deal Thursday night.
Sept. 13 The UAW rejected counteroffers from the
automakers and outlined plans for strikes
targeting individual U.S. auto plants in what
would be its first-ever simultaneous strike
against the Detroit Three.
Sept. 15 The UAW launched simultaneous strikes that
will halt production of some popular models
at three factories owned by GM, Ford and
Stellantis.
Sept. 16 Negotiators for the UAW and Ford had
“reasonably productive discussions” toward a
new contract, while officials at Stellantis
said a proposal to resume work at an idled
Illinois factory has fallen through.
Sept. 18 On the fourth day of the strike, UAW said it
would announce on Sept. 22 more plants to
strike if no serious progress was made in
talks, adding to pressure on the Detroit
Three automakers.
Sept. 19 UAW members picketing in Michigan and Ohio
urged union leaders to hold firm on their
biggest demands on pay hikes and compensation
as the strike hits its fifth day.
Sept. 20 UAW said 190 workers went on strike at
Mercedes-supplier ZF’s plant in Alabama,
demanding higher pay and better healthcare
benefits.
Sept. 22 UAW will expand its strikes against GM and
Stellantis, but has made real progress in
talks with Ford Motor, the union said.
Sept 24. Ford said that despite progress in some
areas, it still has “significant gaps to
close” on key economic issues before it can
reach a new labor agreement with the UAW
union.
Sept. 28 The UAW made a new counter-proposal to
Stellantis, just one day before it is set to
strike additional Detroit Three automotive
facilities without serious progress in
ongoing labor negotiations.
Sept. 29 The UAW will walk off the job at an
additional plant at General Motors and at
Ford, said Fain. The new strike will not
extend to Stellantis, which called before the
scheduled 10 a.m. ET announcement to make
significant changes in its contract proposal.
Sept. 29 Ford CEO Jim Farley accused the union of
holding up a new U.S. labor agreement in a
bid to force the automaker to pay workers at
new battery plants the same top wages as
workers at assembly plants.
Oct.2 GM and Ford said they are laying off another
500 workers at four Midwestern plants because
of the impact on some of the facilities of
the UAW strike. Separately, the UAW confirmed
it presented a new contract offer to GM. GM
said it has received the counterproposal “but
significant gaps remain.”
Oct. 3 Ford said it had made a new contract offer to
resolve a 19-day-old targeted strike but said
a dispute over battery plants remained
unresolved. Ford said the new offer boosted
wages for temporary workers, increased
company 401(k) contributions and had further
shrunk time needed to get to the top wage
rate.
Oct. 6 The UAW said GM agreed to put EV battery
plant workers under the union’s “master
agreement,” in response to union threats to
strike at one of its most profitable assembly
plants.
(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal and Priyamvada C in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber, Sriraj Kalluvila, Arun Koyyur and Shinjini Ganguli)
