The United Auto Workers (UAW) union said Friday that an overwhelming majority of workers at the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, formerly Chrysler — voted to authorize a strike if they don’t get “a fair deal” in contract negotiations.
“The Big Three’s race to the bottom ends on September 14,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in livestreamed comments shortly after the announcement Friday.
The union, which represents more than 400,000 active members across several industries, has been in negotiations for weeks with the three automakers for higher pay, pensions and more job security ahead of a looming Sept. 14 deadline, when the UAW contract is set to expire.
“Our members have delivered for these companies over and over, and our members deserve job security as a reward for that,” Fain said. “So, we deserve future product at our plants.”
Earlier this month, President Biden urged both sides to work toward a fair agreement earlier this month, saying the union helped create the country’s middle class and “deserves a contract that sustains the middle class.”
“As the Big Three auto companies and the United Auto Workers come together — one month before the expiration of their contract — to negotiate a new agreement, I want to be clear about where I stand. I’m asking all sides to work together to forge a fair agreement,” Biden said.
The president also met with Fain last month after union leaders reached out to make their positions known in negotiations with the automakers.
In comments Friday, Fain told members that Biden “is not in our contract” but he said there is expectation that the “government, when they’re giving all our tax dollars to these companies and they form joint ventures to circumvent their obligation to us and to our standards, that something needs to change.”
“Labor cannot be left out of the equation. Labor has to have a seat at the table. The workers can’t be left behind,” he said.
“And it’s up to the Biden administration and our people in Congress to fix those things when it comes to our tax dollars going to those companies with with no conditions,” Fain added.
Updated at 5:06 p.m.