© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Striking members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) picket outside the GM’s Willow Run Distribution Center, in Belleville, Wayne County, Michigan, U.S., September 26, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
By David Shepardson and Joseph White
(Reuters) -The United Auto Workers made a new counter-proposal to Chrysler-parent Stellantis (NYSE:) on Thursday, just one day before the union is set to strike additional Detroit Three automotive facilities without serious progress in ongoing labor negotiations.
A union official confirmed the new proposal as talks remain active with Stellantis, General Motors (NYSE:) and Ford Motor (NYSE:) in the strike’s fourteenth day.
The UAW and the Detroit Three have been far apart on key issues. As of Thursday, the UAW’s position is that workers should get 40% pay increases, cost of living adjustments pegged to inflation, job or pay guarantees, an end to lower wages for lower seniority workers and defined benefit pensions.
One big issue in the talks remains the compensation of workers making batteries for electric vehicles. Ford said this week it was putting a $3.5 billion Michigan battery plant on hold because of concerns it could not operate it competitively, which drew condemnation from the UAW.
The automakers are offering 20% wage increases, but have proposed less generous cost of living and retirement benefits. The automakers also have not agreed to the UAW demand that new hires get top pay after 90 days on the job. The UAW did not comment on a Bloomberg report Thursday that union negotiators are aiming for a 30% wage increase, including cost of living adjustments.
GM shares rose 2.5% while Ford closed up 1.4%.
UAW President Shawn Fain plans to disclose the union’s next steps Friday at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) in an online address. The flurry of activity on Thursday comes after a week in which there appeared to be little movement in the contract talks.
Fain hosted U.S. President Joe Biden’s historic visit to a union picket line on Tuesday. Fain met Wednesday with GM negotiators.
Stellantis and GM did not immediately comment. Stellantis earlier on Thursday criticized the UAW’s rhetoric.
“The deliberate use of inflammatory and violent rhetoric is dangerous and needs to stop. The companies are not ‘the enemy’ and we are not at ‘war,'” Stellantis said, adding it has “put a record offer on the table and are working hard to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.”
Last week, the UAW expanded strikes that initially began with three assembly plants – one at each Detroit automaker – to 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers but did not add any Ford facilities citing progress.
Stellantis last week indefinitely laid off more than 350 workers in Ohio and Indiana because of the strike impact. Ford has furloughed 600 workers at a Michigan plant, and GM has furloughed 2,000 workers and halted production at a Kansas plant because of strike-related impacts.
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