{"id":6898,"date":"2023-09-15T19:24:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T14:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/?p=6898"},"modified":"2023-09-15T19:24:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T14:24:43","slug":"midnight-strike-deadline-looms-large-for-detroit-car-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/news\/midnight-strike-deadline-looms-large-for-detroit-car-giants\/","title":{"rendered":"Midnight strike deadline looms large for Detroit car giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detroit was on edge Thursday as the auto workers union stood poised for a historic strike of “Big Three” automakers as a midnight deadline approached.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Negotiations continued throughout Thursday, but a fiery presentation by United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain set the stage for a likely stoppage after midnight going into Friday morning with the expiration of contracts at General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barring a last-minute agreement with one or more of the companies, the union plans to announce at 10:00 pm Thursday which locals will participate in the strike, with the majority of workers remaining on the job, Fain said late Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Motors upped its offer Thursday, lifting its proposed wage increase to 20 percent. The company had previously proposed an 18 percent rise, according to the UAW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We continue to bargain in good faith, but with our contract set to expire at 11:59 pm, I want to make sure you are completely informed,” GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said in a letter to its hourly employees that also touted the package’s healthcare and retirement provisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We are working with urgency and have proposed yet another increasingly strong offer with the goal of reaching an agreement tonight,” Barra said. “Remember: we had a strike in 2019 and nobody won.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley expressed frustration at the quiet state of activity as the hours ticked by. Ford had expected a busy day Thursday, but “nothing is going on,” he told CNBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked by the network about the effects of a strike at a Livonia, Michigan transmission plant that has been rumored, Farley said such a stoppage could prompt closures within “hours or days” at assembly plants that rely on Livonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farley said Ford would have gone bankrupt if the UAW’s current demands would have been included in the expiring four-year contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stellantis did not respond to a request for fresh comment. The company said Wednesday night its “focus remains on bargaining in good faith” to reach an agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his presentation Wednesday, Fain described the plan of a gradually expanding strike as aiming to keep the companies off balance and maximize the union’s bargaining position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is long past time to stand up for the working class, to stand up for our communities and to stand up against unchecked corporate greed,” Fain said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detroit was on edge Thursday as the auto workers union stood poised for a historic strike of “Big Three” automakers as a midnight deadline approached. Negotiations continued throughout Thursday, but a fiery presentation by United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain set the stage for a likely stoppage after midnight going into Friday morning with […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":6899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,396,2,2623],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-latest","category-news","category-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.asiafreepress.com\/en_gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}