Stellantis questions if UAW really wants agreement in timely manner
UAW President Shawn Fain visits Center Line plant after calling on more Stellantis, GM employees to join strike
UAW President Shawn Fain is walking with workers at Stellantis facilities in Center Line. Union members at 38 Stellantis and GM facilities walked out of work at noon Friday after Fain called them to join the strike.
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Stellantis says It's not sure the union representing autoworkers even wants an agreement, citing comments of one of its employees that was leaked in a previous news story.
The comments were published a day before the UAW called on workers at facilities in 20 states to go on strike, ramping up pressure against General Motors and Stellantis.
"Following yesterday's publication of comments made by the UAW's Communications Director and the subsequent strike announcement, we question whether the union's leadership has ever had an interest in reaching an agreement in a timely manner," the company said in a statement Friday.
"They seem more concerned about pursuing their own political agendas than negotiating in the best interests of our employees and the sustainability of our U.S. operations given the market’s fierce competition."
Text messages from the UAW Communications Director published in the Detroit News say negotiators were using bargaining rounds with the automakers to cause damage to their reputation and stir chaos.
Now more than a week into the strike, only Ford was spared another round of walk-offs by union members.
Fain called accusations the union wasn't taking its negotiating serious "BS" in comments hours after calling for more strikes.
"The messages may be true for whoever said it, but the point is this, our mission has been to get an agreement before bargaining started," he said. "We want our members to get their fair share of economic justice and when you talk about chaos and all that, we have to plan. We have to plan for the worst case scenario.
"We have to plan because we know how these companies act and we planned for the fact they were going to screw around and wait until the end like they always do instead of getting serious about our members' concerns."