UAW members grow weary five weeks into strike, supply starts to thin

Patience wears thin on UAW picket line

The UAW has been on strike for five months and patience is starting to wear out on the picket lines, indicating that some rank and file members want the deal to be done.

WAYNE, Mich. (FOX 2) - This week marks five weeks since the start of the UAW standup strike against Detroit's Big Three. And, as the ripple effects spread through the auto industry, some UAW members are saying they're ready to get back to work.

Over the past 34 days, the UAW has called on more than 34,000 members to go on strike. One of those members is Darvin Fletcher, a 28-year veteran of the Ford Motor Company.

Quite simply, he told us he's tired of being on the picket line at Michigan Assembly in Wayne, which was one of the first union plants to strike.

"Mr. Fain get us back to work! Enough’s enough," Fletcher said. "Morale is down. The first week everybody was gung ho."

But now in week five, times are getting tough.

"I go with the BB King song ‘The Thrill Is Gone’. Nobody wants to do this. We’re all going financially bankrupt. We weren’t even getting a full 40 hours a week since, like, May, and now to be handed $500 a week before taxes?! It’s killing us."

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Fletcher says workers are waiting for Ford and Stellantis to put all Electric Vehicle battery production in a UAW agreement similar to what GM pledged to do two weeks ago. But he said he feels Ford has given them a good enough offer he can live with.

"Like I tell all these young guys – they’re wanting the moon and the stars – take what you can get before you lose what you got," he said.

Experts in the auto industry are saying the strike has prompted a widening shortage of midsize trucks, which were already in short supply when the strike began in mid-September.

Darin Fletcher, a 28-year UAW veteran, is urging president Shawn Fain to put an end to the standup strike.

"If you’re looking for a Ranger or a Colorado, it may be many months until you can sort of find the one you are looking for because it will take a while to rebuild those inventory levels," Tyson Jominy with JD Power and Associates said.

"We were just getting ready to launch the 2024 Ranger, and the 2024 Bronco. The 2024 Ranger is sold out for a year and now it’s sitting there empty."

UAW President Shawn Fain has said that they won't back down from their demands from Detroit's Big Three.