(NewsNation) — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said in a Facebook Live that the union is no longer waiting until Fridays to escalate strike efforts as it is entering a “new phase.”
While Fain didn’t call for a strike expansion in his video Oct. 13, he added that the union is prepared to call on more locals to stand up and walk out of plants.
“Moving forward we will be calling out plants when we need to, where we need to, with little notice,” Fain said. “So stay ready, not just Fridays and not just Ford.”
United Auto Workers members have been going on strike at different facilities throughout the country, with most new expansions being announced on Fridays.
However, automakers then started waiting until Friday mornings to make offers, so Fain said the union “changed the rule.”
“Now there’s only one rule,” Fain said. “Pony up.”
UAW’s strike against the three unionized automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — has been happening for about a month now.
Fain most recently announced an escalation of the union’s strike Wednesday, with 8,700 employees walking out at Ford’s largest and most profitable factory, the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.
For nearly two weeks, Fain said, Ford had told UAW it would make another counteroffer on economic issues. However, he said the company did not increase its previous offer at a meeting called by the union.
Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue, the company’s internal combustion engine business, told reporters Thursday that executives have reached the limit of how much money they will spend to get a contract agreement with the union.
Ford stretched to get to the amount it’s currently offering, Galhotra said.
“We have been very clear we are at the limit,” he said on a conference call with reporters. “We risk the ability to invest in the business and profitably grow. And profitable growth is in the best interest of everybody at Ford.”
Fain pushed back against these remarks in Friday’s video.
“I found a pathetic irony in (Galhotra’s) statement,” Fain said. “You know who’s reached their limit? The tens of thousands of Ford workers with no retirement security. You know who stretched themselves? The Ford workers who didn’t get a single raise for a decade.”
Meanwhile, Fain said, the United Auto Workers is still “bargaining hard” with General Motors and Stellantis.
“Taking out Kentucky Truck sent a very clear message not only to Ford, but to GM and Stellantis as well — don’t you dare slow walk us or lowball us,” Fain said. “We will take out whatever plants they force us to.”
Fain added that the union, which is asking for wage increases, Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) and the re-establishment of retiree medical benefits, among other demands, is in a “strong position.”
“Already the wage offers we’ve received are more than a combined raises of the past 15 years.,” he said. “COLA’s back on the table in a serious way. Our progression of Ford is back to where it was in the mid-1990s.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.