Will there be another auto strike? Class conflict sharpens at Stellantis

Warren, Michigan

United Auto Workers union members are getting ready to vote to authorize a strike at Stellantis, the company that includes Chrysler. This vote comes just over a year since the UAW struck Stellantis, General Motors and Ford and won major contract gains.

The UAW is accusing Stellantis of failing to live up to the job commitments made in the contract last year. The company has delayed plans to reopen a closed plant in Belvidere, Illinois, and has laid off thousands of workers indefinitely. The union’s position is that these actions are contract violations over which workers have the right to strike during the life of the contract.

The latest layoffs follow terminations earlier this year of a large number of temporary workers before they could achieve permanent employment status under the new contract.

To say Stellantis bosses are playing hardball with the union would be an understatement. Before any votes were held, workers received robocalls from the company urging them to vote against authorizing a strike. This blatant interference in the union’s voting process by an employer is absolutely illegal.

Stellantis’ latest move has been to file a lawsuit against the UAW International and Local 230 in California, which voted overwhelmingly in favor of striking. As of this writing no other Stellantis local has even taken a strike vote.

Anger at Stellantis management, especially at CEO Carlos Tavares, is running high among rank-and-file workers. About 1,000 UAW members attended a rally and march near the company’s plants in Sterling Heights, Michigan, on Oct. 3. Popular chants included “Keep the promise” and “Shitcan Carlos!” UAW President Shawn Fain has accused Stellantis of breaking its promises to maintain employment and reopen Belvidere Assembly Plant.

Several hundred Stellantis workers and supporters rallied on Oct. 9 at the UAW Local 869 union hall to build support for a “yes” vote to authorize a strike and defend union jobs. Speakers included Local 869 President Romaine McKinney III, UAW Region 1 Director LaShawn English and President Fain. Local 869 represents workers at Stellantis’s Warren Stamping Plant.

Rally attendees applauded the fight-back message of all the speakers and signed cards pledging to vote in favor of striking Stellantis. UAW members sang along to “Solidarity Forever” as pro-labor musical artist Billy Bragg, in Metro Detroit for a concert, closed the rally.

Martha Grevatt is a retired member and former trustee of UAW Local 869.