UAW Rejects Stellantis Offer Of Half The Raise That Workers Want

Sahid Fawaz September 17, 2023 0 Comments

The UAW shot down another lowball offer from a carmaker.

“The president of the United Auto Workers on Sunday rejected a public offer by Jeep parent company Stellantis to boost pay 21 percent over four years, pushing a historic, coordinated strike against the nation’s three biggest carmakers into a third day.

Stellantis, which is based in the Netherlands and was formed in 2021 through a merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s Peugeot, said Saturday that it had offered the union a ‘highly competitive’ 21 percent wage increase. The union said it had ‘reasonably productive’ conversations with Ford on Saturday and was planning to meet with GM as well. Both of those companies have offered 20 percent raises over four years.

But on Sunday morning, UAW President Shawn Fain said that Stellantis’s 21 percent offer and other terms presented by the automakers aren’t sufficient and that the strike will continue.

‘That’s definitely a no go,’ Fain said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” He added: ‘We’ve asked for 40 percent pay increases. And the reason we asked for 40 percent pay increases is because in the last four years alone, the CEO pay went up 40 percent.’

About 12,700 UAW members, or 8 percent of the union’s autoworkers, went on strike Friday, demanding pay increases and more-equal treatment and benefits for temporary workers, who have seen their pay lag behind full-time workers for years. It’s the first time the UAW has gone on strike against all three of America’s biggest automakers at once.”

For the rest of the story, visit The Washington Post here.