00:00 A President Sean Fain said the union would not expand its strike against the Big Three
00:04 automakers on Friday, but that the AUS stood ready to add more workers to the picket lines
00:10 at any time as its labor action enters a new phase.
00:13 "We are prepared at any time to call on more locals to stand up and walk out," Fain
00:18 said in a livestream update on negotiations.
00:22 He later added, "We changed the rules.
00:24 Now there is only one rule - a pony up."
00:27 The announcement marks a tactical shift, Fain said.
00:31 Previously the AU had announced strike expansions on Fain's weekly Friday updates.
00:36 But now, as part of the union's strategy to keep the automakers off balance, Fain said
00:42 strike expansions could come at any day of the week, at any time.
00:46 This past Wednesday for the first time it announced an expansion midweek, and without
00:51 warning, when 8,700 AU members went on strike suddenly at Ford's largest factory, the Kentucky
00:58 Truck Plant in Louisville.
01:00 "We're entering a new phase of this strike, and it demands a new approach," Fain said.
01:05 "We're done waiting until Fridays to escalate our strike."
01:09 Fain said that the companies had started to wait until Fridays to make progress in their
01:14 bargaining positions, and that the union is changing its strategy in order to speed up
01:19 progress in negotiations.
01:21 "A negotiation requires both sides making movement.
01:25 If they're not ready to move, we're going to give them a push in a language they understand
01:30 - a dollars and cents," he said.
01:33 This is the first time that the union has gone on strike against GM, Ford and Stillantis
01:39 at the same time.
01:40 But rather than shut down any of the company's US operations completely, the union has targeted
01:46 its strike against specific facilities, and then expanded the strike gradually in order
01:51 to increase pressure at the bargaining table.
01:55 The Kentucky Truck Plant is a key money-maker for Ford, assembling heavy-duty pickup trucks
02:00 and full-size SUVs and producing $25 billion in annual sales, or about one-sixth of its
02:07 revenue.
02:08 It also produced an estimated $150 million in profits a week, according to an estimate
02:15 from Colin Langan, auto analyst at Wells Fargo.
02:19 Ford says it's at its limit.
02:20 Ford officials told reporters Thursday that the company has gone as far as it can on the
02:25 additional money it can offer members.
02:27 "We have reached our limit.
02:29 We've actually stretched ourselves to get to this point," said Kumar Galatra, president
02:34 of Ford Blue, which is the unit that sells most of Ford's gasoline-powered cars to consumers.
02:40 "We are still working to get this done.
02:43 We're open to moving some money around within the deal that might fit the union's needs
02:48 better, but in terms of cost of deal, we're there.
02:51 We have been very clear, we're at the limit.
02:54 Going further will hurt our ability to invest in the business as we need to invest."
02:59 Fane mocked that statement from Ford, saying that while Ford has recovered well since the
03:04 Great Recession, its workers have seen only modest pay increases, which were outweighed
03:09 by rising prices.
03:11 "I found a pathetic irony in that statement," he said on Friday.
03:15 "You know who stretched themselves?
03:18 The Ford workers who didn't get a single raise for a decade."
03:21 Fane said the union is in a strong bargaining position and has already achieved a lot in
03:26 negotiations, but not enough to make up for past concessions by workers.
03:31 "We're at the point in this process where we're looking for one thing only — a deal,"
03:37 Fane said.
03:38 "We are not giving these companies an extra hour, or an extra day.
03:42 They know what needs to happen, and they know how to get it done."
03:45 Taking Out Kentucky Truck sent a very clear message not only to Ford, but to GM and Stillantis
03:52 as well.
03:53 "Don't you dare slow walk us or low ball us.
03:55 We will take out whatever plants you force us to."
03:58 Double-digit raises on the table.
04:00 The companies are on record as offering members an immediate 10 percent raise to union members
04:06 and additional raises totaling 10 percentage points or more during the life of the contracts,
04:12 which are likely to run through the spring of 2028.
04:15 The companies are also agreeing to some kind of return of the cost of living adjustment
04:20 (COLA) to union pay scales to protect workers from rising prices.
04:25 The union gave up the COLA in 2007, as well as traditional pension plans and health care
04:31 coverage for retirees for workers hired after the concession contracts reached that year.
04:37 In addition, a week ago, Fane announced that GM had agreed to a major union demand to place
04:43 workers at new and planned EV battery plants under the National Master Agreement at the
04:48 company.
04:49 GM, Ford and Stillantis have all announced plans to shift from traditional gasoline-powered
04:55 vehicles to electric vehicles, or EVs.
04:58 That would end the need for the jobs in their current plants that build engines and transmissions.
05:03 All three are in the process of building at least three plants each, almost all in joint
05:09 ventures with Asian battery makers, that will be used to power EVs.
05:13 All are expected to pay significantly less than A members at those engine and transmission
05:18 plants are now paid.
05:20 Going into negotiations, the companies had insisted the battery plant workers would be
05:25 employees of the joint ventures, not the companies themselves, and that their pay scale would
05:31 not be included in this contract.
05:34 Details of what GM has agreed upon in relation to workers' battery plant workers is not yet
05:39 known, as GM has not confirmed the tentative agreement on the issue.
05:44 Ford officials have said they also have been negotiating with the union on the battery
05:49 plant issue and that progress had been made, without giving the details.
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