Labor Notes - Will Auto Workers Strike to Hold Stellantis to Its Promises?

Chief economist Brian Callaci was quoted criticizing corporations for protecting their control over management while unfairly blaming workers for issues caused by poor managerial decisions.

Contracts come and contracts go, but the bosses keep on scheming forever. So workers’ resistance must be permanent. In August, 17 union locals representing tens of thousands of workers charged the automaker Stellantis with failing to honor its agreements by reneging on investment promises, including the celebrated reopening of the Belvidere assembly plant in Illinois.

Today, the United Auto Workers filed unfair labor practice charges against Stellantis with the National Labor Relations Board over the company’s refusal to provide information about its plans for product commitments. Union locals also filed grievances over the company’s plan to move production of the Dodge Durango out of Michigan, to Canada, in violation of the national agreement.

“In our 2023 contract, we won major gains, including a commitment to reopen an idled assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, and to build the Dodge Durango in Detroit,” said UAW President Shawn Fain, ahead of speaking to members via Facebook Live. “Now Stellantis wants to go back on the deal.”

In last year’s negotiations the UAW won the right to strike over product commitments—an unusual thing to win. Employers often get away with breaking such promises.

The grievance filing sets the stage to strike Stellantis nationwide, if necessary. Fain asked the public for support for a potential strike when he addressed the Democratic National Convention in August.

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