The United Auto Workers expanded its strike again this week, announcing a surprise work stoppage at General Motors’ Arlington, Texas, plant.
More than 5,000 workers walked off the job Tuesday, boosting the striking UAW members to over 45,000.
The Arlington plant manufactures the Cadillac Escalade and the GMC Yukon.
The move comes only hours after GM released its Q3 earnings report that showed an estimated $3 billion in profit. The union says those numbers don’t match the company’s offers at the bargaining table.
“Despite having made $10 billion in profits in the past nine months, breaking revenue records for another consecutive quarter and beating Wall Street expectations, GM’s latest offer fails to reward UAW members for the profits they’ve generated,” the union said in a statement.
GM called the strike irresponsible and said it unnecessarily harms “team members who are sacrificing their livelihoods and has negative ripple effects on our dealers, suppliers and the communities that rely on us.”
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The Arlington move comes after UAW President Shawn Fain announced no new strike expansions last Friday. However, he said the union will continue its strategy of surprise strikes that it began two weeks ago when it issued a sudden work stoppage at Ford’s plant in Louisville, Kentucky.
Stellantis had its own surprise strike Monday, when thousands of workers at a Michigan plant joined their fellow members on the picket lines. Stellantis is an Italian-American conglomerate that owns Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, RAM, Jeep, Peugeot, Citroën and Alfa Romeo.
UAW was expected to strike the Arlington plant weeks ago. But, as Mr. Fain announced during a Friday speech, GM had made significant concessions concerning union membership at the car giant’s upcoming electric vehicle battery plants, which gave the union pause.
Now it seems Mr. Fain is turning up the pressure. While the union has acknowledged that GM and the other carmakers have made significant progress during negotiations, the UAW wants more.
“We’ve got cards left to play,” he said. “And they’ve got money left to spend.”
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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