Plot Twist: UAW Expands Strike Against GM Hours After Reaching Deal With Rival

The United Auto Workers (UAW) union on Saturday expanded its strike against General Motors(GM) after it reached an agreement with its competitors on Wednesday and Saturday, the union confirmed in an X post.

The UAW and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) reached a deal similar to the four-year agreement reached on Wednesday between Ford and the UAW, which provides a 25% pay increase and cost of living adjustments, as well as the ability to strike over plant closures. It was expected that GM would also make a deal with the union after Stellantis on Saturday, but instead employees at a Tennessee GM factory received orders to expand the company’s strike, the local union posted on X.

The UAW initially walked off the job at three automobile manufacturing factories in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri at midnight on Sept. 15, after failing to reach a deal with Ford, GM and Stellantis. The strike subsequently expanded to include more of their factories.

This was the first time that the 146,000-member union went on strike against all three of Detroit’s Big Three automakers simultaneously, according to Reuters.

“For the first time in our history, we will strike all three of the ‘Big Three’ at once,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in September when announcing the strike during a live stream on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We are using a new strategy, the ‘stand-up’ strike. We will call on select facilities, locals or units to stand up and go on strike.”

The strikes have resulted in GM, Ford and Stellantis collectively losing billions of dollars in production, according to CNBC. GM said the strike has led to around $800 million in losses for the company.