The ongoing United Auto Workers strike officially spread into Wisconsin Friday morning as a group of employees at a Stellantis facility in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood walked off the job.
Members of United Auto Workers Local 75 in Milwaukee officially began their strike at 11 a.m. Friday, according to a Facebook post from the union. They work at Stellantis Mopar parts distribution center located at 3280 S. Clement Ave.
BizTimes Milwaukee media partner WISN 12 reported approximately 100 people walked off the job.
Shawn Fain, UAW president, announced on Facebook Live Friday morning the expansion of the strike against General Motors and Stellantis. The strike expanded to 38 locations across 20 states. About 5,600 workers joined the approximately 13,000 who are already on strike.
“As you know, we gave our members demands to the company two months ago,” said Fain in a statement. “They wasted a whole month failing to respond. But there has been movement. In particular, we’ve made real progress at Ford. We’re not there yet, but I want you to see the direction that Ford is going, and what we think that means for our contract fight.”
Union contracts for 150,000 UAW union employees at Ford, GM and Stellantis/Chrysler expired on Sept. 14.
UAW’s demands include the elimination of tiered wages and benefits, wage increases to offset inflation and match the salary increases of company executives over the last four years, the re-establishment of cost-of-living allowances and defined benefit pensions and retiree health care, the right to strike over plant closures, increases to current retiree benefits, and more paid time off to be with family.
GM told CNN Friday company leadership intends to “continue bargaining in good faith” and that the expanded strike is “unnecessary.” Stellantis also expressed disappointment with the expanded strike to CNN, releasing a statement that says the union seems “more concerned about pursuing their own political agendas than negotiating in the best interests of our employees.”
The expanded strike did garner support from several local officials.
“Bay View has long been a union neighborhood within a union town, and we have a proud history of standing behind our neighbors who fight for basic work protections and fair compensation,” said Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, who represents the Bay View neighborhood, in a statement. “Bay View workers fought and died so that all workers could have an eight-hour workday that affords us family time and time to engage in life activities beyond performing constant labor for low wages. We will not turn back.”
Pam Fendt, president of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, said the strike represents an “honorable fight for fair compensation.
“Autoworkers and workers in the supply chain have lost ground economically since the restructuring of the recession, while profits and CEO compensation skyrocketed,” said Fendt in a statement. “The workers create the value, they create the products.”
