DETROIT, Mich.—Job security and keeping work in the U.S. will be the United Auto Workers’ top
priorities in contract talks with the “Detroit Three” auto manufacturers, union President Gary Jones said March 13. “There will be no more quiet closing of plants, no more shipping jobs to Mexico and abroad without a sound,” Jones told delegates to the union’s bargaining convention in Detroit. “They are on notice.” The UAW also announced that it has raised the amount of pay added to its strike fund from $200 to $250 per week, with an increase to $275 in January 2020. “No one goes to the bargaining table expecting to strike. But the UAW goes to the bargaining table prepared to strike if our members need to strike,” Jones said. “Raising the strike fund is an important symbol that we have their backs.” In talks scheduled for later this year with General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler, the union plans to push for having electric vehicles and the batteries and components for them made in the U.S., and to press GM to reopen the Lordstown plant in Ohio. “Those jobs need to be here,” spokesperson Brian Rothenberg told reporters. Read more
