Another Automaker Agrees To New Contract With UAW, Like it Had a Choice

The United Auto Workers (UAW) and Stellantis reached an agreement Saturday on a contract that could end the six-week strike by the union, according to multiple reports.

The UAW and Stellantis reached a deal similar to the four-year deal reached on Wednesday between Ford and the UAW that provides a 25% pay increase and cost of living adjustments, as well as the ability to strike over plant closures, according to The Wall Street Journal. The UAW initially walked off the job at three auto manufacturing plants in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri at midnight on Sept. 15, after failing to reach an agreement with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), and later ratcheted up the strike to include more plants.

This was the first time in history that the 146,000-member union has simultaneously gone on strike against all three of Detroit’s Big Three automakers, 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 when announcing the strike in September during live remarks streamed 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 UAW was on strike at Stellantis’ Toledo, Ohio, plant and several parts distribution centers across the nation, and expanded the strike on Monday to include the company’s Ram 1500 assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, according to the Detroit Free Press.