UAW Workers Threaten a New Strike Against Stellantis

The United Auto Workers union, a union made up of workers of varying levels working in automotive manufacturing plants, have threatened to start up a strike against the Stellantis plant that is set to reopen in Illinois. The plant in question is the Belvidere Assembly Plant which previously halted production in 2023. After the UAW held a strike against Stellantis as a company last year, a part of the agreement included the reopening of the plant; however, Stellantis is not holding up their end of the bargain well.

Stellantis has not been sticking to the approved timeline of the reopening of the plant.

The President of the United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain, released a statement on the issue, calling out the auto manufacturer. He stated that after the strikes of last year, when a deal was struck between the union and the companies, Stellantis made a full commitment to reopen the plant in a timely manner and keep the union up to date on the track to reopening. He furthered his statement saying that “we intend to enforce that contract to the full extent.” Fain pointed out that they must continue to stand up for the workers everywhere who have been brushed aside by the major corporations. They will “drive a race to the bottom at the expense of the American worker.”

According to the release, Stellantis refuses to even work with the union with discussions on the reopening timeline. The union called the company “unresponsive,” which is in violation to the agreed terms per the new contract. This is reportedly not Stellantis’ only fault, as they overall have not been sticking to the general investment commitments that they made.

The union is currently going through the grievance process ahead of formally striking.

United Auto Workers is maintaining consistent with their contracted commitments, first going through the grievance process. As a part of their end of the contract, the union agreed to not strike right away if/when issues arose, but instead file grievances first. If, after the appropriate length of time, the union feels improvements have not been made when it comes to Stellantis sticking to the contract, then the union can formally launch another strike.

Another strike could be devasting to the auto industry. The industry is still recovering from the downfall that came from the last strike, so many are hopeful that Stellantis will take the grievance into careful consideration and reignite the reopening plans and better their communication. It is unclear what will happen; however, as the manufacturer has released a statement claiming to not have broken the means of the agreement.