UAW deadline for expanded Big 3 strikes looms as talk enter key phase

The United Autoworkers Union and the so-called Big Three carmakers are locked in last-minute talks Friday to avert an expanded strike that could cripple the American auto industry. 

UAW president Shawn Fain has set a Friday noon deadline for expanded strike action unless there is what he calls "significant" progress in pay and pension negotiations with Ford F, General Motors GM and Stellantis. 

Around 12,700 workers have been picketing assembly sites around the Midwest, including a Ford plant in Wayne, Mich., a General Motors facility in Wentzville, Mo., and a Jeep plant owned by Stellantis in Toledo, Ohio, for the past eight days.

Each of the Big Three have increased or improved their counter-offers to the UAW over that past two weeks, but remain far apart in terms of overall pay, with Fain demanding a 40% increase, spread over four and a half years, and the automakers offering increases of 20%.

GM president Mark Reuss, in a Wednesday op-ed in the Detroit Free Press, called the UAW's 40% offer "untenable", and warned that strike action will damage the broader economy, reduce carmaker's profits and put union jobs at risk.

“We have delivered a record offer. That is a fact. It rightly rewards our team members, while positioning the company for success in the future," Reuss wrote. "Often in these situations, the clouds of rhetoric can obscure reality.”

Fain has hit back, saying plans to layoff or furlough workers who aren't on strike is merely a tactic to "put the squeeze on our members to settle for less."

Ford shares were marked 0.25% higher in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $12.23 each. GM shares slipped 0.24% to $32.63 each and Stellantis was marked 0.42% lower in Milan trading.

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