GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The deadline for a contract between United Auto Workers (UAW) and Michigan’s ‘Big Three’ automakers is just two weeks away.
The Union has filed unfair labor practice charges against both General Motors and Stellantis, claiming an "illegal refusal to bargain in good faith." GM and Stellantis both refute the charge.
UAW leaders, who represent the Union's more than 140-thousand members, indicated FORD had responded to their demands, yet had fallen short of drafting what autoworkers referred to as a "fair contract".
The September 14th finalization deadline, Union leaders said, was firm.
West Michigan is home to a large number of the suppliers upon whom major automakers rely. Operations large and small, analysts signaled, could be impacted.
“A strike or potential work stoppage can never come at the right time,” Mike Wall, an automotive analyst with S & P Global Mobility. “But boy, it just feels like completely the wrong time right now for our suppliers in the area.”
Because West Michigan’s stable of auto suppliers, Wall said, has taken one hit after another in the last few years, rocked first by the pandemic shutdowns and the work stoppages, then, later by rising commodity prices, diminished labor market and the broader inflation picture.
“We have not ramped up production enough, to a significant enough degree to really start to kind of rebuild your balance sheet, rebuild your financials,” he explained. “As we've started to recover, it's been a welcome relief. But we're only in the early innings of that sort of production recovery.”
And if, barring an agreement, the union does strike…
“In the very short term, you know, this is a shorter lived type of disruption… I think suppliers are going to be able to weather that,” Wall related. “The challenges is if it extends too far.”
That kind of longer delay, he noted, could prove problematic—particularly for smaller suppliers, still stretched thin adapting to the rapidly changing market conditions that have characterized the last several years. Those operations, Wall said, may struggle to weather a prolonged strike shutdown.
“If it goes too long… the challenge is, will all suppliers be able to kind of restart the machine if you will,” he questioned. “Suppliers in the West Michigan area are a hearty bunch, don't get me wrong, and they've gone through a lot, if you think back to the Great Recession… they find a way to make it through but again, it just adds another order of complexity on top of things.”
Prior to leveling its accusations of unfair labor practices, the Union suggested talks had been proceeding slowly, yet indicated the parties could still arrive at a workable deal in time to preclude the promised strike.
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