The United Auto Workers union may take a more assertive stance this year when union contracts expire Sept. 14 with the three big U.S. automakers— General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis. That’s because the incumbent UAW president was narrowly defeated by a reformer, Shawn Fain.
Fain is keen to eliminate a two-tier system in which newer hires at automobile factories make less per hour and have less generous health benefits and no pension. Fain came to office in a nationwide direct election by rank-and-file members. That was mandated by a court-appointed monitor who is overseeing the UAW after its leaders were convicted on charges of corruption.
“We’re here to come together to ready ourselves for the war against our one and only true enemy: Multibillion-dollar corporations and employers that refuse to give our members their fair share,” Fain told 600 delegates March 26 at a special convention in Detroit.
