Political danger for Biden recedes as second-largest automaker reaches deal with UAW

“Our union is victorious again; Once again we have achieved what we were told was impossible just a few weeks ago,” Fain said in a video message. “We are truly saving the American dream. »

Underscoring GM’s outlier status, a UAW local in Tennessee announced Saturday evening that it was joining the strike at GM’s Spring Hill plant, which employs nearly 4,000 union and non-union workers. .

Yet Biden is now closer than ever to turning the page on a major concern as he begins to navigate shared governance with the new House speaker. Mike Johnson, just before another deadline to fund the government. That lessens the risk that turmoil in the sprawling auto industry could be an economic drag as he runs for re-election.

The UAW has outlined some details of the tentative agreement, which closely align with those negotiated with Ford, consistent with the union’s past practice of using its first deal as a model for other companies. Ford agreed to a 25 percent pay increase for workers for the duration of the contract, along with other wage concessions.

Fain credited the strike with winning better terms from the companies, saying the overall value of the Stellantis deal is more than double the offer when the work stoppages began nearly of a month and a half. Similar to the one with Ford, the Stellantis deal includes a 25 percent pay increase for union workers over the life of the four-year contract.

Although UAW members’ acceptance of the Ford and Stellantis deals is not yet assured, they are crucial steps toward ending a six-week disruption in the auto industry and its supply chains that cost billions of dollars.

Biden is now closer than ever to turning the page on a major concern as he begins to navigate shared governance with the new House speaker. Mike Johnson, just before another deadline to fund the government. That lessens the risk that turmoil in the sprawling auto industry could be an economic drag as he runs for re-election.

Asked about developments on Saturday, the president, who was in Delaware, responded with a thumbs-up. The White House later released a statement from Biden calling the tentative agreement “a testament to the power of unions and collective bargaining to create strong middle-class jobs while helping our most iconic American businesses thrive.”

The UAW called its Ford members back to work immediately after announcing its agreement, and the union asked pickets at Stellantis – whose product lines include Jeep, Ram Trucks, Dodge and Chrysler – to make even in the shortest possible time.

Stellantis said about 14,300 of its workers were on strike at the start of the week, and another 2,000 were temporarily laid off as a result of work stoppages at its facilities.

The strike began on September 15, with Ford and GM proposing 20 percent wage increases – already up from the 9 and 10 percent increases respectively that they initially proposed. The UAW also showed flexibility, dropping its initial demand for a 40 percent increase to reflect CEO salary growth over the past four years.

Both Democrats and Republicans attempted to use the political symbolism of the strike to their advantage.

Biden joined workers on the picket line in September, the first time in living memory that a sitting president has done so. This happened a day before former President Donald Trump visited Michigan to troll Biden and woo blue-collar workers.

But Biden has more tools.

His administration has dispatched deputies to ensure a presence on the ground. White House senior adviser Gene Sperling and Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su have traveled to Detroit several times to meet with the parties, contribute to the negotiating process and advance negotiations, a statement said Thursday. spokesperson for the Ministry of Labor.

At the same time, the UAW has kept some distance between itself and the administration so as not to bog down ongoing negotiations in partisan politics – and potentially alienate some of its members.

Beyond the pay raises, Stellantis agreed to keep an engine plant open in Trenton, Michigan, and to resume operations at a Jeep plant in Illinois that has been idle for most of the year . The UAW saw these recent concessions – as well as commitments to create several thousand jobs for its members – as key to reaching a deal.

“We are moving from the controlled decline of the American working class to a new era of car manufacturing,” Fain said.