BREAKING: Union Workers Prepare to Strike at Fiat Chrysler Plants

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

United Auto Workers at a Kokomo, Indiana plant have given notice to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles that it would strike Wednesday night, Automotive News reported. The notice is reportedly being used at other plants.

The automaker acknowledged the notification via a statement released Tuesday:

FCA US confirms that it has received strike notification from the UAW. The Company continues to work with the UAW in a constructive manner to reach a new agreement.

The automaker and the union, which represents 40,000 hourly workers, couldn’t get passed its proposed contract for workers last week. Workers rejected the contract and said the proposed deal didn’t raise wages enough for some workers, and didn’t fully outline the proposed health care plan that would cover its workers.

The Detroit News reported that 65 percent of the workers rejected the contract.

Analysts predicted that a strike could cost the automaker $1 billion per week.


Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

More by Aaron Cole

Comments
Join the conversation
17 of 54 comments
  • Big Al from Oz Big Al from Oz on Oct 06, 2015

    Just start moving production elsewhere. I do hope Sergio gets his way on this. I do believe if unions want more input into the business they are involved wth, then they should also be financially liable for any poor decisions that affects the bottom line. So, when a company goes under the unions will need to cough up some cash to help the company. You can't have input without accepting accountability for your actions. This is one area unions need to learn. Just wanting and wanting and expecting other to pick up the pieces you leave behind is quite immature, like a child playing with toys. Maybe it's about time for the union movement to mature and grow up. There are many people with wants, like unions want. But sooner or later as you grow up you realise all isn't going to go your way.

    • See 9 previous
    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Oct 07, 2015

      @bball40dtw Actually, FCA now builds the 500X and Renegade in Serbia and the Malfi plant in Italy.. They wanted to also build those models in the Mirafiori plant in Turin, but ran into labor problems. There's potential capacity in Serbia and in Brazil for the single replacement for the Compass and Patriot, leaving their largest plant in Belvidere, IL making only the Dart (which is getting close to the end of its current cycle, and could be replaced with a rebadged Fiat compact from Brazil), and their second largest plant, Sterling Heights, makes only the Chrysler 200. Their 4th largest plant, Jefferson North, makes only the Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango (soon to be dropped), and the GC is the same platform as the 300, Charger and Challenger, made in Brampton Ontario. Their 3rd largest assembly plant in Windsor Ontario is being revamped for the new minivans, and will have five assembly lines, with maybe one line reserved for the next generation 200. In short, there's plenty of room for closure of at least two American plants, probably three, with replacement models coming from foreign plants. It won't happen overnight, but as bball said, they can "start" planning for it and bring up that possibility during negotiations. American buyers already don't care that the Jeep Renegade is Serbian/Italian, and won't care if the 200 and Grand Cherokee are Canadian like the 300, Charger and Challenger, and won't even care if the Dart is Brazilian. But UAW workers WILL care that of FCA's four US assembly plants, the three biggest can be closed.

  • Buickman Buickman on Oct 06, 2015

    from my friend Gregg Shotwell. VW LIES, GM lies, Toyota lies, Ford fibs, Nixon was not a crook, Clinton didn't have sex, but the UAW doesn't prevaricate. No, the UAW simply has a "typo". In 2011 the contract information "Highlights," which the UAW uses to inform members, promised to restore a twenty-five percent cap on the number of two-tier workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). That promise led workers to believe that many of them (roughly half of all present second tier workers at FCA) would gain top-tier wages in 2015. The promised cap also meant that more second tier workers would grow into the top-tier as new workers were hired. But UAW-Vice President Norwood Jewell insists the real contract never included a promise to cap two-tier, and thus, promote a path to equality and solidarity. The real contract? The bullshitter didn't blink when he revealed publicly that what he tells members at a contract information meeting, and literature the UAW distributes to sell members a contract, is worth less than a pimp's promise. "The 25 percent cap will be reinstated at the end of this contract," said a front-page letter in the 2011 contract "Highlights" from then UAW President Bob King and UAW-VP General Holiefield. "All workers in excess of the 25 percent cap will be [sic] begin receiving the same wages as traditional Chrysler workers." Well, there was a typo, and hence the [sic], but the fact of the matter is that Jewell publicly admitted that the UAW couldn't be trusted at the same time he was hustling to sell a deal that proposes to move work to Mexico, does not secure production jobs in UAW plants, and blows perfidious smoke about a health care co-op which is sure to eat up raises with high deductibles, co-pays, and budget busting premiums. This tentative UAW contract, which members soundly voted down, multiplies tier-wage divisions and forever decimates solidarity. Instead of cost-of-living-adjustments, which compound and accrue, workers' fortunes are tied to the tail of the profit sharing kite, a delight as predictable as the wind in Michigan. The "Highlights" are so bad that dissidents don't even feel compelled to write the "Lowlights." The flaws are brass band blatant. Where will it end? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RETIREES LIVE on fixed incomes, but the pensions of top-tier workers at FCA were fixed in 2009 before they even got to retire. Second tier workers, unable to compensate on cut-rate wages for the abandonment of pensions, are fixing to work till they die, or limp away on SSDI--government funded disability income. The policy of dumping injured workers onto government rolls amounts to socialism for corporations and broken dreams for Americans. In 2011 Sean McAlinden from the Center for Automotive Research [CAR] said "job promises in the new contracts were largely misread by the 113,000 UAW workers covered by the agreements." In 2015 there are no job promises to read. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne is still shuffling the deck with the calm confidence of a dealer with four aces in his sleeve. Union officials like to use the small pie analogy as they dish out excuses, but workers can see the optical illusion for what it is: a fat lie. McAlinden told attendees at a CAR conference this past June that labor costs at the Detroit Three are "less important than in the past." Labor costs at FCA have been reduced $2396 per vehicle since 2007. Where's that slice going? "In the U.S. auto industry, real wages have declined 24 percent since 2003," according to CAR. Marchionne took home $1.4 million a week in 2014 and that doesn't include his expense account. You can bet he doesn't even pay for cigarettes. Back in 2011 CAR admitted that "white-collar labor costs in the United States will exceed their blue-collar labor costs." The gap is expanding and workers bear the brunt of the load. Speed-up, reduced break time, no sick days, and alternative work schedules that eliminate over time pay exacerbate stress. Corporations treat workers like robots--except humans don't get fixed when they break. They get scrapped and replaced. Last year at the UAW Constitutional Convention, the Administrative Caucus raised dues purportedly to shore up the strike fund. Dave Barkholz at the Automotive News reported, "A UAW strike of Fiat Chrysler could cost the Detroit automaker close to $1 billion a week in lost revenue and would quickly lead to a shortage of several hot-selling vehicles." But UAW President Dennis Williams is backpedaling on strike talk. Insular bureaucrats float so high above life on the shop floor, they don't have a clue how whipped up workers are. Life in the auto factories is harder and meaner and uglier than ever. Linda Heberlie, who works at the FCA plant in Belvidere, Illinois told me. "I get up at 5:38 a.m. and go to hell." I cannot attest that this resistance at FCA is organized, but it has reached a fever pitch. UAW members are exclaiming to union leaders, corporate heads and politicians what workers everywhere want to yell to the bosses of the world. "Go to hell!"

    • Jpeak Jpeak on Oct 06, 2015

      Welcome to the real world of corporate America 2015. What makes the UAW workers more special than the rest of the US hourly workforce? $25.00/hr plus subsidized medical benefits and a small 401K match is what most of the factory workers strive for with more independent responsibility and authority than most automotive workers have. The UAW workers might as well be professional athletes complaining about not getting their share of the pie when it comes to the rest of the workers in th US. You have it better than most in places that the cost of living is lower than most. Quit complaining. Quit whining. Get the best deal you can but don't bore the rest of the world with how bad you have it.

  • Buickman Buickman on Oct 06, 2015

    Tier One for Everyone or walk. Solidarity is more than just a song!

    • Redav Redav on Oct 07, 2015

      But a necessary question is "Walk to where?" If workers don't have a plan B, they are putting a lot more on the line than FCA.

  • TomLU86 TomLU86 on Oct 07, 2015

    In the 1960s, when GM was THE corporation (think Apple & Toyota put together), I think the CEO made 10-12x what a worker made. Maybe the UAW rank and file might "appreciate what they have" more if Sergio didn't make so much. How much does Mr. Toyoda make a year? $2-3 million? Sergio? $50-100 million. Toyota's cash position is over $80 billion. Chrysler's is -8 billion. It's Chrysler mgt that is grossly overpaid.

    • Redav Redav on Oct 07, 2015

      Just like baseball has a "wins above replacement" stat, I suggest a "profits above replacement" stat for executives. If Sergio doesn't deliver proportionately higher profits than a replacement CEO working for half as much, then replace him.

Next