DETROIT (WWJ) – As the United Auto Workers strike against the Detroit Three automakers enters a second full week, Ford appears to have a slight edge over General Motors and Stellantis when it comes to negotiations.
Ford wasn't included in the Friday expansion of the UAW strike and the company got narrow ratification on a new contract with Canadian auto workers over the weekend.
Despite making progress on a number of issues with the UAW – including job security and cost of living – the union says they are not yet near a tentative deal with Ford as they remain far apart on improvements to wages and pensions, according to WWJ AutoBeat reporter Jeff Gilbert.
While the UAW spent the weekend in talks with all three automakers, there's no word on how much progress may have been made, according to Gilbert.
As the strike expanded Friday to include a number of parts distribution centers across the country, among the new facilities on strike is the Stellantis Parts Distribution Center in Center Line.
Workers on the picket line there Monday morning told WWJ's Charlie Langton they feel dealerships will soon start to feel the effects of the strike, possibly as early as this week.
Center Line police were on-hand Monday to make sure the trucks that had to get in were able to do so.
"We're out here striking out here at MOPAR and they're bringing in scab workers over here and trucks and we're trying to stop them the best we can, but the police say we can't stop them, we gotta let them in," said Richard Dorsch, a 29-year Stellantis worker.
Langton says the law dictates picketing workers must allow trucks to cross the picket line.
Other workers in Center Line say big issues for them include better working conditions and an end to the tiered-wage system.
"Turnover here – not so much here, but at the assembly plants – their turnover is massive. These younger people are coming in, they're starting at very low wages, they work a day, maybe a week – some of them start and they leave at lunch time. It's very hard work in the assembly plants and they need to be brought up a lot quicker," one man from Clinton Township said.
Meanwhile, this is the week the strike will become intertwined with presidential politics. President Joe Biden is set to come to town Tuesday to join workers on the picket line. Former President Donald Trump will come to Michigan Wednesday to meet with workers away from the picket lines.
