(Reuters) – The United Auto Workers (UAW) union said on Friday it would expand its coordinated strike against General Motors Co and Stellantis but added that it had made real progress in talks with Ford Motor.
The escalation comes as the labor group and the automakers remain apart on terms of a new contract covering 146,000 workers.
Here is what industry experts are saying about the expansion of the strike that began last week:
BRANDON PIZZURRO, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INVESTMENTS AT GUIDESTONE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT:
“Any type of thawing in the talks between the unions and the automakers is worth cheering since they employ a lot of people, certainly the large companies such as Ford that do have an impact on supply chains and everything else. So, when you can see them maybe coming to a resolution, clearly the stock is reacting positively to that potential news that allows them to get over the hurdle of getting workers back in the factory.”
DANIEL IVES, ANALYST AT WEDBUSH SECURITIES:
“This becomes a full on tidal wave of strikes for GM and Stellantis. Now the worst case fears are coming true.”
“This is like union 101 in terms of divide and conquer and put more pressure on GM and Stellantis. But devil’s in the details because if Ford took a nightmare deal that could potentially derail their business model permanently.”
“I think GM and Stellantis are going to fight this. There are business model differences with Ford and they have more to lose.”
ARTHUR WHEATON, DIRECTOR OF LABOR STUDIES AT CORNELL’S SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS:
“I think it is a great strategy going after the distribution centers.”
“Car dealerships make money off of people coming in to service their cars. That’s how they make a lot of their money.”
“Ford has a very long history of having much better labor relations skills and relationship with the union than either General Motors or what’s now called Stellantis. Way ahead.”
“If they get that deal at Ford, there’s a good chance they will be able to get most of that if not all of that at GM and then my fingers are crossed they’ll get something good at Stellantis. But I am less confident Stellantis can work it out because they are by far the worst of the three with labor relations.”
TODD VACHON, PROFESSOR OF LABOR STUDIES AT RUTGERS:
“We’re just one week into this – as we go into the second week the effects are really going to start to ripple out into the economy.”
“A lot of dealers overtime adopted this just in time system, just like the manufacturers where they don’t like to keep a lot of stock on hand. As parts that are in circulation right now start to diminish, people are going to be going to their dealer saying I need this repaired and the dealer is not gonna be able to get an access to a particular part if that shop is on strike.”
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru, Peter Henderson and Bianca Flowers; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
