UAW sets Friday deadline for more plant strike

Chicago, US | Xinhua |  The Detroit-based United Auto Workers (UAW) has set Friday as a deadline for more walkout as the union’s strike against the Big Three U.S. automakers enters the fifth day.

If the union does not see serious progress in negotiations with the three companies, it will spread the strike to more plants Friday, said UAW President Shawn Fain in a video released late Monday on YouTube.

That would be one week after the union put on strike at three separate Detroit automaker facilities, namely a GM assembly plant in Missouri, a Stellantis plant in Ohio and a Ford plant in Michigan, and involving a combined 12,700 workers.

Stellantis’ most recent offer included more than 1 billion dollars toward retirement benefits for current employees and retirees. The union, however, has been to seek pensions and retirement health care coverage for all workers, Mark Stewart, the company’s chief operating officer in North America told local media on Tuesday. ■