The president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), Shawn Fain, has accused GM and Stellantis of “hiring violent scabs” in a new video following a string of incidents against picketing UAW members. Stellantis has condemned the accusations and denied any wrongdoing. The UAW is currently striking against all three of the Big Detroit automakers (GM, Stellantis, Ford), and is set to expand strikes on Friday.
UAW President Shawn Fain addresses a crowd of UAW members
In the new two-minute video, Fain lists three separate incidents, including an incident at the GM Flint Processing Center in Michigan in which a non-union contractor injured five people after driving a Chevy HHR through a crowd of picketing UAW members. According to Fain, two of those members injured were taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Fain also lists an incident in Mansfield, Massachusetts in which a UAW member and a state senator were hit by cars on a picket line at a Stellantis parts depot, while in Ontario, California, reports indicate that picketing UAW members have had guns pulled on them by non-union truckers crossing the line at another Stellantis depot.
Fain said that the UAW “condemn[s] this violence that GM and Stellantis are enabling.”
“Shame on GM and Stellantis for hiring scab contractors and standing idly by as they injure and threaten the lives of their own employees,” Fain says in the new video, which you can view in its entirety below:
GM responded to the incident in Flint by banning the suspected contractors from GM property, stating that “the health and safety of all employees” is the company’s priority, and that it is “cooperating with local authorities in their investigation.”
Meanwhile, Stellantis was far more defensive in its response. According to Automotive News, Stellantis said that it is “appalled” by the UAW’s characterization of recent events.
“Since the UAW expanded its strike to our parts distribution centers last Friday, we’ve witnessed an escalation of dangerous, and even violent, behavior by UAW picketers at several of those facilities, including slashing truck tires, jumping on vehicles, following people home and hurling racial slurs at dedicated Stellantis employees who are merely crossing the picket line to do their jobs. The fact is, Stellantis has not hired any outside replacement workers, who Shawn Fain calls ‘scabs.’ Only current employees who are protecting our business and third parties making pickups and deliveries as they normally would are entering our facilities,” the Stellantis statement reads.
GM has reportedly asked salaried employees to cross picket lines at parts distribution centers in response to the UAW’s strike expansion last week. The UAW is currently striking against all three of the Big Detroit automakers, but the labor union previously declined to expand its strike against Ford, citing substantial progress in contract negotiations with Ford.
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Comments
How do the automakers have anything to do with this? This is legally libel.
Good point! The big three should say that until Shawn shuts his pie hole, the UAW can expect no raise whatsoever. I’ve never seen anyone be so nasty in negotiating to the point of going to the media and slandering the company your supposed to be courting.
These union guys always gives me Jimmy Hoffa mafia like vibes.
Unions have outlived their usefulness in our Country and just need to be shut down all together.
A 40% wage increase, a 20% reduction in work hours, bring back retiree pensions are some of their demands.
Where are they going to work when the big 3 go bankrupt?
Nobody’s going to comment on the fact that the union employees didn’t know the difference between a PT cruiser and an HHR?
Overheard at the picket line…”deyz all be lookin da same to me!!”
You would think they would know at their age not to play in the streets. Also, not to argue with something bigger than yourself!
They have not hired any “scabs”. They should have one gate for non-striking employees and contractors to enter and higher off-duty law enforcement to keep the peace and ensure free access and exit.
HUGE mistake, when they hired “lower” off-duty Law Enforcement.
Did you expect anything else, Shawn? People’s livelihoods are on the line, do you think they’re just going to sit back and let the largest automotive company in America slowly die?
People’s livelihoods are protected and enhanced by the strike.
Crossing the picket line, i.e. breaking the strike, is like shooting yourself in your own feet.
Every worker wins from this strike, there is one for all and all for one.
nobody wins from a strike!
After all this nonsense at parts depots you have to wonder if GM and Stellantis are exploring the possibility of selling off the parts operations to someone like AutoZone or Amazon. Pulling parts off shelves to send to dealers is neither a profit center nor a core competency for the auto makers, however, holding the car company customers hostage in this strike makes it a key to hurting the companies. Selling these parts plants off would not only free up cash for product development but probably also reduce the cost of running these operations. Since there is no valid contract in place and the workers are on strike it would seem a good time to explore it.
What I think is ridiculous is the guy saying how can they stand by and watch this happen to their employees…I’m pretty sure these employees work for the union. If they worked for the auto manufacturers, they’d have been fired for not doing their jobs.
I am not on the unions side in this. (And I’m not a company owner, I’m a construction worker in a large company) The rest of the country works 40h+ a week and they are demanding 32h weeks. I hope the manufacturers just pull the pin and shut down US operations.
GM did it in Australia when they profit level declined enough. US is next.
A good question for the Union bosses is….. Why are you out here 52 weeks a year working. I am thinking the union administration people are still gangsters like Hoffa!
Typical union bullying trying to force the company to do what they want. It’s time for companies to stand up against mafia ways .it’s no wonder cars are out of our price range.
Each facility should have a dedicated area for picketing that separates those people from others and vehicles. The 55 gallon drums and fires should go there too. This is just common sense.
Absolutely…If I ran the location, I would set up barriers that would keep the thugs on the sidewalk and the entrances clear. I would have security posted there and the local police on speed dial. In Swartz Creek, MI, where the picketers hit the car, blocking traffic in or out of a facility is against local ordinances, yet the police don’t usually step in until there is an emergency, a complaint, or violence. The rest is up to plant security. This has happened in previous strikes as well. I am pretty sure that if these overachievers were on the sidewalk, protesting peacefully as they claim, there is very little chance they would have hit a car entering or leaving the plants. Fain even came out and instructed the striking workers not to interfere with employees at the plants that were not on strike…I am pretty sure that is just lip service.
Are you serious? 30-60% raise! How bout ya cut the big shots salary, give the union baby’s 5-10% raise and go down on the price of your vehicles. Who in the hell do you crums think you are to ask for that kind of raise? I don’t get that so nor should you. GM is pricing theirselves right out of a job. Company and union employees. All you people get rich while the customer gets screwed. Well screw ya’ll. I’m sick of you crybabies. You need to build a better truck for the customer. Your rattling plastic pieces in vehicles, poorly padded seats and your AFM,DFM. You guys put that junk out and want a raise for that? You all need to wake up and get real. And that idiot smart-ass ya’ll have running your union is just padding his pocket at union members expense all the while putting employees jobs in jeopardy. Look at the rest of America and see how they have to live and what they have to do to survive. They don’t get that kind of raise and darn sure don’t get profit sharing. All of ya just go to work, do your jobs and stop screwing the customer. Honestly, I could care less about any of you. Shut the doors and go get a job flipping burgers or door greeting. Then holler 30-40% raise. See what ya get then.
I think they should just move all the jobs to right to work states forget the Union cry babies. I’ve already decided my next suv will be from one of the German manufacturers. They weren’t priced much more than GM anyway and if they cave to the unions then GM may be even more expensive but less quality.
The Hell with both the union workers and the Top brass! Let Ford,GM, and Stelantis all go bankrupt! Americans don’t need any of them. People don’t need a new car every year or two. Keep your vehicles for at least 10 years and let them suffer! S.Korea and Japan will build your next vehicle.
It seems like there’s a lot of people who think the unions are wrong with what doing, but I see it there trying to get back to making a good living! They have taken a beating for way too long. There use to be a thing called middle class jobs that made a GOOD LIVING, but the big industries have knocked them down for years and paying their self over the years way stupid amounts of salaries.
All the union haters better wake up because it will not take to many more years before there’s going to be two class of workers the getting by and the filthy rich.. oh by the way I’m not in the union..
My first new vehicle loaded down was $3850. My 2017 was $52,000 and not even loaded. The Union is the biggest cause of these rises in pricing and inflation by US government!
Gary g, at last somebody who has the sense to see what Unions do for the economy. Higher pay and benefits are good for the country. Union members buy many products, pay a lot of taxes, make the communities they work in get more money infused in their economy. Haters are going to hate. That’s what they do best.
The union is demanding more than just a GOOD LIVING for unskilled workers. If they had usable skill and were worth what they are demanding, they could go somewhere else and get a job…but they are not worth what they are demanding.
Most of the workers have the same skills as the laborers on my construction sites. The laborers make a decent living. Not as good as the plumbers or electricians but that’s the difference between a trade (skilled labor) and unskilled labor.
The mentality of I will go work for Ford without any schooling or trained skillset other than on the job training (which even retail provides on the job training) and be in the top 1% of earners but also demand 32h work weeks is why US auto manufacturing isn’t competitive anymore.
I drive only American vehicle because they used to be affordable and pretty reliable. Now they are neither.
If I were ever to buy a new vehicle again (which will be when I can’t get parts for my old American beaters), it’ll probably be a Japanese brand.
I respect ever person that goes to work. Today I bought a 19 impala with 15k miles only a few miles from the camaro plant. I grew up on the south side of Chicago in the 60s and 70s. When the 3 steel mills closed ip my church which was full of immigrants from Yugoslavia. I tell you what things turned quickly for the neighborhood. I saw first hand what happens not pretty folks. I ordered a 24 plain Jane camaro ss no goodies just to get it built. Well you see what’s going on,strike short run. The 3 hr drive home I felt kinda bad since I was told very little chance it will get built. Looking at the plant made me feel happy and sad as a American. Detroit defeated the entire countries of Germany and Japan and we still occupy them to this day. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. The working blue class union or not has been pretty much written off. Why is it you love a nfl QB to get paid 20 mill a year. A ceo 25 mill a year, and so forth. And the college educated people making 75 to 150k and if a regular dude wants 40 to 60k you think he’s a lazy thief???? Again you take what you can get and runnn.No need for ups or downs my first and last post here. At 58 I think if seen just about everything. Bless all you folks here have a kick ass weekend.
What happened to the thumb up and down? I like to see who is in the lead. Last I saw the union was behind
Shawn Fain suffers from oral diarrhea every time he opens his mouth, poop 💩 falls out!
This back and forth with the UAW and automakers is the same problem with Congress and our society. Finger pointing and blame game, it isn’t accomplishing anything! Dividing the workers and Corporations is caused by the greed and inflation that Biden caused by spending tax dollars we don’t have. The EV transition is the root cause of these issues between automakers and workers, the government has forced regulations on the industry that will eliminate jobs and increase prices that consumers must pay. Everyone loses, call your politicians and voice your displeasure with government overreach. The added costs aren’t affordable when inflation is so high no one can even afford housing, food and transportation! Citizens can’t possibly keep up with costs in this environment. I can’t blame labor or anyone for trying to get fair compensation for their work. Wages haven’t kept up with inflation for decades, now it’s impossible to make ends meet with high inflation and interest rates. Consumers have too much debt and interest rates are going to affect housing and autos long term, unfortunately this isn’t going to get better soon. Hopefully a long strike can be averted.