Indiana Chamber STILL Stands With Automakers in UAW Strike

Hoosier businesses, workers and their families are the ones most negatively impacted as the strike initiated by the United Auto Workers (UAW) against the “Big Three” Detroit automakers – Ford, General Motors and Stellantis – drags on for a fifth week.

And at this point, unfortunately, it shows no sign of ending or the UAW willing to negotiate in good faith for a new labor contract.

Already as a direct result of the strike, General Motors laid off union workers at the Marion Metal Center in Marion earlier this month and Stellantis on Friday announced it has temporarily laid off another 700 workers in Kokomo as a result of the strike. (The employees come from the automaker’s Kokomo Transmission and Kokomo Casting plants.)

In a statement, Stellantis said the move is a consequence of the strike action at its Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio.

“These plants have reached maximum inventory levels of the parts or components they supply for the Jeep Wrangler or Jeep Gladiator. In total, the company now has 1,340 employees on temporary layoff across three states.”

The Indiana Chamber stands firmly with the Big Three employers. They have made generous offers to the UAW only to be rebuffed and referred to the UAW’s list of remarkably unreasonable demands (called “audacious” even by the UAW president). Automakers, for example, have offered double-digit wage increases. But that and other efforts are not enough for the UAW, which is emboldened as a result of the Biden administration’s dangerous promotion of unions above all else.

Without a resolution, far more layoffs are looming in Indiana and across the country. Not only for the automakers, but for the non-union suppliers who make parts for the Big Three, as well as the more ancillary establishments like local restaurants and retailers who count on the consistent business of the autoworkers and their families.

If it keeps going, the auto strike will impact thousands of businesses and millions of Americans – including far too many in Indiana.

We strongly urge the UAW – led by its president, a Kokomo native – to do what’s right. Take the reasonable offers on the table and end the strike.