The United Auto Workers (UAW) strike has been making headlines recently, but nothing quite as surprising as the major news related to the UAW/Big 3 negotiations that broke overnight involving UAW Communications Jonah Furman, who reports to UAW President Shawn Fain.
As first reported by the Detroit News, a series of private messages were leaked from Fruman’s X/Twitter account, providing a look behind the scenes at the “scorched earth” negotiation strategy that the UAW is utilizing against the Big 3 automakers in Detroit.
According to the article, messaging from Furman included:
“Union negotiators are using bargaining sessions to inflict “recurring reputation damage and operational chaos” on the Detroit automakers.
“(I)f we can keep them wounded for months they don’t know what to do. The beauty is we’ve laid it all out in the public and they’re still helpless to stop it.”
“And creating compression points of national attention for them to do the right thing is way different than just waiting for a month for the next offer. Plus, we’re breaking pattern and they’re bargaining against each other for the first time in 70 years.”
“And we can calibrate it exactly to their moves at the table. If Ford and GM won’t move, but Stellantis will, we can spare them” — and, for the first time in the union’s history, break its long-sacred practice of pattern bargaining by turning competitive rivals against one another in a bid to secure the best deal for dues-paying members.”
As we write this, UAW President Shawn Fain is just minutes away from going on Facebook Live to announce what everyone believes will be an expansion of the so-called “Stand Up Strike” strategy that Furman refers to in his texts.
Unsurprisingly, the Big 3 reacted with dismay to the messaging in the texts. “It’s disappointing, to say the least, given what is at stake for our employees, the companies, and this region,” said Ford’s chief communications officer, Mark Truby, in a response to the leaked remarks. “For our part, we will continue to work day and night, bargaining in good faith, to reach an agreement that rewards our workforce and allows Ford to invest in a vibrant and growing future.”
UAW President Shawn Fain has stated that the union is “available 24/7 to bargain a deal”, but this news makes you wonder if that is really true. We will definitely be keeping an eye on this story as it unfolds, and we will be keeping on how long Fain can sustain this strategy in the face of the economic pain an extended strike will bring to his membership.
