United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is pressing ahead with plans to organize non-union car companies after winning historic concessions from the Big Three automakers.
At an automotive conference, Mr. Fain said his union will be doing whatever it can to expand organized labor in the U.S. auto industry.
“We’re going to pull out all the stops,” he said at the Reuters Events auto conference on Wednesday. “We’re going to leverage every avenue we can, and we’re going to find creative ways to get to workers. We’re going to employ everything we can to support workers and give them what they need.”
Mr. Fain said that his attitude and the contract his union won have already enticed a significant number of non-union autoworkers. He claimed that he has already heard from workers at several non-union plants who wish to join with UAW.
He also said that UAW’s victories have scared non-union car companies so badly that they’ve already started hiking wages. Japanese automotive giant Toyota announced wage increases for its non-union employees. The announcement came just days after UAW secured tentative contracts with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the Italian-American conglomerate that owns Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat.
UAW, the biggest automotive union in the country, has tried for decades to organize international and domestic non-union automakers. However, anti-union sentiment and strong Right to Work laws have kept UAW from winning any significant victories at companies like Toyota or Mercedes.
Still, Mr. Fain and his union seem adamant that workers at companies like Tesla will soon be flying the UAW banner.
“When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with the Big Three, but with the Big Five or Big Six,” he said.