LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Autoworkers have voted overwhelmingly to give union leaders the authority to call strikes against Detroit car companies if a contract agreement isn't reached.
The United Auto Workers union said Friday that 97% have voted in favor of authorizing one or more strikes against Stellantis, General Motors and Ford. Such votes are almost always approved by large margins.
Contracts between the union representing about 146,000 workers at Stellantis, General Motors and Ford expire at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14. Fain said earlier this week that negotiations with the companies are not progressing fast enough. But he also said a strike is not inevitable.
Contract talks with the Detroit automakers began in July, but Fain has consistently said the companies aren't bargaining seriously.
In a statement Friday, the UAW said the vote does not guarantee that a strike will be called.
Fain told members on Facebook Live on Friday that the union still hasn't picked a target company for a strike and could walk out against all three. "Things could always shift in bargaining if something miraculous happened with one of the companies; it could change," he said. "We want contracts by Sept. 14 with all three."
The companies have said they're bargaining in good faith at a time of unprecedented change in the auto business. The industry is spending billions to make the transition from internal combustion engines to battery power to cut pollution and to fight climate change.
Stellantis, which has drawn much of Fain's ire in recent weeks, said Friday that negotiations "continue to be constructive and collaborative." The company said it wants an agreement that will balance employee concerns and position Stellantis to "meet the challenges [of the] U.S. marketplace and secures the future for all of our employees, their families and our company."
Ford said it's working with the UAW on "creative solutions during this time when our dramatically changing industry needs a skilled and competitive workforce more than ever."
The union is seeking a 40% pay increase, restoration of pensions for new hires, elimination of wage tiers and other items. Fain has often told workers they have to be ready to strike in order to achieve gains from the profitable automakers.
The union also wants to represent joint venture electric vehicle battery plants being built by the companies, and it's seeking top union wages at those factories.
Jason Hale, an assembly line inspector at Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, said he voted to authorize a strike.
He hopes the union will be able to win general pay raises and restore cost-of-living pay increases and pensions for all workers. Cost of living is the most important, he said.
"They're just making too much money and not giving us enough."
He thinks the union should strike all three companies at the same time. "That would show solidarity and we're here to mean business," he said.
A national strike at all three companies, though unlikely, could represent a total economic loss of $5.6 billion if it lasted 10 days, according to East Lansing's Anderson Economic Group, a consulting group that also has done work for automakers like GM and Ford, its website says.
John Barbosa, 52, of Clinton Township has been a UAW member for nearly 19 years and is a millwright apprentice at Stellantis NV's Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio that builds the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator.
"It is a little bit of a scary time around the talks on both sides. It's not an easy thing," he said ahead of voting to approve the strike authorization. "I see a lot of anxiety from co-workers ... from the dirty tactics of the company that they try to use and put fear into people.
"I am proud of my union brothers and sisters," he continued. "It's good to see the resolve, and that they're willing to stand up."
The UAW reported that the strike authorization vote by GM workers passed by 96%. The results "put the company on notice," Mike Booth, UAW vice president and director of the union's GM department, said in a statement.
GM spokesperson Pat Morrissey said in a statement: "We continue to work hard with the UAW every day and bargain in good faith to ensure we get this agreement right for our team members, our customers, suppliers, the community and the business."
Information for this article was contributed by Jordyn Grzelewski and Breana Noble of The Detroit News (TNS).