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Yesterday, the Detroit News got hold of some leaked messages from a group chat on X. The messages, which belonged to a close aide to UAW leader Shawn Fain, appear to spell out the union’s strategy in the current negotiations.
…a close aide to Fain writes that union negotiators are using bargaining sessions to inflict “recurring reputations 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.”
The explanation from Jonah Furman, one of the union’s communications directors whose messages were confirmed by The News, continues: “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”
Three points to note about this. First, it sounds like the UAW had no intention of resolving this quickly or negotiating in good faith. The bargaining sessions are simply a place to inflict damage and chaos. The goal seems to be to make this drag on “for months.”
Second, the goal is to play the Big Three off one another, sparing whoever caves first from further pain. More on that in a moment.
Third, did these notes really leak or is this part of the plan as well? The car companies have all announced their disappointment:
GM said in a statement that it’s “now clear that the UAW leadership has always intended to cause months-long disruption, regardless of the harm it causes to its members and their communities.
