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shawn fain
UAW Touts Stellantis Vow to Reopen Belvidere Plant as Win for Workers
"The future of Illinois manufacturing depends on the power of our workforce," said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
Jan 23, 2025
The automaker Stellantis announced Wednesday that it will build the next generation Dodge Durango at its Detroit Assembly Complex and will reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois—two issues that the United Auto Workers union said the firm had agreed to in a 2023 union contract, but then had tried to walk back.
According to the announcement, the reopening of the Belvidere plant will return some 1,500 UAW-represented employees back to work there, and the plant will also be used to produce a new mid-sized pick up truck.
Democratic lawmakers and the UAW leadership cheered the development. In a letter released Wednesday, UAW president Shawn Fain and UAW Stellantis Department director Kevin Gotinsky wrote that the "victory is a testament to workers standing together."
On X, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) wrote: "The future of Illinois manufacturing depends on the power of our workforce. Proud to see Stellantis honor their historic deal with UAW—bringing 1,500+ jobs back to their Belvidere Assembly Plant. Incredible win for Illinois." The AFL-CIO posted on X, cheering the development, as did Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).
The United Auto Workers represents unionized workers at Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), as well as General Motors and Ford. UAW-represented workers ratified a contract with the three automakers, collectively known as "the Big Three," that yielded worker wage gains in 2023.
According to the union, Stellantis agreed in the 2023 contract to reopen the Belvidere plant and to manufacture the next generation Dodge Durango in Detroit, but the company's old leadership had failed to uphold those commitments.
Former CEO Carlos Tavares, who spearheaded aggressive targets for sales and cost cuts and tangled with both the board and the union, according to Reuters, resigned in December. The letter from Fain and Gotinsky credited the union members with his exit.
"Thank you to the thousands of members and leaders who rallied, marched, filed grievances, and talked to coworkers. Your solidarity forced Carlos Tavares out as CEO of this company, and it's been a game-changer. Since Antonio Filosa has taken over as North American COO at Stellantis, we have been meeting with their team, and the difference is clear," according to the letter from Fain and Gotinsky.
The union had filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the automaker of unlawfully refusing to release information about plans to move Dodge Durango production from a Detroit factory to one outside of the United States, and also filed grievances over delays in reopening the plant in Belvidere, according to The Associated Press. Union members had threatened to strike over the issue of the Belvidere plant.
In October 2024, members of the Senate and the House of Representatives sent two separate letters to Stellantis leadership urging them to keep the company's commitments.
On Wednesday, Stellantis "also committed to a significant investment in Kokomo, announcing plans to build Phase II of the GME-T4 EVO engine beginning in 2026, reversing plans to move work out of this country. There will be no change to existing GME-T4 EVO production at the Dundee Engine Plant. Finally, the company committed to increased component production at the Toledo Machining Plant," according to a press statement from UAW.
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Unions Say Building Worker Power Is Only Way to Defeat Trump's Fascist Right
"No one—not Donald Trump or JD Vance, nor any one CEO—can stop solidarity," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler. "Organized labor is the path forward."
Nov 07, 2024
The largest labor unions in the United States are ready for a fight.
That much was made clear within hours of Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in Tuesday's election, an outcome that will soon bring to power a former president who aggressively pursued anti-worker policies during his first four years in the White House despite posturing as an ally of rank-and-file union members.
For Shawn Fain, the fiery president of the United Auto Workers, the struggle for the nation's working class in the wake of Trump's victory is identical to the one it faced prior to the election: "unchecked corporate greed destroying our lives, our families, and our communities."
"It's the threat of companies like Stellantis, Mack Truck, and John Deere shipping jobs overseas to boost shareholder profits. It's the threat of corporate America telling the working class to sit down and shut up," said Fain, who led the UAW through a six-week strike last year that yielded historic contracts with the nation's three largest car manufacturers.
"We've said all along that no matter who is in the White House, our fight remains the same," Fain added. "The fight for a living wage, affordable healthcare, and time for our families continues. It's time for Washington, D.C. to put up or shut up, no matter the party, no matter the candidate. Will our government stand with the working class, or keep doing the bidding of the billionaires? That's the question we face today. And that's the question we'll face tomorrow. The answer lies with us. No matter who's in office."
"We've seen assaults on our fundamental rights before. In the days, months, and years ahead, labor's task will be to defend working people when it happens again."
While energized by recent victories, the U.S. labor movement is broadly in disrepair, battered by a decades-long corporate assault. Last year, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country's union membership rate was just 10%, down from 20.1% in 1983.
And union members were hardly unified behind one candidate in Tuesday's election:
Exit polling shows that members of union households backed Harris by a relatively narrow margin of 53% to Trump's 45%.
But organized labor, weakened and divided as it is, still represents "the most promising and powerful tool to turn this all around," journalist Hamilton Nolan wrote for In These Times on Wednesday.
In a separate piece ahead of Tuesday's election, Nolan argued that "unions are inherently progressive."
"Not because they endorse a particular political party, but because the nature of the work they do is about empowering the working class and increasing equality and enabling regular people to stand up effectively to the power of capital, of the rich, of corporations, of unrestrained capitalism," he wrote. "When you win a union and sign a union contract it is not just an act of improving your own life and the lives of your coworkers; it is a battle won in the class war. And the political war that you are stressed about right now is, at its heart, a class war."
Claude Cummings, president of the Communications Workers of America, affirmed that message in a statement following Tuesday's election, saying that "corporate CEOs are intent on dividing us against each other so they can drive down wages and cut corners on safety to boost profits for big investors."
"Now it is time to reunite around our shared values," said Cummings. "No matter who is in office, our goals are always the same—to use our collective power to protect our rights, to improve our working conditions, and to give everyone an opportunity to have a union voice on the job."
Want to build worker power against the billionaires and corporate CEOs? Form a union. https://t.co/OfgO2NOTVk
— CWA (@CWAUnion) November 7, 2024
In the second Trump administration, unions are likely to face a billionaire-shaped government hostile to organized labor's rights and aspirations for a more just and equitable society.
While no final decisions have been made, The Washington Postreported earlier this month that Trump sees former fast-food executive Andrew Puzder—an enemy of unions and opponent of raising the minimum wage—as a top contender for the labor secretary post. Trump selected Puzder for the role in his first White House term, but Puzder withdrew his nomination in the face of bipartisan backlash.
The Post also reported that Trump intends to fire National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo—a champion of workers—on day one and "reverse wins for unions under Biden," including "a 2023 landmark ruling that forces employers found using illegal tactics to fight labor organizing to recognize unions." The NLRB ruling has provided a boost to unionization efforts.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, said in a statement Wednesday that the Project 2025 agenda crafted by Trump allies and members of his first administration "promises to dismantle labor unions because we are a pillar of democracy and a check on power."
Acknowledging that Trump's win represents "a blow for every worker who depends on our elected leaders to fight for our jobs, our unions, and our contracts," Shuler said that "we stand for solidarity—the kind that is built when working people stand together to take on the biggest, richest bosses and the most powerful extremist politicians."
"Most importantly, we know how to fight back when anyone comes after our freedoms," said Shuler. "No one—not Donald Trump or JD Vance, nor any one CEO—can stop solidarity. Organized labor is the path forward."
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) president April Verrett echoed that sentiment.
"We are putting corporations, billionaires, and extremist politicians on notice—we see you, we know just what you're trying to do, and we won’t back down. We know what it's like to face down bullies," Verrett added. "We will not allow anyone to take away our fundamental rights and freedoms. Hear us: when you attack just one of us, you're attacking every worker who makes our communities, our economy, and our nation strong."
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Ignore the Cosplay. Trump's Record Shows He 'Does Not Give a Damn About Working-Class People'
"Donald Trump left workers behind when he was president," said United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain.
Nov 04, 2024
The final stretch of the 2024 U.S. presidential race has seen Donald Trump, the billionaire Republican nominee, perform a staged shift at a Pennsylvania McDonald's and dress as a garbage truck driver in a clear effort to appeal to working-class voters who are set to play a decisive role in Tuesday's election.
But a detailed examination of Trump's first four-year term in the White House shows that despite his recent cosplaying, the GOP nominee was no ally of the working class when he was in a position to influence and enact policy.
"When Donald Trump was president, he repeatedly tried to raise the rent on at least 4 million of the poorest people in this country, many of them elderly or disabled," the investigative outlet ProPublicareported over the weekend. "He proposed to cut the federal disability benefits of a quarter-million low-income children, on the grounds that someone else in their family was already receiving benefits. He attempted to put in place a requirement that poor parents cooperate with child support enforcement, including by having single mothers disclose their sexual histories, before they and their children could receive food assistance."
Additionally, the outlet noted, Trump "tried to enact a rule allowing employers to pocket workers' tips" and succeeded in enacting "a rule denying overtime pay to millions of low-wage workers if they made more than $35,568 a year"—all of which casts serious doubt on the Republican candidate's pledge to prioritize the economic interests of U.S. workers in a second term.
ProPublica also analyzed Trump's proposed federal budgets from 2018 to 2021 and found that the former president "advanced an agenda across his administration that was designed to cut healthcare, food, and housing programs and labor protections for poor and working-class Americans."
Meanwhile, Trump worked with his Republican allies in Congress to ram through a massive tax cut for the rich and large corporations—a measure he wants to double down on if he defeats Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Tuesday.
Trump's 2024 campaign has featured some policy proposals aimed at boosting the working class, such as eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.
But economists and progressive organizers have argued that the benefits of such policy changes would be marginal compared to broader proposals that Trump has not backed, such as raising the federal minimum wage and eliminating subminimum wages for tipped workers. A recent Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analysis found that Trump's economic plans overall would cut taxes for the richest 5% of U.S. households while raising them for the bottom 95%.
During his McDonald's stunt last month, Trump ignored a question about whether he supports raising the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for over 15 years. Harris, by contrast, has expressed support for lifting the federal wage floor to at least $15 an hour.
"He does not give a damn about working-class people," United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain said of Trump during an appearance on MSNBC alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) late last week. "Donald Trump left workers behind when he was president. He did nothing to stop manufacturing plants leaving this country."
"With the Harris and Biden administration, we have seen a bigger investment in this country and manufacturing than I have ever seen in my lifetime. They walk the walk," Fain added. "Trump is all talk."
In a video message to the country ahead of Election Day, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) similarly criticized Trump as an opponent of union rights and argued Harris is the "clear" choice for those who want to improve the lives of working-class Americans.
"While some of us may have differences of opinion and disagree with Kamala Harris on this or that issue, I hope very much we will not sit out this election. We cannot sit it out," said Sanders. "So let's get involved. Let's do everything we can. Let's come out and vote on Election Day, and let's make sure that Donald Trump is defeated and that Kamala Harris is our next president."
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