A first time ever Members Handshake has kicked off the UAW’s side of contract talks with the Big 3. UAW President Shawn Fain, who skipped the traditional handshake with automotive company leaders ahead of the negotiations, instead met with workers outside the main gate at Chrysler’s Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. He talked about his role in the UAW.
“We’re in this together,” Fain said. “We’ve got to stand together. We work for you. For years, it’s always been this top-down hierarchy, and that’s not what this is anymore. You elected me, and I work for you.”
Fain and the UAW Team are also going to GM’s Factory Zero in Detroit and Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne. He says the three main issues in this years talks will be wages, temporary and part time workers transitioning to full time, and pensions. The talks began in earnest Thursday.
