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UAW Strikes GM Truck Plant in Arlington, Texas

October 24, 2023

The UAW went on strike on Tuesday at General Motor’s truck and SUV plant in Arlington, Texas – the automakers’ largest assembly plant in the US.

The union said it made the move because Detroit-based GM’s latest contract offer “lags behind” that of Ford.

Namely, the UAW said it was seeking a swifter timeline for ending tiers (in which newer workers receive less pay and benefits than more senior workers), better 401(k) terms, and improved cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs).

The union contended that GM could afford a more generous contract after posting another quarter of strong earnings.

GM recorded a profit of $8.03 billion through the first nine months of 2023, up 1% from $7.94 billion in the same period last year, according to third-quarter earnings data released on Tuesday.

“As we’ve said for months: record profits equal record contracts. It’s time GM workers, and the whole working class, get their fair share,” UAW president Shawn Fain said in a statement.

General Motors said it was “disappointed” by the escalation of the strike despite the “substantial” increases in wages and benefits it has offered to union members.

“It is harming our team members who are sacrificing their livelihoods and having negative ripple effects on our dealers, suppliers, and the communities that rely on us,” the company said in a statement.

UAW Warned Last Week of Truck Plant Strikes This Week

Fain warned on Friday that the UAW might strike Arlington if GM did not match Ford’s offer.

GM’s Arlington assembly plant employs more than 5,300 hundred workers. It makes the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban SUVs, the GM Yukon and Yukon XL SUVs, and the Cadillac Escalade and Escalade-V SUVs.

The strike there comes just a day after the union struck Stellantis’ truck plant in Sterling Heights, Mich. – its largest facility in the US.

It also comes roughly two weeks after the UAW launched a surprise strike at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, one of the largest manufacturing facilities in the US and among Ford’s most profitable.

In short, Fain has gone along with calls from some union members to “bring down the hammer” on the truck plants of the Detroit-area “Big Three”.

Those plants make pickup trucks and SUVs, the Big Three’s best-selling and most profitable vehicles.

The UAW strike, which began on Sept. 15, is now in its sixth week.

Michael Cowden

Michael Cowden is managing editor for Steel Market Update. Cowden has covered the steel industry since 2007. He has since 2014 specialized in flat-rolled steel but has previously reported on steel long products, steel pipe and tube as well as aluminum. Before joining SMU, Cowden held reporting jobs at Fastmarkets AMM in Chicago - where he was involved in launching AMM's daily hot-rolled coil index, the Associated Press in Pittsburgh, and the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a copy editor and in marketing at the University of Chicago Press. Cowden has a BA in English from the University of Chicago and an MSJ journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Contact him at michael@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7872.