GM, Stellantis deny UAW claims they are enabling strike violence

UAW President Shawn Fain on Thursday accused General Motors and Stellantis of "enabling" violence on picket lines across the country by hiring "scab contractors," claims the companies vehemently denied as false and misleading.

In a video posted Thursday morning, Fain recounted three reports of violence and intimidation directed at striking union workers in recent days, including a hit-and-run outside a GM parts depot in Flint, Mich., that injured five people.

"These attacks on our members exercising their constitutional rights to strike and picket will not be tolerated," Fain said. "Shame on these companies for hiring violent scabs to try to break our strike."

He also accused the automakers of "standing idly by" as the perpetrators "injure and threaten the lives of their own employees."

Stellantis responded by saying it has not brought in any outside replacement workers and accused some UAW members of disorderly conduct. The company called on Fain to stop making "misleading and inflammatory statements" that will escalate the situation.

"We are appalled by the UAW's characterization of the incidents occurring on the picket lines," Stellantis said in a statement. "Since the UAW expanded its strike to our parts distribution centers last Friday, we've witnessed an escalation of dangerous, and even violent, behavior by UAW picketers at several of those facilities, including slashing truck tires, jumping on vehicles, following people home and hurling racial slurs at dedicated Stellantis employees who are merely crossing the picket line to do their jobs. The fact is, Stellantis has not hired any outside replacement workers, who Shawn Fain calls 'scabs.' Only current employees who are protecting our business and third parties making pickups and deliveries as they normally would are entering our facilities."

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that GM has planned to use salaried workers to handle parts shipments, while Stellantis has leased a nonunion warehouse and banked 30 days of inventory for 2,500 different types of parts. The newspaper said it was unclear whether Stellantis was using the warehouse or had deployed salaried staff to help move parts.

Stellantis said it was working to reach a deal with the union quickly so employees can go back to work and urged everyone involved to "de-escalate our words and actions" while the strike is ongoing.

"Words matter," the company said. "The deliberate use of inflammatory and violent rhetoric is dangerous and needs to stop. The companies are not 'the enemy' and we are not at 'war.' We respect our employees' right to advocate for their position, including their right to peacefully picket. But the violence must stop."

In the Flint incident, Fain blamed a "nonunion contractor" for injuring the five people. Local media reports said two of the five were taken by ambulance to a hospital.

GM said in a statement that the suspected driver works for an outside housekeeping company and that the person, along with two others who were allegedly in the car, has been barred from company property.

"The health and safety of all employees is General Motors' overriding priority," the company said. "On Tuesday, Sept. 26 a third-party housekeeping contractor, employed by Malace, is suspected of striking five picketing employees with his vehicle while attempting to exit the Flint Processing Center after working a shift performing normal sanitation responsibilities. GM is cooperating with local authorities in their investigation."

The company said it was conducting safety talks on all sites with active pickets "to reinforce the expectation and requirement that any employees who experience picketers blockading entry or exit to our property contact site security to help them safely proceed past the picketing employees."

The strike began Sept. 15 at three large assembly plants, moments after the UAW's contracts with the automakers expired. Last week, Fain expanded the work stoppage to 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution facilities across 20 states. Nearly 19,000 of the 146,000 UAW members at the Detroit 3 are on strike.

Fain did not send any additional Ford workers onto picket lines last week, saying the union had made "real progress" with that company.

He has planned another Facebook broadcast Friday morning during which he is expected to order more workers to walk out unless the companies have made "serious progress" at the bargaining table.