TOLEDO, Ohio — UAW Local 14 president Tony Totty said the contract negotiations underway between the Big Three -- GM, Ford and Stellantis -- and the UAW are unprecedented.
Local 14 represents workers at the Toledo GM Propulsion Systems plant on West Alexis Road. Totty said the talks are unprecedented because negotiators haven’t had to factor in the electric vehicle revolution before.
“When you look at the battery facilities that are being produced outside of our agreements, they need to come back in our agreements,” Totty said.
The Big Three have made pledges to higher rates of electric vehicle production in the next 10-15 years. While it seems like momentum, Totty said it may be all for naught if the UAW doesn’t get a deal that includes workers at Big Three-affiliated battery plants.
"I view it as a deal breaker,” Totty said. “If we don't get those battery facilities into our agreement, where do the engine facility members go if they close their facility, because EVs don't take an engine? Right? We have people at our facility from Lordstown, but there's a battery facility right there in Lordstown that General Motors owns that they can't go to. So now they have to maintain two households and that's not right and that's not fair."
Sunday morning on WTOL 11’s Leading Edge, Totty discusses not only what’s at stake in these negotiations, but also why they’re telling union workers to be ready to strike.
The last time that happened was a 40-day strike in 2019. As a result, GM reported a fourth quarter loss of $3.6 billion. Totty also discusses the youth movement in Toledo when it comes to manufacturing, and why the UAW is tapping the brakes on a White House endorsement.
Leading Edge airs Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
