Fain Denounces Autoworker Killing

UAW President Shawn Fain speaking at UAW Local 1268 in Belvidere, IL on August 22, 2024

Paul Sancya, Associated Press file

Yesterday, one of our union family members was killed on the job in Toledo. He was a transfer out of Belvidere. A final indignity of being scattered from your home.

Yesterday an autoworker was killed. And tomorrow the CEO plans to head to a plant in Michigan and lecture workers about “quality.” He’s not talking about quality of life. He’s not talking about quality of our safety. He’s not talking about job quality. He’s talking about product quality. He’s saying it’s the autoworkers fault that the carmaker can’t figure out how to sell a car. The autoworker, the people who actually make the company run, understand all too well what the problem is.

The problem is a CEO with short sighted goals for his own personal gain at the expense of everybody else, the workers and the company. That’s why in the quest for more profits they outsource parts, they expect top rate product quality from our members when Stellantis pays rock bottom prices by exploiting workers elsewhere to cheaply produce parts like wiring harnesses, etc… and when the junk they’ve outsourced fails, they want to point the finger at the workers at the plant.

Because the answer for the corporate class is never to take accountability or responsibility. A worker is killed in one of Stellantis plants and the CEO wants to talk about the quality of the cars. That is inexcusable and inhumane. And that is what corporate greed does to people. It chews them up and spits them out. I am mad as hell at yet another preventable fatality.

I want to be very clear on this point: our goal is not to strike. Our goal is to bring jobs and products back to Belvidere. But if we have to strike to make that happen, we are not afraid to do what it takes. We are being very clear with Stellantis management: we have filed these grievances and are ready to resolve them. So, my message to Carlos Tavares is you better step up, or the UAW is going to Stand Up!