Dallas-area auto parts workers join nationwide strike

Parts distribution workers in Roanoke and Carrollton have joined a nationwide strike against GM and Stellantis, which produces Dodge and Chrysler.

What's happening: The United Auto Workers wants wage increases and better benefits for the nearly 150,000 unionized workers at the Big Three.

• The automakers want a contract that allows them to maintain profits and sell electric vehicles at an affordable price.

Why it matters: There's never been a strike against all three automakers at once, and this one could stretch out for a long time, Axios' Nathan Bomey and Joann Muller report.

• North Texas has several facilities that serve the automakers, including the 404,000-square-foot Roanoke parts distribution center where workers are striking.

State of strike: The contract between the United Auto Workers union and Ford, General Motors and Stellantis expired Sept. 15.

• UAW president Shawn Fain said on Friday that there was "serious" progress at Ford, but "it's a different story" at GM and Stellantis, indicating that those two might be tougher to bargain with.
• He also announced that the strike would expand to more locations, including the Fort Worth Parts Distribution Center in Roanoke and a Stellantis facility in Carrollton.
• The strike now spans 38 locations across 20 states, according to the UAW.

Between the lines: The union is conducting a selective strike strategy, picketing at specific plants depending on how much progress it makes with bargaining, instead of striking at all locations.

• The UAW hasn't called on workers at Arlington's massive GM assembly plant to strike.

What they're saying: "We will shut down parts distribution until those two companies (GM and Stellantis) come to their senses and come to the table with a serious offer," Fain said.

Zoom in: United Auto Workers members picketed all weekend in Carrollton and Roanoke.

• "We're representing the working class … The message we want to send is, as working people, a fair day of work should deserve a fair day of pay," Cleo Wynn, president of UAW 2360 for the Roanoke and Carrollton workers, tells Axios.

The other side: "The fundamental reality is that the UAW's demands can be described in one word — untenable," GM president Mark Reuss said in a Detroit Free Press op-ed.

Meanwhile: President Biden is scheduled to walk the picket line in Michigan today. It will be the first time a sitting president has done so.

Go deeper: How the strike is scrambling political alliances