Dallas-area auto parts workers join nationwide strike
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.

Workers in Carrollton join the nationwide UAW strike. Photo: Naheed Rajwani-Dharsi/Axios
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.
