Employees at Detroit’s trio of major automakers have voted overwhelmingly to grant union leaders the authority to declare a strike in the event that no contract is reached by the forthcoming deadline in the following month.

The union, United Auto Workers (UAW), made this announcement on Friday, Barron’s reported.

United Auto Workers revealed that they secured support from at least 95 percent of the workforce for a potential strike at General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis if ongoing negotiations fail to yield a contract by the cutoff date of September 14.

Notably, the level of support averaged around 97 percent across the three companies.

While this vote was widely anticipated, it should be noted that it does not automatically translate to a work stoppage.

Instead, it provides Shawn Fain, the recently inaugurated President of UAW, an added bargaining chip during the negotiation process.

Fain has expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of negotiations by the companies up to this point.

Written by staff