The clock is ticking for a Big Three Detroit automaker on a new contract deal.
Collective bargaining agreements between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and General Motors expire Saturday night at midnight. While negotiations continue with GM, the UAW's bargaining units have extended the contract deadlines for Ford and Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), according to multiple sources.
Detroit television station WXYZ reported that according to a UAW spokesperson, the extensions can be ended by putting in three days' notice. However, a strike is still possible at GM since its contract is currently in negotiations and there was no extension past the Saturday deadline. According to the Detroit Free Press, the UAW has not had a national strike since 1982.
The UAW chose GM as its first negotiation target last week. Traditionally, the first new contract for an automaker serves as a framework for the other two automakers, which in this case are Ford and FCA.
Workers at all three Detroit automakers have overwhelmingly approved strike authorization.
The planned closure of the GM plant in Oshawa is likely on the minds of those at the bargaining table, as GM announced they were closing it and four other plants in what the automaker called a global restructuring, caused by a change in consumer automotive tastes toward crossover vehicles and SUVs.
The union is facing its own set of challenges. Crain's Automotive News reports that president Gary Jones and his successor, Dennis Williams, were implicated as unnamed officials in a complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Department against a UAW board member on Thursday. Jones and Williams have not been charged with any wrongdoing.