UAW threatens to escalate strike as negotiations with automakers stall

UAW president Shawn Fain, right: ‘They thought they figured out the so-called rules of the game, so we changed the rules, and now there’s only one rule: pony up.’ Photograph: Pat Nabong/AP

United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain threatened to escalate the union’s strike actions on Friday as talks with the US’s biggest auto manufacturers appeared to have stalled.

The strike is in its fourth week and Fain has been updating members on progress and new strike actions each Friday. Fain said Ford, Stellantis and General Motors have used that timetable to hold back negotiations until late in the week. From now on, strikes can be called at any time, he said.