(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain's hometown local in Kokomo, Indiana failed to authorize a strike against Stellantis NV, setting back his efforts to pressure the automaker to abide by investment pledges it made at the end of a six-week walkout last fall.
A vote held on Oct. 25 at UAW Local 1166 - which represents the company's Kokomo casting plant - failed to get the two-thirds support required to authorize a strike, according to an email from Stellantis sent to employees Monday. As a result, Local 1166 withdrew a grievance it had filed over Stellantis' plans to delay investment in a new auto parts hub and assembly plant in Illinois, said the email, sent by senior vice president of human resources Tobin Williams.
Stellantis declined to comment beyond confirming the accuracy of the email, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. The UAW didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Union leader Fain, who began as an electrician at a Chrysler casting plant in 1994, grew up in Kokomo, north of Indianapolis.
Stellantis and the UAW have been wrangling over the company's investment plans for months. The union is threatening to walk off over delayed investments in last fall's contract, including a promise from Stellantis to reopen a shuttered plant in Belvidere, Illinois.
The carmaker has pointed to a slowdown in demand for electric vehicles as a change that has prompted a revision in its production plans. It's said it has a right to delay investments at manufacturing facilities if business reasons justify such actions.
The UAW has filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the company of stonewalling plans on product commitments. The company has sued the union, saying the strike threat is illegal.
After the vote at Local 1166 - another local in Kokomo that represents a Stellantis transmission plant - cancelled its planned vote on strike authorization, according to the Stellantis email.
Local 230 in Los Angeles, which represents a parts distribution hub and was the first UAW local to vote in favor of a strike, also withdrew its grievance over the delayed investments in Belvidere, the email said.
The failed vote in Kokomo doesn't mean the international union can't go on strike, but it weakens its position politically, said Art Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
“If they're failing votes and not reaching the two thirds, that means this may not be the issue they want to test and go out on strike for,” he said. Usually for a strike authorization, you want in the 90% range, Wheaton said.
As part of its $19 billion contract that ended last year's strike, Stellantis agreed to create an auto parts hub in Belvidere after consolidating parts distribution centers across the country. It also agreed to restart its idled Belvidere assembly plant in 2027.
--With assistance from David Welch.
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