UAW gears up to organize at Toyota, other nonunion automakers

DETROIT/WASHINGTON — The United Auto Workers on Thursday signaled the next step in the union's campaign to capitalize on its success in bargaining with the Detroit Three: launching organizing drives at Toyota, Tesla and other nonunion U.S. auto factories.

UAW President Shawn Fain began his video comments on the Stellantis contract with an appeal to workers at Toyota, which on Wednesday offered pay and benefit increases after the Detroit Three contract talks concluded.

«They could have just as easily raised wages a month ago or a year ago,» Fain said of Toyota. «They did it now because the company knows we're coming for 'em.»

He said the UAW's new contracts were so good they had even led to nonunion auto workers getting raises.

«Terrified auto executives across the country are rushing to give their own employees raises in the hopes of fending off the UAW,» Fain added. «Toyota's future won't be determined in the boardrooms. It'll be determined on the plant floor.»

The UAW has tried and failed for years to organize nonunion U.S. auto factories, most of them built by Asian and European legacy automakers in southern U.S. states where so-called «right to work» labor laws make it optional for workers to pay union dues.

Other foreign automakers are reviewing recent auto sector wage hikes. Honda told Reuters it was evaluating the recent UAW deals with the Detroit Three automakers and would remain competitive.

Before Fain spoke, Toyota said working together with its plant workers had provided a history of stable employment and income for its employees.

«The decision to unionize is ultimately made by our employees,» the Japanese automaker said in a statement.

Fain has used recent video addresses to telegraph the union's determination to organize workers at nonunion automakers after record wage increases won in tentative agreements with Stellantis, General Motors and Ford.

«One of our biggest goals coming out of this historic contract victory is to organize like we’ve never organized before,» Fain said on Sunday. «When we return to the bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with the Big Three, but with the Big Five or Big Six.»

UAW Region 8 director Tim Smith, whose territory