In an earlier statement, Ford said that the union responded with a “substantive counterproposal” around 8 p.m. Thursday but that the two sides remained far from a deal.
“Unfortunately, the UAW’s counterproposal tonight showed little movement from the union’s initial demands submitted Aug. 3,” it said in a statement. “The union made clear that unless we agreed to its unsustainable terms, it plans a work stoppage at 11:59 p.m. eastern.”
Under the leadership of Fain, who won election in March in part by promising to take a harder line against employers than his predecessors, the UAW largely has held firm to the “audacious” demands it laid out in early August. It budged slightly in recent days on its initial demand for wage increases totaling 40 percent.
The strike will last at least into the weekend. Fain has said the union will not bargain at all on Friday and is planning a rally with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., outside the UAW-Ford joint training center in downtown Detroit in the afternoon.
Picketing UAW members become eligible for $500-a-week payments from the union’s $825 million strike fund on the eighth day of a walkout.