The United Automobile Workers union announced on Tuesday that 5,000 workers at a G.M. plant in Texas would join its ongoing targeted strike against the Big Three automakers. This comes just a day after 6,800 workers at a Michigan Stellantis plant joined the strike.
In total, the roughly 45,000 workers on strike represent about 30 percent of the 150,000 U.A.W. members who work at those companies.
The expansion of the work stoppage could have a ripple effect, forcing other plants owned by the automakers and their suppliers to halt production, and the union has not ruled out a full-scale walkout. Should all U.A.W. members eventually go on strike, it would bring work stoppages in the United States this year to heights rarely seen in recent decades.