Shawn Fain’s DNC Speech Put Stellantis on Notice

In his speech on the Democratic National Convention’s (DNC) opening night, United Auto Workers (UAW) international president Shawn Fain opened by wishing a good evening “to the people who make this world move: the working class.” The union has endorsed Kamala Harris and on the convention stage, dressed in a T-shirt reading “Trump is a scab,” Fain described the Republican presidential ticket of Donald Trump and J. D. Vance as “two lap dogs for the billionaire class who only serve themselves.”

It’s remarkable rhetoric to hear from a prime-time speaker slot at the DNC, and it elicited raucous applause in the Chicago convention center. But Fain rarely wastes the opportunity presented by a high-profile platform to not only press the union’s vision — fighting for the entire working class — but to move forward organizing goals within the union. Monday night was no exception.

After laying out Trump’s disgraceful record on labor, not only crossing workers’ picket lines but failing to help workers either when General Motors’ (GM) Lordstown, Ohio, plant shut down in 2019, or when the UAW struck GM for forty days the same year — by contrast, Harris walked the GM picket line — he moved to a matter of growing concern among UAW members.

“Corporate greed is alive and well in the auto industry,” Fain said. The union’s historic strike at the Big Three automakers last fall won major gains, he explained; at Stellantis, those wins included the right to strike over product and investment commitments, as well as a commitment to reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Belvidere, Illinois. The indefinite idling of the plant in March 2023 scattered UAW members to other facilities throughout the country. While Stellantis said the closure was for financial reasons, many workers viewed it as an unnecessary move meant to cow the UAW. Its reversal was a priority for the union.

“Through the power of our stand-up strike, we have saved…