Autoworkers at Stellantis’ Sterling Heights Assembly Plant are getting ready to decide whether to hand their union the power to pull the plug on production, a move that could crank up the heat in a months-long fight over skilled-trades work at the Ram 1500 truck factory.
UAW Local 1700 has scheduled strike-authorization ballots for next Thursday and Friday at the plant that builds the Ram 1500 pickup. The vote itself would not immediately stop the lines, but it would give union leaders the formal authority to call a work stoppage if a simmering dispute over outsourced jobs is not resolved.
According to Bloomberg, the ballots will cover roughly 6,000 hourly workers at the Sterling Heights facility and are aimed at pressing Stellantis over the alleged contracting-out of electricians, toolmakers, and other skilled trades. Union officials say the vote is part of a broader push to enforce product and investment commitments that were hammered out in 2023. If members green-light a strike, the local would then ask the International to consider ordering a walkout…