'Pony up': In strategic shift, UAW says added strikes could come 'at any time'

UAW President Shawn Fain said the union would not expand its strike against the Big Three automakers on Friday, but that the UAW stood ready to add more workers to the picket lines at any time as its labor action enters a new phase.

"We are prepared at any time to call on more locals to stand up and walk out," Fain said in a livestream update on negotiations. He later added: "We changed the rules. Now there is only one rule - pony up."

The announcement marks a tactical shift, Fain said. Previously the UAW had announced strike expansions on Fain's weekly Friday updates. But now, as part of the union's strategy to keep the automakers off balance, Fain said strike expansions could come at any day of the week, at any time.

This past Wednesday for the first time it announced an expansion midweek, and without warning, when 8,700 UAW members went on strike suddenly at Ford's largest factory, the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.

"We're entering a new phase of this strike, and it demands a new approach," Fain said. "We're done waiting until Fridays to escalate our strike."

Fain said that the companies had started to wait until Fridays to make progress in their bargaining positions, and that the union is changing it strategy in order to speed up progress in negotiations.

"A negotiation requires both sides making movement. If they're not ready to move, we're going to give them a push in a language they understand - dollars and cents," he said.