UAW update: United Auto Workers announce no strike expansion after EV battery plant compromise

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The president of the United Auto Workers union announced Friday there would not be a strike expansion after Ford promised to include EV battery plants in the master union contact.

That nationwide strike already involves workers at the Ford Assembly plant in Chicago, and parts distribution the Stellantis parts distribution facility in Naperville, and a GM parts distribution in Bolingbrook.

UAW President Shawn Fain made the announcement Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, Fain will be in Chicago for a rally to support striking workers with Mayor Brandon Johnson and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates.

UAW update: Ford laying off 400 more workers at auto plants in Detroit

Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin met with striking Ford workers Friday morning.

"Wherever you work, whether you're in the union or not, this cause is your cause," Durbin said. "These men and women are making a personal sacrifice. They're taking a cut in pay to stand on this picket line, and they're fighting not just for themselves and their future and the future of this company. They're fighting for you."

The strike began three weeks ago three plants for Ford, General Motors and Stellantis in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri.

A week later, the strike was expanded to 38 parts distribution centers, including in Naperville and Bolingbrook.

Last week, the strike was expanded to the Chicago Ford plant as well as a GM plant in Michigan.

Also last weekend, Ford announced hundreds of layoffs at a Chicago Heights plant. Ford said the layoffs were inevitable.

The plant at 126th Street and Torrence Avenue employs close to 5,000 workers who make the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and police SUV interceptors. It's Ford's oldest continually operating plant