The United Auto Workers (UAW) held off on expanding its strike on Friday, warning it will no longer be annไouncing strikes in advance and is prepared to launch surprise꧒ walkouts throughout the week.

The move marks a major shift from the UAW's earlier strategy, in which the union announced strike expansions each Friday since the strike began on Sept. 15. The union now counts nearly 34,000 workers on strike against the Big Three automakers—General Motors (GM), Ford (F), and Stellantis (STLA).

It comes after the union made its 澳洲幸运5🤡官方开奖结果体彩网:first unannounced strike escalation on Wednesday at Ford’s largest plant, a truck facility in Kentucky, calling another 8,700 workers to strike. The Kentucky plant generates $25 billion a year in revenue and created more than 15% of the vehicles that the automaker produced in the first nine months of 2023, according to Ford. 

“This particular plant will have repercussions more broadly than perhaps some of the others because of its scope,” said Mar💖ick Masters, a professor of business at Wayne State University.

Masters has studied the history of UAW 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:collective bargaining with the Big Three and said the impact could include 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Ford laying off more workers. 

"We're done waiting until Fridays to escalate our strike," UAW President Shawn Fain said. "Moving forward, we will be calling out plans when we need to where we need to with little notice."

In its first three weeks alone, the UAW strike may have cost an estimated $5.5 billion in economic losses, according to the Anderson Economic Group, with each week more costly than the last, in part due to the union’s stand up strategy of expanding walkouts.

As ofꦆ midday on Friday, GM shares had lost over 11% of their value since the close of trading on Sept. 14, just before the strike started. Ford shares dropped around 6% over the same period, while Stellantis 🔴shares were up more than 5%.