Ford, General Motors (GM) and Stellantis face continued negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union after around 13,000 workers shut down three manufacturing plants when previous contracts expired on Thursday.
The shutdowns could be costly for the so-called “Big 3” automakers if union demands are not met. Some say electric vehicle (EV) market leader Tesla could be set to win big from the damage amidst the Big 3’s attempts to transition to EVs.
UAW workers shut down the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant’s Final Assembly and Paint facilities, as detailed in a Detroit Free Press report on Sunday morning. The strikes also shut down the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio and GM’s Assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri.
Following the walkouts, Ford CEO Jim Farley warned that the UAW’s demands could force bankruptcy, and the automaker also laid off 600 employees at its Michigan plant. GM says it plans to lay off around 2,000 workers at its Fairfax Assembly facility in Kansas City, Kansas this week due to an inability to get parts from the Wentzville plant, inevitably causing a production halt.
While the UAW initially proposed a 40-percent wage increase over four years, based on compensation increases the automakers’ CEOs have received, the union lowered its demands to a 36-percent increase last week.
Still, negotiations remain far off. Ford and GM most recently offered 20-percent wage increases over the period, while Stellantis offered 21 percent.
In addition to wage increases over the four-year period, the UAW is demanding the automakers restore cost-of-living allowances (COLA) lost in a 2007 union contract, which are expected to help stave off the effects of inflation.
Demands also include moving to a 32-hour work week while retaining the pay for a 40-hour work week, the restoration of defined benefit pensions, increased paid time off, limited use of temporary workers, and reducing the time it takes for employees to make top wages.
UAW President Shawn Fain has used the wage demands as a comparison between worker and CEO pay increases. The UAW initially created the 40-percent wage increase figure based on compensation increases for the automakers’ CEOs since 2019. According to Fain, workers have only gained 6-percent wage increases during that time.
According to a breakdown from AP News in a Sunday morning report, median worker pay in 2022 was highest at GM at $80,034. In the same year, median worker pay at Ford and Stellantis landed at $74,691 and 64,328 euros (~$68,660), respectively.
AP News also reports that GM CEO Mary Barra is the highest-paid of the three executives, with her 2022 compensation package paying out $28.98 million. Her pay has increased by roughly 34 percent since 2019, according to an analysis by Equilar from public data filings.
Following her was Farley, who was paid almost $21 million by Ford through his compensation package in 2022, marking a 25 percent jump from former CEO William Clay Ford’s pay in 2019.
Stellantis is a European company, so the way its executive pay is made public differs slightly from GM or Ford’s. CEO Carlos Tavares was paid roughly 23.46 million euros ($25.04 million) in 2022, according to the automaker’s annual remuneration report. However, this figure includes “realized pay,” detailing previously granted equity values that vested the same year as reports are made.
Instead of using this figure, Equilar utilized a similar “grant date” method to make the comparisons more accurate. By this method, Equilar found Tavares’ compensation to be roughly 21.95 million euros ($23.43 million) last year, marking a 24-percent drop from former CEO Mike Manley’s 2019 compensation package of 29.04 million euros ($31 million).
Many CEOs get most of their compensation from stock options or other non-salary payment methods.
In 2022, the biggest payout in Barra’s compensation package was $14.62 million in stock grants, vested over three years. During the same year, Farley received $15.14 million in stock awards, which have a similar three-year vesting period with the final value being tied to performance.
Negotiations between the automakers and the UAW are expected to continue this week.
Amidst the strikes, EV manufacturer Tesla is set to launch deliveries of its Cybertruck and Model 3 Highland, and the automaker is also initiating a $1.8 billion lease securitization to gain additional funding.
Tesla prepares for $1.8 billion lease securitization: report
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send your tips to us at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
