Members of a United Auto Workers local in southern California were the first to authorize a strike against Stellantis NV on Thursday night — a move that swiftly prompted a federal lawsuit from the automaker alleging the union has breached its collective bargaining agreement.

A supermajority of UAW Local 230 members at Stellantis' Los Angeles Parts Distribution Center voted to request strike authorization from the union's International Executive Board, according to the union. Then came the automaker's lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, arguing a mid-contract strike by the union isn't allowed, and that a judge should intervene to prevent one.

The dispute began heating up in August. That's when the UAW warned that its Stellantis locals across the country were filing grievances with the company over its delays reopening the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois — commitments outlined in the 2023 labor contract. The union warned that the grievance process, if unresolved, could ultimately result in a national strike.

In addition, UAW locals more recently filed grievances over concerns that Stellantis could be aiming to move production of the Dodge Durango from the Detroit Assembly Complex to a plant in Canada, which the union says would also violate its contract.

The lawsuit repeatedly calls these UAW grievances a "sham" and argues that the contract language, in a section called Letter 311, gives the automaker wiggle room to change its investment plans, including for its Belvidere and Detroit plants.

Similar lawsuits will be filed by the company as other locals authorize strikes, a person with knowledge of the company's plans said. The union said Stellantis sent letters threatening legal action to all of its other locals.

A strike authorization does not mean a strike will occur, but allows union leaders to call one when needed.

"Ignoring this negotiated-for and mutually agreed-upon language in Letter 311, the UAW and its agents, including President Shawn Fain, have embarked on a sustained, multi-month campaign against the Company to force the planned investments without Company approval and regardless of business factors," the lawsuit states.

Letter 311 states such investments are subject to approval by the company, and dependent on factors such as market conditions and consumer demand, the Stellantis attorneys point out. If the union does carry out any strike, the company argues the court should award the company monetary damages for "substantial economic harm that would be caused by any work stoppage."

Tobin Williams, Stellantis' head of human resources in North America, sent an email to its U.S. employees Friday seeking to explain the automaker's position on Belvidere, as well as the dispute with the UAW. It said the company isn't canceling its Belvidere plans, but needs to delay them due to current market challenges, including a slower transition to electric vehicles than anticipated.

"We knew that slowing consumer EV adoption could potentially delay our product launches and investment decisions," said the email, obtained by The Detroit News. "In fact, many of our competitors know this too, and also have announced investment and product delays as well as outright product cancellations.

"This is information that the company has repeatedly shared with the UAW and that they have acknowledged. The evidence of a dramatic transformation in the industry and its effects on the market is clear," Williams added.

The Williams note also discusses the lawsuit, and explains how Stellantis is asking the court to declare the UAW's actions as "illegal."

The UAW said Friday that more locals could be holding strike authorization votes "soon" but didn't provide more details.

The company sent a robocall out earlier this week asking workers to vote against such strike authorizations. The union, in an email to members Friday afternoon, said it was all part of the automaker's "all-out misinformation campaign in an attempt to scare and confuse us" about the right to vote for strike authorization. The email said that the UAW's legal team "has complete confidence in our right to strike" and labeled the the company's recent moves as "desperate."

UAW leaders worry that if they let the company slide on the Belvidere and Detroit commitments, Stellantis might also back away from billions of dollars of other commitments that are described in the 2023 contract. And there are also growing concerns about growing cost cutting within the company that could lead to deeper job cuts. In the note to members Friday, UAW leaders encouraged members not to "sit back and watch this company violate our agreement and threaten our jobs, our plants and our communities."

“Stellantis made a contractual promise to invest in America and we are not going to let them weasel out of it,” Fain said in a statement Friday. “Our members won those investments during the Stand Up strike, and we will strike again to make Stellantis keep the promise if we have to.”

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