United Auto Workers Local 2209 is holding a vote on Wednesday on whether to strike General Motors Co.'s Fort Wayne Assembly Plant in Indiana that produces full-size trucks, according to a letter from the local's leadership.

The union and Detroit-based automaker have been in a tussle over the use of temporary workers to help build the profit-rich Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras there. Unable to reach an agreement for extending the part-time temporary employees, the company said it was laying off about 250 of them at the end of September. Since last December, the union has sought to make the workers full-time temps, if not permanent employees.

UAW Local 2209 President Rich LeTourneau, who confirmed the Wednesday vote to The Detroit News, wrote in the update to members dated Friday that he had submitted a request for a strike authorization vote to Region 2B Director Dave Green on Oct. 7. A vote has been scheduled for 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday at the local's union hall. Approval by members doesn't necessarily mean the plant will go on strike.

"The violations with this new GM continue to grow, a yes vote only gives us the power to fix it, that doesn't mean we strike," LeTourneau wrote. "Think long and hard where you want to be 10 years from now. They are eliminating all indirect labor jobs every chance they get, and the company is doing the work. Those are the jobs you want to retire on some day. We have the chance to fix it now with a yes vote.

"You can vote no if you think it's all good, but 20 years from now when I'm dead and gone and you're still on that assembly line left wondering why? Remember, this is because I (explicit) out on October 30th, 2024, and voted no."

Kevin Kelly, spokesperson for the automaker, said in a statement: "GM is abiding by the provisions in our National and Local agreement with the UAW and there is not any practical or legal basis for a strike at Fort Wayne Assembly, home of the award-winning Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks."

LeTourneau late Friday afternoon declined to speak further on the issue, stating he still was answering member questions. He said the international UAW directed him to hold the vote.

The News left a request for comment with a representative for the UAW's international communications team and Green.

The Detroit-based union also is threatening to strike Stellantis NV over its delays reopening an Illinois assembly plant. At least three locals in California, Colorado and Illinois have granted strike authorization, but Stellantis has filed nine federal lawsuits, stating it believes a strike would be illegal under the terms of the parties' 2023 collective bargaining agreement, and that the court should intervene to prevent one. The union has called the objections "frivolous."

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