DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – With contract deadlines looming, the United Auto Workers (UAW) Union has authorized a vote for next week that will decide whether workers will go on strike.

Current contracts are set to expire next month. UAW President Shawn Fain said negotiations between the union and the nation’s largest car companies have slowed.

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The sticking points are higher wages and better benefits. The union wants a more than a 40% increase in pay over the next four years, cost of living increases, pensions for new hires, and an end to the current wage tier system.

On the other side of the negotiation table, automakers say they are facing a once-in-a-generation shift, as cars switch over to electric vehicles. The cost of that change-over ties their hands in terms of higher wages and increased benefits.

On Monday, President Joe Biden announced his support of the UAW. He asked automakers to reach a contract agreement and take “every possible step to avoid painful plant closings.”

The UAW has 146,000 people working for Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

Fain is expected to hold a Facebook live meeting with those workers on Tuesday. Although he has not named a particular company that could be the target of the strike, a company spokesperson told the Associated Press that “It could be all three.”