Tony Sandleben

The city's longest-serving mayor announced a diagnosis of stomach cancer just a month ago.

The United Auto Workers union will end its month-and-a-half-long strike at General Motors after reaching a tentative agreement with the company, according to a video announcing the deal posted to the unions social media pages.

The United Auto Workers strike strategy has been mostly predictable over the last four weeks. On Fridays, the union would announce which plants would go on strike based on how well the week's negotiations went. National union leadership announced Friday that pattern is ending and local UAW officials say they'll have to calm member's nerves about it.

Indiana's Ford, General Motors and Stellantis employees still have not been called to join the United Auto Workers strikes yet. But the state's workers are still being impacted as UAW strikes at facilities in other states lead to reduced production and temporary layoffs across the auto supply chain. Workers at an axle supplier in Fort Wayne are among the latest to feel those effects.

The United Auto Workers union added 38 facilities on Friday to the targeted strikes at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis that began last week. UAW workers in Indiana still arent joining the picket lines yet.

All Indiana plants, like General Motors Fort Wayne Assembly and Kokomos Stellantis Transmission Plant, are still operating. But work stoppages in other states can affect the plants that arent on strike too.

The United Auto Workers union is less than 24 hours away from a potential national strike at major auto manufacturers. UAW members in Indiana are ready to take to the picket lines, but this possible strikes strategy is unusual.

Amid tense negotiations between the United Auto Workers union and the big three automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis union workers have growing concerns about the transition from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric vehicles (EVs).

If General Motors, Stellantis and Ford dont offer contracts that satisfy enough United Auto Workers union demands by Sept. 14, thousands of workers in Indiana and nationally will walk off the job. A strike could cost the companies, the national economy and the workers a lot of money.

The United Auto Workers allege General Motors and Stellantis refuse to fairly negotiate wages and other economic benefits. The UAWs federal complaints come ahead of a mid-September deadline to get a contract and avoid a strike. Both companies, which have plants in Indiana, deny that charge and say theyre working to resolve nearly 1,000 union demands. For at least one Fort Wayne worker, one of those union demands is particularly important.