COLUMBIA – In its sixth week, the United Auto Workers strike is causing delays in auto body shop services.
Despite a significant step forward Wednesday, after UAW reached a tentative contract agreement with Ford Motor, parts managers at auto body shops in mid-Missouri are feeling the impacts of the 42-day strike.
Matt Weldon, the collision center manager at Joe Machens East Collision in Columbia, said the most common parts his shop that can’t get shipped are bumpers, bumper reinforcements, seatbelts and body control modules. A repair that would usually take one week is taking up to a month or even longer.
“When it’s a safety-related item, there [are] no alternative sourcing. … You have to wait,” Weldon said.
Devin Fischer is the general manager at Fischer’s Body Shop in Jefferson City. He said his shop can’t get accurate dates for when parts will come in. That’s because there aren’t enough workers at local warehouses, Fischer said.
“We can’t guarantee anything like we used to because we don’t know when we’re going to see parts,” Fischer said.
The most common parts Fischer can’t get to his shop are structural.
“Quarter panels, for F-151 hoods, you can’t get it [at] all. Like, there’s no ‘ETA’ on them,” Fischer said. “Getting them is about impossible because everyone is trying to get their hands on whatever’s out there right now.”
East Collision hasn’t seen significant delays on the parts it receives from Ford because the Joe Machens Ford dealership is one of the largest in the Midwest, Weldon said. The parts department stocks millions of dollars in parts from Ford dealerships, according to Weldon.
In the tentative agreement with Ford, which local union leaders still have to approve, the company said it would give a 25% pay increase over the terms of the contract and cumulatively raise the top wage to more than $40 an hour, including increasing starting wages by 68%, to over $28 an hour, according to CNBC.
If the local union leaders oppose the tentative plan and the strike continues, East Collision’s luck with plentiful Ford parts could run dry, Weldon said.
Negotiations with General Motors and Stellantis are reconvening midday Friday. East Collision has resorted to outsourcing parts it can’t acquire through dealerships in different cities or states, used parts or certified after-market parts, Weldon said.
If the strike ends, Weldon said it could take several months to get the supply chain built back to a healthy level.
The strike comes as auto body shops were starting to recover from supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We were seeing more normalcy coming back, and then the strike happened, and it’s kind of back to the worst of what it was before COVID,” Weldon said.
Both shops asked their customers for one thing: patience.
“We strive to do our best to get cars turned around and back to you,” Weldon said. “Because ultimately, happy customers is what it’s about. And that means a speedy repair.”
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