The United Auto Workers expanded its walkout to all Stellantis and GM parts distribution centers Friday in its ongoing labor dispute with the Big Three automakers, including locations in Bolingbrook and Naperville.

But citing progress in negotiations, no further actions were taken against Ford, sparing 5,500 workers at the Chicago Assembly Plant on the city’s Southeast Side, at least for another week.

“We’re still on standby,” said Chris Pena, president of UAW Local 551, which represents assembly line workers at the Chicago Ford plant. “We’re just walking the plant making sure people know that we’re not on strike and it’s business as usual. But the thing is, it’s a waiting game right now.”

In an online address to members Friday morning, UAW President Shawn Fain gave marching orders to 5,600 parts and distribution workers at 38 locations across 20 states to walk off the job at 11 a.m. The list includes 92 workers at a GM parts distribution center in Bolingbrook and a Stellantis facility with 95 employees in Naperville, according to the UAW.

“As promised, we’re expecting to stand up strike in response to the lack of progress in bargaining with General Motors and Stellantis,” Fain said. “We will shut down parts distribution until those two companies come to their senses and come to the table with a serious offer.”

GM and Stellantis each issued statements in response to Friday’s UAW action, which Fain said will impact nationwide auto repair operations at the companies.

“Today’s strike escalation by the UAW’s top leadership is unnecessary,” GM said in its statement. “We have contingency plans for various scenarios and are prepared to do what is best for our business, our customers, and our dealers.”

Stellantis questioned whether union leadership was interested in reaching an agreement after the automaker delivered a “very competitive” offer Thursday, including salary increases and a “long-term solution” for the idled Belvidere plant near Rockford.

“They seem more concerned about pursuing their own political agendas than negotiating in the best interests of our employees and the sustainability of our U.S. operations given the market’s fierce competition,” Stellantis said.

The UAW represents 146,000 members across the U.S. Last week, the union directed about 13,000 workers to walk off the job and onto the picket line at a GM plant in Missouri, a Stellantis plant in Ohio and a Ford factory in Michigan. It is the first time the UAW has called for a strike against all three automakers in the Detroit-based union’s 88-year history.

The union is seeking pay increases, shorter workweeks and improvements to retiree pensions and health care plans amid record profits for the Big Three automakers, among other demands.

On Friday, Fain said the UAW has made “real progress” in negotiations with Ford, including reinstating the cost of living increase that was suspended in 2009 and winning the right to strike over plant closures. At GM and Stellantis, it’s a “different story,” Fain said.

The Chicago Ford plant has about 5,500 workers on three shifts making the Ford Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor SUVs. In 2019, Ford spent $1 billion to transform the nearly century-old Torrence Avenue facility, which phased out production of the Taurus sedan to focus on building SUVs.

The Explorer, which is made exclusively at the Chicago Assembly Plant, is among Ford’s best-selling vehicles.

Ford also employs about 1,000 hourly workers at a nearby stamping plant in Chicago Heights who are members of UAW Local 588.

Pena said the Chicago workers were “very excited” to hear there’s movement on the Ford side of negotiations.

“The cost of living allowance looks like it’s a huge win,” Pena said. “That’s a big gain that we haven’t seen in 16 years.”

At the same time, Pena said members plan to support their striking brethren on the picket line, including workers at the two suburban Chicago parts distribution centers. They also stand ready to put down their tools and walk out if the Chicago Assembly Plant gets the next call to go on strike, he said.

The UAW strike focus Friday was of keen interest in Belvidere, where Stellantis is considering converting a dormant Jeep Cherokee plant into a massive parts distribution center.

Stellantis “indefinitely” idled the 60-year-old auto plant and laid off its last 1,200 union workers in February after halting Cherokee production amid dwindling sales. Production of the next-generation Cherokee is reportedly shifting to the Stellantis plant in Toluca, Mexico.

First shift workers leave the Belvidere Assembly Plant on Feb. 23, 2023, in Belvidere. For nearly six decades, the Belvidere Assembly Plant has been the leading employer and economic engine of the small river city near Rockford. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

Last year, Stellantis bypassed the Belvidere Assembly Plant when it announced it would produce its next-generation Charger and Challenger EVs in Windsor, Ontario, where it is also building a $5 billion battery plant.

Repurposing the dormant 5 million-square-foot plant likely remains part of any new labor agreement, with everything from the “megahub” parts distribution center to building EV battery components on the table, according to sources familiar with negotiations.

The automaker presented such a plan to the UAW last week, sources said, but Stellantis reeled it back in when the contract expired and the UAW called for a strike just before midnight on Sept. 14.

While not disclosing specific details, Mark Stewart, North American COO of Stellantis, called it a “very, very strong proposal for a solution in Belvidere” during a media roundtable Saturday.

The idea has been met with some skepticism in Belvidere.

“For us, a parts distribution center would not bring back the thousand people that I got on layoff,” said Matt Frantzen, 49, president of UAW Local 1268, which represents the dwindling base of unemployed workers at the facility.

Frantzen, a 30-year veteran of the Belvidere Assembly Plant, became president in June. He said about 1,000 workers remain in the area, but their unemployment benefits have run out. If they can’t go back to work soon, they will leave the area to “chase jobs” elsewhere, he said.

For nearly six decades, the massive auto plant has been the economic engine of the small river city near Rockford, churning out everything from the Plymouth Fury and the Chrysler New Yorker to the Dodge Dart.

The Belvidere plant became the exclusive home for the Jeep Cherokee in 2017. The region’s largest employer at its zenith, the plant had 5,464 workers on three shifts at the start of 2019, after building 270,000 of the SUVs during the previous year.

The third shift was eliminated in 2019, downsizing 1,400 workers out of their jobs.

Stellantis, which was created by the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and Peugeot of France in January 2021, accelerated the downsizing at Belvidere and eliminated the second shift later that year. The final shift was shut down and the plant idled seven months ago, leaving workers and the town in limbo.

Frantzen said converting the plant into a massive parts distribution center wouldn’t be enough for the unemployed assembly workers, or the town, citing lower staffing levels and, at least historically, lower pay. However, pairing that use with EV battery component production might get the job done, he said.

The state has put together a number of incentive packages to get Stellantis to bring some form of EV production to the idled plant.

The Invest in Illinois Act created a $400 million “closing fund” to incentivize EV manufacturers and other businesses to locate, expand or remain in the state through favorable financing. The 2021 Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois Act was bolstered in December, upping the incentive to 75% of state income tax for automakers that retain employees as they transition to EV production.

If Stellantis doesn’t come through, Illinois is exploring other options — including foreign EV manufacturers — to fill the void. In July, Pritzker led a delegation to the United Kingdom seeking to sell the state as a destination for EV manufacturing. Sources familiar with the mission said the effort may bear fruit.

The state also recently optioned a large parcel of land next to the 280-acre Belvidere plant to entice manufacturers to consider the site.

Meanwhile, Stellantis may already be exploring the plant’s conversion into a parts distribution center.

Frantzen said Stellantis has taken over a vacant Yanfeng Automotive Interiors production facility near the plant and has begun stocking it with parts. At the same time, the automaker is parking 130 trailers at the Syncreon building, another former supplier to the plant, he said.

A Stellantis spokesperson declined to comment about the parts distribution activity around the plant.

Frantzen said local union members, including several hundred that moved to the now-striking Stellantis plant in Toledo, want to return to work in Belvidere. But it will take more than a parts distribution center — preferably some form of EV production — to bring them all back, he said.

“A vehicle and a battery,” Frantzen said. “I’m not sold on the electric vehicles … but a vehicle and a battery gets all my people back. It brings the people from the other plants back home. It allows suppliers to basically pop back up around the area.”

rchannick@chicagotribune.com