UAW Is About To Strike Against Rolls-Royce, But It’s Not About Cars

United Auto Workers at Rolls-Royce North America in Indianapolis, Indiana have voted to authorize a strike if their collective bargaining demands are not met by the new five-year contract deadline Wednesday night. Not the Rolls-Royce that makes extravagant cars, but the one that makes aircraft engines. The UAW says that workers were overwhelmingly supportive of a walk-out, with 99.5 percent of Local 933 workers voting in favor of the strike. UAW represents the interests of over 800 workers within the Indiana-based Rolls-Royce aircraft engine facility. The local already has picket assignments prepared for Thursday, and UAW President Shawn Fain will be arriving to Indianapolis on Tuesday to help the local prepare for final negotiations, and striking if the contract doesn’t get ratified. 

Our contract with Roll-Royce expires Wednesday night and UAW members at Local 933 are getting strike ready.

Tick tock! pic.twitter.com/6lvrywBxcQ

— UAW (@UAW) February 24, 2025

Union reps for Local 933 spoke with WISH TV News 8, saying the contract negotiations will “come down to the wire” and that uncertainty is the name of the game at the moment. The contract is hoping for a similar outcome to the contracts negotiated with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis last year, as the Rolls-Royce employees are hoping to remove the “tier-based” pay system, achieve an annual cost of living adjustment, secure additional retirement benefits, and decrease the cost of healthcare to workers. Since Rolls-Royce took over the Indianapolis plant in 1995 the workers of Local 933 have never had to strike. With any luck that streak will continue and RR Aircraft Engines, which posted billions in profit across 2024, will come to a fair deal with its workers. 

“We’re not asking for a gift or something special, we want the same equal treatment as the guy next to us is getting,” powerhouse stationary engineer Travis Riddle told News 8. “We come in, we have the same responsibilities. They expect the same work out of us.” 

“It’s disheartening at times when you think about it,” Riddle added. “I like working here, and I enjoy working for Rolls Royce. I don’t want to leave. I do feel appreciated at times, but not enough to get paid as much as X, Y, Z right next to me, you know?”

Prior to 1995 this factory was known as LibertyWorks, part of Allison Advanced Development Company, which folded into Rolls-Royce when the company purchased Allison Engine. Despite foreign ownership, Rolls-Royce North American Technologies is operated under a special security arrangement to independently develop sensitive United States defense programs, continuing the work that Allison had been working on. According to Rolls-Royce the company employs over 4,000 people in Indianapolis, and supplies the U.S. Department of Defense, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Bell, Robinson Helicopter, Gulfstream, American Airlines, United, and Delta. Apparently more Rolls-Royce products are built in Indianapolis than anywhere else in the world.