For Rich Boyer, a UAW vice president and the head of the union’s Stellantis department, one issue is paramount in this round of contract bargaining, and it’s not wages, which have been a big focus of the outside attention.

“The issue is job security and putting product into these plants in this country. That’s the real issue,” Boyer said. “Because what good is it? You can give me a 50% raise, but if I have no job security, no place for these people to go, what does that matter? It matters nothing.”