UAW’s confrontational leader makes gains in strike talks, but some wonder: Has he reached too far?

By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer

WAYNE, Mich. (AP) — Throughout its 5-week-old strikes against Detroit’s automakers, the United Auto Workers union has cast an emphatically combative stance, reflecting the style of its pugnacious leader, Shawn Fain. Armed with a list of what even Fain has called “audacious” pay and benefit demands, the UAW leader has embodied the exasperation of workers who say they’ve struggled for years while the automakers made billions. Yet as the strikes have dragged on, analysts and even some workers have raised a pivotal question: Does Fain have an endgame to bring the strikes to a close?