The United Auto Workers (UAW) last night expanded its strike of the Detroit Three automakers for the second time in as many days as 5,000 members walked out of a General Motors factory which builds some of the automaker’s most profitable vehicles.

Bloomberg noted UAW president Shawn Fain had made good on his veiled threat last Friday to expand the strike to get more out of the automakers even as he said they were moving closer to a deal.

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Arlington Assembly makes the Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade luxury large sport utility vehicles (SUVs), the report said.

By striking pickup truck and SUV plants Fain was hitting the US automakers at the factories that make their ‘cash cow’ models, putting a harder squeeze on the companies to give more to workers, Bloomberg added.

Fain made his latest move just hours after GM reported quarterly revenue and earnings that beat Wall Street’s expectations and made a point of this when he extended the walkout, the report said.

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“Another record quarter, another record year. As we’ve said for months: record profits equal record contracts,” Fain said in a statement. “It’s time GM workers, and the whole working class, get their fair share.”

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GM said in a statement cited by Bloomberg it was “disappointed by the escalation of this unnecessary and irresponsible strike.” The company added it had made a “comprehensive offer” last week to the union that increased the total value by about 25%.

Bloomberg noted the latest walkout followed the UAW’s decision last Monday to strike Stellantis NV’s Ram pickup truck factory in Michigan, the automaker’s largest and most profitable plant. It was part of a plan by Fain to ratchet up pressure on the automakers as he attempted to improve economic offers that include a 23% wage increase from all three companies. The union was demanding they increase that raise offer to 25%, Bloomberg had previously reported.

After six weeks, there are now more than 45,000 workers on strike at the three companies, the union told Bloomberg. It had shut down the Detroit automakers’ three most profitable plants, beginning with the 11 October walkout at the Ford Kentucky truck plant which builds F-Series Super Duty pickups and big SUVs. Ford has said the plant generates US$25bn a year in revenue.