LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the first time in its history, the United Auto Workers union is striking against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis at the same time. The union and the automakers failed to come to an agreement before their contract expired.
United Auto Workers Local 862 could be called to strike at any moment.
“So if we’re called on here at Local 862, we’re ready. We’re ready to go. We don’t want to strike. You know nobody wants to strike. I think everybody loses in a strike. But at the same time, it’s time to do something, you know,” said Marcus Sheckles, Vice President of UAW 862.
Whether Local 862 is called to action is up to the union’s president. Sheckles said that he thinks if Kentucky workers are called to strike, it’s because they want to make an impact.
“Kentucky truck plant alone carries about 54% of the total profit in the Ford system. So, if they call on us here to strike at Local 862, both plants, you know, it’s they want to hurt them.”
UAW is asking for raises in wage, a four-day work week, an expanded pension program and job protections for its 145,000 members.
“When you go through that door, that factory, you just turn into an industrial athlete. Now you got to go as fast as you can because that company wants to make as many as they can. You got to go as fast as you can to build as many as you can. Go home, come back and do it again,” he said.
Close to 13,000 workers are on a targeted strike in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. Sheckles said that going on strike damages both the companies and its workers.
“We want to think about them and hope this is over fast because, yeah, it hurts the company, but I feel like it hurts our members more. You know, our members are not at a point in life that they can just not get checks coming in week after week,” he said.
Before the strike, all three automakers recently reported near record profits. The UAW said it is trying to recapture benefits they had been forced to give up more than a decade ago. That’s when the companies were cash-starved and on the brink of bankruptcy. Louisville’s UAW vice president said he hopes for the strike to end soon.
“What a strike means for us is if you’re called upon, you stand up in solidarity, you help your brother and sister, you go on strike to show these companies that we just want what we deserve,” he said.
For now, Local 862 remains working.
Ford said in a statement that the union’s proposal would more than double Ford’s current UAW related labor costs.
“The last offer Ford submitted was historically generous, with large wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments, more paid time off, additional retirement contributions and more,” Ford said in a statement.