shut down<\/a> the Atlanta Assembly Plant in 2006. It was the third time in his 22 years as a UAW member he\u2019s had to pick up and plant new roots elsewhere. His main demands are ending tiers and getting job security to protect workers against plant closures, including the return of a \u201cjobs bank,\u201d a program that guarantees wages and benefits when an automaker eliminates work or closes factories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe Big Three have closed 65 plants over the last 20 years,\u201d Fain said August 1. \u201cThat’s been as devastating for our own towns as it has been for us. We have the right to defend our communities from the corporate greed that\u2019s killing so many cities and towns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UAW is proposing a \u201cWorking Family Protection Program\u201d that requires companies to keep UAW members employed in the event of a plant closure or financial downturn in their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘We Do The Same Job’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Brittany Slemmons, a tier-two worker, came to the picket line with her daughter and said that she\u2019s ready to strike to end tiers: \u201cWe should all be equal. We do the same job. We work the same hours.\u201d She has been at the plant for eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aaron Crawford hired in early in the pandemic in 2020. He said he wants to fight for pension and cost-of-living increases, a raise pegged to inflation that the union gave up during the Great Recession. But he said he\u2019s also fighting for retirees. Workers hired since 2007 don\u2019t get retiree health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven though I’m still young into this career path, I’m also looking out for the older workers that have retired to get better health care,\u201d Crawford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Katrina Bailey has put in 30 years at the Kentucky Truck plant and is looking to retire in the next couple of years. \u201cThis plant is getting ready to face a mass exodus between now and probably another three years,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause the bulk of our workers have almost 30 years in, [this contract fight] is generational\u2014securing both sides of the fence if you will\u2014for the newly hired workers as well as the ones that have been here for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bailey supports ending tiers to bring union members together because \u201ca house that\u2019s divided can\u2019t stand.\u201d She said she\u2019s been saving up to strike. \u201cAm I afraid? I\u2019m not.\u201d She pointed to the pin on her overalls: \u201cI don\u2019t want to strike, but I will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She referred to a quote from Malcolm X, which Fain\u00a0has repeated\u00a0on a number of occasions: \u201cWhenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won\u2019t do to get it, or what he doesn\u2019t believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn\u2019t believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire\u2026or preserve his freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bailey watched from Louisville how auto workers enforced picket lines during the 2019 GM strike and said she\u2019s ready to do the same at Ford. In the event of a strike, she said, \u201cWe’re out here fighting for our rights. Don’t you come over here trying to put in an application at this time!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fighting Mood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Many issues brought people out to the picket line, but the unmistakable was that the union\u2019s top leadership and membership are in a fighting mood the likes of which the UAW hasn\u2019t seen in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UAW Local 862 President Todd Dunn said he hadn\u2019t seen such a turnout in his 28 years in the union. \u201cHalf the time we can\u2019t get two people together,\u201d said Dunn. \u201cBut what you’re doing right here today is a total commitment. No matter where we’re at\u2014if you\u2019re entry level, middle level, side level\u2026 it doesn\u2019t matter. We are one union.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local 862 represents about 12,000 workers between Ford\u2019s Kentucky Truck Plant and the Louisville Assembly Plant where workers build Ford Escapes and Lincoln Corsairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of members here at Local 862 said they are tired of being left in the dark. It\u2019s time to connect the top [of the union], all the way down. And we’ve done that,\u201d Dunn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bonds of solidarity also stretched to other unions, with UPS Teamsters fresh off their contract fight joining the practice picket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe just took on UPS and won,\u201d said James DeWeese, central region assistant director of the Teamsters and business agent for Local 89. \u201cAnd now we are standing with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur purpose here today is to show Ford Motor Company that while we appreciate their paycheck, we also work long and hard to be treated fairly,\u201d said Dunn. \u201cThey owe it to us. They can\u2019t do it without us. And we are the union that keeps their Ford Motor Company alive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
This post was originally published on The Real News Network<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five hundred Auto Workers (UAW) from Local 862 held rallies in Louisville, Kentucky, Aug. 24 and 25, part of a wave of practice pickets and rallies around the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":737,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1775,5942,453,5585,55805],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/737"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1194725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1194726,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194725\/revisions\/1194726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1194725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1194725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1194725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}