{"id":1199284,"date":"2023-09-03T14:28:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-03T14:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/09\/uaw-big-three-contract-strike-kentucky-tiers-health-care-work-week\/"},"modified":"2023-09-03T14:28:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T14:28:13","slug":"kentucky-autoworkers-at-ford-are-preparing-for-a-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/09\/03\/kentucky-autoworkers-at-ford-are-preparing-for-a-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Autoworkers at Ford Are Preparing for a Strike"},"content":{"rendered":"\n  \n\n\n\n<h3>Contract negotiations are ongoing between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three automakers \u2014 Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. Last month, 500 UAW members at the Ford plant in Louisville, Kentucky, held rallies in preparation for a potential strike.<\/h3>\n<hr\/>\n\n<figure>\n  <img alt src=\"https:\/\/images.jacobinmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/02171123\/GettyImages-1619650274-900x600.jpg\"\/>\n  <figcaption>\n    Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) walks with demonstrators during a UAW practice picket outside the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, August 23, 2023. (Jeff Kowalsky \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images)\n  <\/figcaption>   \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n  \n  <p>Five hundred United Auto Workers (UAW) members from Local 862 held rallies in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 24 and 25, part of <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/08\/autoworkers-strike-big-three-uaw-shawn-fain-rally\">a wave<\/a> of practice pickets and rallies around the country.<\/p>\n<p>Class struggle was on everyone\u2019s lips. A variety of issues brought them to the picket, but the autoworkers there were unanimous about turbocharged wealth inequality leaving workers behind.<\/p>\n<p>At the Thursday picket, Local 862 member Aaron Webster said he\u2019s grown tired of feeling squeezed, describing the contract fight as a fight between the rich and the poor.<\/p>\n<p>Webster started working at the Kentucky Truck Plant in 2014 building Ford Super Duty Trucks, Ford Expeditions, and Lincoln Navigators. \u201cAs much as I may not want to strike, I believe it&#8217;s necessary,\u201d he said. He has been saving money and talking to his coworkers in the event Ford is one of the strike targets when the September 14 contract expiration deadline arrives.<\/p>\n\n  \n\n    \n      \n        <hr\/>\n        <h2>Near-Unanimous Vote<\/h2>\n        \n          <p>In past negotiation cycles, the UAW has chosen one of the Big Three legacy automakers (Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis) as a strike target, picking the company the union believed would agree to the best deal in order to set a pattern for the remaining two.<\/p>\n<p>This time, the UAW has broken from this practice \u2014 UAW president Shawn Fain has said all three companies are targets, leaving the companies guessing.<\/p>\n<p>Local 862 members almost unanimously voted to authorize a strike. Across the country, 97 percent of UAW members at the Big Three who voted, voted in favor of strike authorization.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"pq pq--right\"><q>UAW president Shawn Fain has said all three companies are strike targets, leaving the companies guessing.<\/q><\/aside>\n<p>Webster said his main contract issues are raising the low pay, ending tiers, and getting to choose vacation dates to spend with his family. Many workers were forced to take time off in July as Ford retooled the plant for next year\u2019s model. Workers want to spend their vacation when they want throughout the year, instead of at the company\u2019s whim.<\/p>\n<p>The UAW has made shorter work hours and a good quality of life key themes of the contract campaign. \u201cWe have to work longer and harder just to maintain the same standard of living that we had before,\u201d Fain <a href=\"https:\/\/uaw.org\/president-fain-facebook-live-big-threes-record-profits-mean-record-contracts\/\">said<\/a> in a Facebook Live video on August 1. \u201cThat means more time at work, and less time living life. That means missing Little League games and family reunions. It means less time outdoors, less time traveling, less time pursuing our passions and our hobbies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n        \n      \n        <hr\/>\n        <h2>\u201cWalking Like Zombies\u201d<\/h2>\n        \n          <p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Lfelizleon\/status\/1694864537059578026\">James White<\/a> works ten-hour shifts at Ford\u2019s truck plant putting leaf springs on the beds of the full-size trucks. The job is so grueling, he\u2019s canceled his gym membership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m basically putting the big springs that are the payload for the back of our trucks,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re really heavy pieces of steel. And I lift them all day. Luckily, I have a hoist.\u201d He says the hoist lifts the steel, but it doesn\u2019t push or pull it. That\u2019s where the momentum of human brawn comes in. \u201cThey\u2019re making our trucks really strong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/07\/uaw-speedup-big-three-hours-benefits-strike\">heavy work<\/a> means lots of injuries. \u201cThat\u2019s why we want our health care to improve,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s especially concerned about the older workers, because the physical demands of the job have broken down their bodies. When workers leave the assembly line at shift change, he says they look like the people in Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cThriller\u201d video: \u201cPeople are walking like zombies. They\u2019re in pain. They\u2019re sore. They\u2019re tired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of the injuries they get are life-altering,\u201d White said, and the company\u2019s response is to tell them to take pain pills. \u201cYou can\u2019t live off pain pills.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Workers say they\u2019ve given up much over the years to help the auto companies make record profits. White says he isn\u2019t willing to give up so much of his time. He switched from night to day shifts to tuck his daughter in at night. But it\u2019s still not enough.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI came in at 6 a.m. My kid gets home from daycare about 6 p.m. If she&#8217;s going to bed at 9, then I get off at 5:36 p.m., I feed her dinner, talk to her a little bit \u2014 that&#8217;s not enough. I have three hours of daylight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should have eight hours of work, eight hours of recreation, and eight hours of sleep. I can&#8217;t tell you the last time I got eight hours of sleep. I average about four and a half hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n        \n      \n        <hr\/>\n        <h2>Working Family Protection Program<\/h2>\n        \n          <p>James Slonaker works as an assembler on the chassis line. He transferred from Atlanta after Ford <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/business\/last-ford-taurus-rolls-off-assembly-line-as-atlanta-plant-closes\/\">shut down<\/a> the Atlanta Assembly Plant in 2006. It was the third time in his twenty-two 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<p>\u201cThe Big Three have closed sixty-five plants over the last twenty years,\u201d Fain said on August 1. \u201cThat&#8217;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<p>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        <hr\/>\n        <h2>\u201cWe Do the Same Job\u201d<\/h2>\n        \n          <p>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<p>Aaron Crawford was 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<p>\u201cEven though I&#8217;m still young into this career path, I&#8217;m also looking out for the older workers that have retired to get better health care,\u201d Crawford said.<\/p>\n<p>Katrina Bailey has put in thirty 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 thirty years in, [this contract fight] is generational \u2014 securing both sides of the fence if you will \u2014 for the newly hired workers as well as the ones that have been here for some time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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<p>She referred to a quote from Malcolm X, which Fain <a href=\"https:\/\/detroitsocialist.com\/the-members-handshake-uaw-turns-over-a-new-leaf-dc8804cb792\">has repeated<\/a> on 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 . . . or preserve his freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bailey watched from Louisville how autoworkers enforced picket lines during the 2019 General Motors strike and said she\u2019s ready to do the same at Ford. In the event of a strike, she said, \u201cWe&#8217;re out here fighting for our rights. Don&#8217;t you come over here trying to put in an application at this time!\u201d<\/p>\n\n        \n      \n        <hr\/>\n        <h2>Fighting Mood<\/h2>\n        \n          <p>Many issues brought people out to the picket line, but it was unmistakable 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<aside class=\"pq pq--left\"><q>The UAW\u2019s top leadership and membership are in a fighting mood the likes of which hasn\u2019t seen in decades.<\/q><\/aside>\n<p>UAW Local 862 president Todd Dunn said he hadn\u2019t seen such a turnout in his twenty-eight years in the union. \u201cHalf the time we can\u2019t get two people together,\u201d said Dunn. \u201cBut what you&#8217;re doing right here today is a total commitment. No matter where we&#8217;re at \u2014 if you\u2019re entry level, middle level, side level . . . it doesn\u2019t matter. We are one union.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Local 862 represents about twelve thousand workers between Ford\u2019s Kentucky Truck Plant and the Louisville Assembly Plant where workers build Ford Escapes and Lincoln Corsairs.<\/p>\n<p>\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&#8217;ve done that,\u201d Dunn said.<\/p>\n<p>The bonds of solidarity also stretched to other unions, with UPS Teamsters fresh off their contract fight joining the practice picket.<\/p>\n<p>\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<p>\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        \n           \n    \n\n   \n  <hr\/>\n  \n\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/09\/uaw-big-three-contract-strike-kentucky-tiers-health-care-work-week\/\">Jacobin<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five hundred United Auto Workers (UAW) members from Local 862 held rallies in Louisville, Kentucky, on August 24 and 25, part of a wave of practice pickets and rallies around the country. Class struggle was on everyone\u2019s lips. A variety of issues brought them to the picket, but the autoworkers there were unanimous about turbocharged [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":737,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199284"}],"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=1199284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1199287,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199284\/revisions\/1199287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1199284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1199284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1199284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}