“This is a strike for the little guy,” D’Andre Jackson said, as he held a banner that read “UAW ON STRIKE” outside General Motors’ sprawling Flint Metal Center in Michigan.
“It’s not just for us, it’s for everyone,” Jackson added.
The United Auto Workers union walked out on General Motors last Sunday night, their first strike in over a decade, after contract negotiations broke down. Some 49,000 people are now taking industrial action and here in Flint, GM’s true birthplace, determined workers are preparing to settle in for the long haul.
Jackson has worked for GM for 26 years and is a district committee representative for the UAW. Cars blew their horns in support as the strikers picketed in the unusually hot September sun.
There is widespread support for the strikers, said Jackson. People know what happens at GM will set a benchmark for negotiations at Ford, Chrysler and their suppliers. “If we win, everyone wins. A good deal for us will help everyone, the girl who works in a restaurant, teachers, everyone,” he said.
It’s early days and everyone is hopeful for a quick resolution, but Jackson said the strikers will hold out for a good deal because there is too much on the line. “We are fighting not just for us but for our kids, our kids’ futures. CEOs are getting paid $20m a year and we have people worrying about their healthcare. That’s not right.”
There is a sense of betrayal among many of the workers outside the plant. GM received about $50bn from US taxpayers when it went bankrupt at the height of the last recession, with the government eventually losing $11bn on the deal. GM workers suffered too as pay was frozen, more “temporary” workers were brought on at lower wages and facilities closed.
GM has pulled in over $25bn in profits over the last two years, while CEO Mary Berra’s $22m 2018 salary was 281 times that of the median GM worker.
The car company “has taken advantage” said Jackson. “We gave back to the company. Now they have made a boatload of cash. It’s time to share the wealth.”
Relations between the two sides worsened this week when GM announced a surprise decision to shift the cost of workers’ healthcare payments to the union immediately. “They’re pouring gasoline on the fire,” said Harry Katz, a professor atCornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relationsin an interview with the Detroit Free Press.
A group of GM retirees have also come out to lend their support. Tony Prevost retired last year after 33 years with GM. “Without the UAW I would never have been able to retire,” he said. He worries that future generations will never have what he had.
When he started at the plant in 1985 there were more than 4,800 people there. Charlie Ross, another retiree, says people would have to park on the street during shift changes because there wasn’t enough space for all the cars. Now there are about 600 people at the plant.
The industry has changed, Ross said. Automation, outsourcing and offshoring have taken jobs. But that doesn’t mean that GM should be allowed to treat its remaining workers badly. “We have ‘temporary’ workers here who have been working for GM for five to seven years. That’s not temporary. It’s just a ploy not to pay people properly.”
Ross points out that Flint was the site of a historic 1936 strike by GM workers that established the UAW as a major force. That strike lasted 44 days.
Neither GM nor the workers want to be out that long this time, and political pressure to make a deal is mounting.
All the Democratic presidential candidates have come out for the workers and Donald Trump has urged the two sides to “get together and make a deal”.
There was little love for Trump outside the plant, however.
“He’s emblematic of everything that is going on,” said Jackson. “Only the man at the top is getting richer. But people can see that now, they see the big picture.”
How long they will be out on strike, no one knows. But Jackson is sure of one thing. “We’ll be out here for as long as it’s necessary,” he said. “This is too damn important.”
