Auto workers vent frustrations after 32-year-old Ford worker dies of Covid-19
Chicago auto workers are expressing grief and frustration after another member of their industry died of Covid-19.
Caleb Mateo Dye, 32, was a forklift driver at the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant in Chicago, Illinois. On 13 January, Mr Dye died at Ingalls Memorial Hospital after a month-long battle with Covid-19, the World Socialist Website reported.
In a Facebook group for members of Mr Dye’s union, UAW Local 551, a post announcing his death said he leaves behind a wife and daughter.
“Caleb was known as a loving husband and father,” the post reads. “He was so gentle and playful, and brought joy everywhere he went. He will be remembered for his sense of humor, his encouraging spirit, his hard work ethic, his love for bringing people together, his kindness and generosity.”
According to WSWS, the post has garnered more than 400 comments.
“He was a good man always, fun to joke with or talk Marvel stuff with,” one co-worker wrote. “It’s crazy knowing I won’t see him loading up my line ever again.”
Other comments, however, were not only grief-stricken but angry. A number of auto workers swapped stories about employees who’d been stricken with Covid, and several complained that no one tells them when a co-worker dies.
“I work in a UAW auto plant, and we are never informed of COVID deaths by the company or the union,” one worker wrote, not specifying which auto company he or she meant. “We are not given any statistics about the numbers of our members who have been sick or died. I believe the excuse given for this is privacy laws, which I think is a poor excuse.”
Another worker repeated that complaint to WSWS.
“Neither the union nor Ford never tells us when someone dies or they get sick,” the Ford forklift operator, who worked at the same plant as Mr Dye, told the website. “I believe it’s very dangerous in here.”
Other employees vented their frustrations on Facebook.
“RIP Brother! This should underscore how the system responds to such a thing as the pandemic,” one worker commented on the post announcing Mr Dye’s death. “Caleb Mateo Dye and his fellow workers all over the nation should not have to be expendable. When faced with such a thing as a worldwide threat to public safety … the system should work to protect the public instead of sacrificing the public by placing profits over people.”
The Independent has reached out to the Ford Motor Company for comment.
