'I did not want to cross a picket line': Engineer quits at Case New Holland in solidarity with union
Soon after members of United Auto Workers Local 807 went on strike at Case New Holland Industrial's Burlington plant Monday, Aaron Kennelley turned in his work items and left the building.
"I walked off in solidarity with the union," the engineer from Galesburg, Illinois, told The Hawk Eye. "I support them and I did not want to cross a picket line."
Kennelley had been working at the plant on and off through a consulting firm for about seven years before taking on a full-time position with Case, which manufactures agriculture and construction machinery. Kennelly began work as a manufacturing engineer on the tractor-loader-backhoe assembly line in November.
During his time at CNH, he worked closely with union members.
"It went against my morals and ethics to cross a picket line, especially with coworkers, many that I've known for years," Kennelley said.
More: UAW members go on strike at Case New Holland plants in Iowa, Wisconsin
Among them were Scott Dillard, who has worked at CNH for about 4½ years, and Kim Alber, a union steward and trustee nearing her nine-year anniversary with CNH. Both UAW members were encouraged by Kennelley's act of solidarity.
"I think that it is freaking awesome that somebody from management understood what we were going through and cared enough about us to walk out with us," Alber said Wednesday from inside the Gulfport Fire Station-turned-strike kitchen, where she had spent the morning preparing a breakfast of biscuits and gravy for strikers on the picket line.
Kennelley said he will need to take some time to evaluate his future, but he's glad he made the decision to leave. He launched a GoFundMe account Tuesday to raise money for groceries and other supplies for union members while they're on strike.
As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, $2,427 had been donated to the cause.
"These brave workers went on strike on Monday, May 2, after their contract expired on April 30," Kennelley wrote on the Help The Striking UAW Local 807 CNH Workers GoFundMe page. "At noon on Monday, the union walked out of the plant and started their picket line. Soon after, I told my boss I refused to cross the picket line, turned my stuff in, and walked off the job in solidarity with the union."
More: Burlington members of United Auto Workers Local 807 continue strike as replacement workers fill in
The UAW already has seen an outpouring of support from community members, local businesses like the Beancounter Coffeehouse, Drinkery and Happy Joe's, and other local unions.
Donated food items have begun to pile up inside the fire station kitchen, where UAW members are working in shifts to prepare three meals a day for pickets.
"I was happy as can be," Dillard said of Kennelley's support as he divided hamburger meat into patties.
As Dillard and Alber worked in the kitchen, conversation turned to those still working at CNH.
"My son's a supervisor there, so it's really tough," Dillard said. "It's tough for him and it's tough for me."
Dillard's son and many other CNH supervisors started their careers working on the line as welders or assemblers, Dillard and Alber said, and when the plant runs on 12-hour shifts, supervisors are there for 14.
"They came from us. They started with us," Alber said. "I'm sure they don't like what's happening. They understand what's happening."
Now, the two said, those supervisors are left to train replacement workers on the jobs they've spent years perfecting.
"There are so many different ways that you have to know to hang that stuff to get it to go through the paint line and, quite honestly, there's no managers down there now that I think know how to do it," Alber said. "That's going to be rough for them."
"If you don't know the process, you're in trouble," Dillard said.
'We stand together': UAW workers unite for higher pay, benefits
Alber has spent the past two days going between picket lines, the union hall and the strike kitchen, returning home at 11 p.m. Tuesday and resuming her union duties at 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Her dedication is rooted in the sense of belonging and strength she discovered after joining the UAW.
"When I first started down there, I had no idea what the union was," she recalled. "I didn't know anything about it, I mean absolutely nothing."
She first took on the steward position in an effort to stay in her preferred department.
"Down there when you're a union official, you have super seniority. When the steward position opened up, I knew that if I didn't take it, I was going to get reduced out of where I was, so pretty much when I first took it, I took it so I could stay in the department that I was in," she said. "Within a couple months, it wasn't like that anymore ... When it comes to the union, we are brothers and sisters, and we stand together."
Alber was attending union school in Bettendorf when John Deere UAW workers were on strike.
More: John Deere employees approve third contract proposal, ending their five-week strike
"Everybody in the class decided that we were going to take half a day and go walk the picket lines," Alber said.
Alber and several other union members anticipate they will be joined by John Deere workers on the picket line at some point, though UAW officials said no plans are in place.
Case workers hope to see results similar to that of the John Deere strike, which ended after five weeks on Nov. 17 when the union and the company agreed to raise hourly wages by 10% and increase retirement benefits.
Similarly, CNH union workers are hoping for increased wages, retirement benefits and more flexibility in when they can take time off.
"We didn't ask for the world," Dillard said. "Just give us what John Deere got."
The UAW represented about 10 times as many Deere workers in that strike as it does CHN workers.
The strike, which began at noon Monday, came a day before CNH released its first-quarter earnings for the period ending March 31.
The company reported consolidated revenues of $4.6 billion, up 13.4% from the first quarter of 2021, a net income of $336 million and a cash outflow of $1.1 billion.
“In our first quarter as a pure play agricultural and construction equipment business, the CNH Industrial team delivered a solid performance that demonstrates the potential of a focused, customer-centric company," CNH CEO Scott Wine said in the company's Q1 report. "Order books remain exceptionally strong, up almost 40% in agriculture and 80% in construction, as demand remained healthy. Our thoughts are with our employees, customers, and dealers directly impacted by the war in Ukraine. We are all affected by the associated higher grain prices, potential food shortages, and rising energy costs."
Wine went on to state that while production and retail sales are expected to increase going into the second quarter, he is less optimistic "from a broader economic perspective."
"The negative GDP print in the U.S. last week was a surprise, but we are anticipating weak reports from Europe," he said. "Interest rates are rising, inflation is ramping and China is largely locked down. And thus, we will not be surprised if there is a global economic slowdown in 2023. Nonetheless, as our current outlook indicates, we think that global food demand and associated productivity needs will support our industry better than others."
UAW Local 807 members continued to picket throughout the day Wednesday, walking in front of vehicles attempting to access the three entryways and exits to the plant's parking lot but parting as traffic began to back up so as not to impede the roadway.
Strikers managed to keep vans carrying replacement workers in the parking lot for some time Tuesday before police arrived to clear the roadways. All union members were expected to be at the plant at 5 p.m. Wednesday to join the picket line.
Michaele Niehaus covers business, development, environment and agriculture for The Hawk Eye. She can be reached at mniehaus@thehawkeye.com.
This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Case New Holland engineer quits job in support of striking workers
