Spring Hill UAW Local 1853 announces strike against GM

Workers at the Spring Hill General Motors plant hit the picket lines Saturday evening as United Auto Workers Local 1853 announced a sudden strike after 44 days of negotiations with GM.

The strike comes after international UAW President Shawn Fain announced a tentative deal with Stellantis on Saturday and Ford just days before.

"As of 5 p.m. Central Standard Time, UAW Local 1853 is on strike," the UAW Local 1853 social media post says.

Union workers at the Spring Hill plant have been standing by since mid-September as negotiations have been in progress with the "Big Three" GM, Ford and Stellantis.

A strike has been much-speculated in Spring Hill after a reported 25,000 autoworkers of the union's 150,000 members took up signs, officially walking out of GM, Ford and Stellantis plants across 21 states over the past 44 days.

More: UAW strike: Progress made, Spring Hill GM plant not striking

More: UAW's Shawn Fain to livestream strike update amid new GM offer

The Spring Hill plant is GM's largest assembly facility in the country.

According to Fain, negotiations have been a fight for increased pay, cost of living increases and a restoration of benefits for retirees and work/life balance.

More than 3,000 people are employed at the Spring Hill plant and produce hundreds of vehicles a day under the expired contract.

Retired UAW Local 1853 Spring Hill Chairman Michael Herron said on his Facebook account that workers who were on the clock left the plant at approximately 5 p.m.

"The General Motors Corporation has stonewalled the UAW on critical issues," Herron wrote. "Consequently the International UAW made the call to take out Spring Hill Manufacturing.

"The number of workers that were working on a Saturday night were very few, but they walked out officially going on strike minutes after 5:00 p.m. Stay tuned for further direction from your UAW leadership."

Clay Andrews, a machine repairman at the plant, was scheduled to clock out at 10:30 p.m. Saturday. But at 5 p.m., he walked out of the facility, got instructions from union leaders, grabbed a blue and white sign — "UAW ON STRIKE" — and positioned himself in front of the Spring Hill union hall, where he and David Fagan, who works in CSS machining, waved at vehicles driving by.

"We need to put the pressure on so we can get exactly what our president is calling for," said Andrews, who is originally from Flint, Michigan.

General Motors spokesperson Allison Mays released a response to the strike on Saturday evening.

“We are disappointed by the UAW’s action in light of the progress we have made. We have continued to bargain in good faith with the UAW, and our goal remains to reach an agreement as quickly as possible," the statement said.

As the evening continued, vehicles turned in and out of the union hall, with drivers rolling down windows in a show of solidarity.

"Stand up!"

"Stay strong!"

"Solidarity!"

Outside the hall late Saturday, the initial feeling among gathering workers was surprise at the sudden strike. Chris Wood, a GM industrial mechanic, said the call was “unexpected.” His main concern in negotiations is fair pay.

“Twenty to 30 years ago, GM and Ford were the places to work. Those were the places where you go there and stay there for the rest of your lives,” Wood said. “But now, temp workers are only getting paid $17 an hour. You can’t make a living off of that.”

GM mechanic Joe Haynes, who started at the company a year ago, said stepping out to the picket line was “surprising” on the warm Saturday night.

“We thought they were getting closer to a deal,” Haynes said. “But things turned upside down.”

Fagan has worked at the Spring Hill plant since 1990.

"It was important to me to get the young people (and their salaries) back equal to everyone," he said. "That was my main thing. The younger people that worked at GM, they made like half what I made, and half the benefits."

Spring Hill workers had purchased lights, propane heaters and other supplies to prepare to join the picket line, UAW Local 1853 President John Rutherford said in late September. A strike at the plant was long-anticipated. Some workers went to Memphis to support the picket line there.

"It feels good that we finally got called to stand up," Rutherford said Saturday night. He arrived at the hall with local union vice president Michael Prehoda, who has worked eight years at the plant as an electrician.

"More than half the members wanted to stand up and strike, to participate and show our other brothers and sisters (across the U.S.) that have been on strike," Rutherford continued.

"It's been going on 44 days. We're excited, we're ready to help out for a justifiable contract."

The 11 million-square-foot Spring Hill GM plant on 2,100 acres, which opened in 1990, builds SUV models, including Cadillac models XT5, XT6, and the all-electric LYRIQ, powered by Ultium Cells batteries, and the GMC Acadia.

Cassandra Stephenson and Sandy Mazza contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Spring Hill plant announces strike against GM