UAW strike against automakers expands to 38 plants, including Streetsboro

United Auto Workers union members at 38 General Motors and Stellantis plants in 20 states — including a location in Streetsboro — walked out at noon Friday as part of the nationwide strike against major automakers.

"We've got more wood coming and we'll be here as long as it takes," said Mike Kalman, president of the United Auto Workers 573, representing about 100 workers at the Stellantis parts distribution center in Streetsboro.

"We've got more wood coming for the burn barrels tonight and we will be here 24-7."

Not all UAW workers are on strike — just enough to make an impact, Kalman said.

Workers at the Streetsboro warehouse are among 13,000 of the union’s 146,000 members to join picket lines after the UAW contract expired at midnight Sept. 14. The Streetsboro facility supplies parts to Chrysler auto dealerships throughout the region.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain announced the expansion of the strike, which began last week, on Friday. Fain, who is known to carry his father's first union paycheck with him, changed the union's traditional tactics this year by targeting all three major U.S. automakers for strikes at once.

Of the big three automakers, Ford was spared additional strikes because the company met some UAW demands during negotiations in the last week, Fain said in a video on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Unlike Ford, Stellantis and General Motors have not budged on many of the union's proposals that include standardizing pay by replacing tiered wages, job security, profit sharing and converting temporary employees to part or full-time, he said.

'If not now, when?': Here's why the UAW strike may have come at the perfect time for labor

"We will shut down parts distribution until those two companies come to their senses and come to the table with a serious offer," Fain said.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who last week visited picketing workers in Toledo, was on hand for Friday's kickoff outside the Mondial Parkway facility in Streetsboro.

"This is part of the strategy of the UAW — to find ways to get them to the bargaining table and make make the companies simply honor the sacrifices these men and women have made," he said. "It really is that simple. These employees kept this company from essentially failure and this company is very successful, very profitable. The executives are paid huge dollars and they owe these workers more than they're giving them."

The UAW is asking for a 36% wage increase over four years as it points out recent profits made by the Big Three automakers.

GM earned $10 billion in net profits in 2022, USA Today reported. Ford reported increased earnings, although one-time charges left them with a net loss, while Stellantis received nearly $18 billion in net profits net profits.

Ford CEO James Farley said at the start of the strikes that meeting the UAW's terms could drive the company into bankruptcy.

However, UAW Regional Director David Green said at Friday's kickoff the union is simply trying to reel back concessions it made years ago when the automakers were actually facing bankruptcy.

"That's the whole thing," he said. "We were willing to do what we had to do to keep the companies afloat, and now they're making record profits, so we want record contracts."

He said one of the main issues is the two-tier wage system — agreed to by the union — that pays younger workers much less than veterans.

"We want people to come in work their 90 days, get hired and have a a fair progression to full rate, not temporary for two to eight years and then maybe you get hired, and then another eight years before you get the top rate. They'll be half dead by the time they get the top rate," he said.

He said another issue is the union's demand for a 32-hour work week.

"A lot of our members are working six days, 10 hours a day or 12 hours a day six and seven days a week with mandatory overtime," he said. "Your body wears out ... It's not good physically. It's not good mentally, right? So we want to have a good work life balance.

"Our members say, 'Yeah, let's ask for a 32 hour work week.' Maybe we get it, maybe we don't. Maybe we can change the mandatory overtime language, right?"

He emphasized the union's demands are all subject to negotiation.

"We definitely are going to shoot for the stars and land on the moon," he said. "I mean, if if you don't ask, the answer is always, 'No.'"

Rudy Murry of Akron, who has worked at the Streetsboro warehouse for more than 24 years, said it's unfortunate that the strike is necessary.

"I mean it's it's sad that you can't come to an agreement on things and you have to come to this in order to get a fair wage," he said. "We're just doing what we've got to do, that's all. It's not something that we want to do or we like doing. It just seems like this is what we got to do to get people to hear us, right?"

Beverly Wilson of Cleveland said she's worked 12 years in the Streetsboro plant.

"I would like to put out a challenge for the CEO's and shareholders," she said. "Try working one hour in my shoes. I'll give you that one hour, because I don't think you'll be able to do it. Then you'll be able to understand and see why we're out here striking and what we are fighting for."

Eric Marotta can be reached at emarotta@gannett.com. USA Today and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: UAW strike against automakers expands into Northeast Ohio