UAW workers launch unprecedented strike against all Big Three automakers

[Rod]

1 hour ago, f7ben said:

They should slit the throats of the bosses and take the plants 

And then it’ll close in three weeks from mismanagement 

[Skidooski]

1 minute ago, spin_dry said:

And whose fault is it that they’re dumbasses busting ass for shit pay? Fucking retards. 

They are busting their ass because they have good work ethics. The pay is shit because of the area but I suspect what they do get is good for the area.  

[f7ben]

8 minutes ago, ACE said:

And then it’ll close in three weeks from mismanagement 

Perfect , bring the jobs home and let those people kill the masters 

[Rod]

12 minutes ago, f7ben said:

Perfect , bring the jobs home and let those people kill the masters 

And then it’ll close right away from mismanagement 

[f7ben]

4 minutes ago, ACE said:

And then it’ll close right away from mismanagement 

You’re not following friendo. Quit sucking the dick of the masters and start sticking up for the working class. U less you like the taste of dick. Then by all means have at it. Class traitor 

[Rod]

1 minute ago, f7ben said:

You’re not following friendo. Quit sucking the dick of the masters and start sticking up for the working class. U less you like the taste of dick. Then by all means have at it. Class traitor 

I’m just living in reality 

most people can’t and don’t want to manage anything. They want to do their mindless 9-5 and go fishing or whatever other mindless stuff they want to do 

[XCR1250]

‘I don’t know what he’s done’: In the UAW president’s hometown, autoworkers lash out at Biden

Adam Wren

Fri, September 15, 2023 at 5:15 AM CDT·5 min read

8.6k

KOKOMO, Ind. — At a union hall here in United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain's hometown, a half-eaten pizza and a bag of Werther's Original candies were spread out across a conference room table. Uncertainty about what would happen next — and frustration with the Democratic president, Joe Biden — hung in the air.

It was just after 9 p.m. on Thursday, and a dozen or so of the 150,000 union members employed by the Big Three automakers huddled at the Local 685, waiting on word from Fain ahead of an 11:59 p.m. expiration of their contract. Along with their fellow union members in this blue-collar city surrounded by farmland, they wanted the automakers — Stellantis, Ford and General Motors — to make concessions on pay, benefits and the workweek.

“Forty-five minutes — showtime,” said Garry Quirk, the president of the local.

Quirk, 60, had spent half his life as an auto worker in Kokomo, where he was born and raised. Before that, he’d worked in a meatpacking plant and served a stint in the U.S. Army. Now, for the first time in his three decades, Quirk was waiting to hear whether his union would participate in a targeted strike against all of the Big Three automakers. He’d spent the last day arranging for enough porta potties for his workers to survive hours-long picket-line shifts — to the tune of $2,000 a month. Earlier in the afternoon, he mowed his yard and downed a Monster Energy Drink.

Depending on how things shook out in less than an hour, Quirk might soon be on the picket lines.

At that moment, though, Quirk was preparing for Fain to livestream his decision about which plants would strike if an agreement wasn’t reached by midnight.

Would Fain, the Kokomo native who had risen through the ranks alongside Quirk, make a point out of one of his hometown locals, and have it lead the targeted strike?

“I wish I knew,” Quirk said. “If I did, I wouldn’t be here.”

Quirk sunk into his seat inside a conference room in the union hall and thumbed his phone before looking back up at the TV. A CNN chyron read: “AUTOWORKERS ON BRINK OF HISTORIC WALKOUT”.

Had Fain asked for too much? A 40 percent wage increase over the next four years?

“I think he did,” Quirk said. “And I think he set high standards and I think everybody knows that you gotta shoot high and then you can always go lower. In the past, we’ve always set low and we’ve settled for crumbs.” Quirk voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and then Donald Trump in 2020.

Had President Joe Biden, the self-described “most pro-union president in American history,” done enough to forestall a strike?

“I don’t know what he’s done,” Quirk said. “Ask him. I don’t think he knows what he’s done. Seriously. I’m not trying to be mean.” Quirk wasn’t freelancing: Fain and the union haven’t yet endorsed Biden’s reelection, throwing into doubt Biden’s standing in autoworker-heavy communities like his.

Biden had spoken that day with Fain and auto company CEOs. The chair of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers said this week that Biden had been “very much engaged.”

But his efforts weren’t resonating inside the union hall. Next to Quirk sat another committee member, Denny Butler. At 52, he was born in this town and would likely die in this town. Earlier Thursday, he left the union hall around 4 p.m. and, to calm his nerves, poured himself a cocktail: a Captain and Diet Coke.

He wasn’t supporting Biden or Trump at the moment, and he didn’t think either party was truly on autoworkers’ side.

“They’re all full of shit,” Butler said. “We haven’t had a president in there for years, with the exception of Trump, that was really for the people, all the way back to the Reagan days.”

“Historically, man, if you didn’t vote Democrat years ago, and you were in the union, sometimes you got your ass kicked,” he said. “Democrats were for the working people. That shit has changed. I’m telling you what, the Democratic Party was not what it was 20, 30 years ago.”

And there was Dave Johnson, a 64-year-old union committeeman. At 3 p.m, he had gone home to prepare for a strike. His wife was sick. He’d made her chicken noodle soup, and he ordered a pie from the local Pizza King — the one he brought to the union hall for others.

Johnson didn’t vote for Biden in 2020. And he won’t be voting for him next year.

“Terrible,” he said. “Can’t remember his own name. It needs to be someone else besides those two guys. I’d vote for Obama.”

Finally, at 9:53, p.m. seven minutes before his scheduled Facebook livestream, Fain’s decision came. A text flashed across Quirk’s screen from the UAW. It said that the first strikes would be at a GM plant in Wentzville, Mo., a Stellantis factory in Toledo, and Ford’s Michigan Assembly plant in Wayne.

“We didn’t get the first nod,” Quirk told the room, adding that he was surprised Fain’s Kokomo was spared — for now.

As 10 p.m. approached, the TV switched from CNN to Fain’s Facebook live feed. “We are using a new strategy,” Fain was saying. “We are calling on select locals to stand up and go out on strike.”

Still, the room knew the rolling strike could soon be here in Kokomo.

“Cut the checks,” a man in the back of the room yelled.

“Solidarity,” said another.

They spilled out into the parking lot beneath a milky black Indiana sky, and headed to meet with workers at the local’s four different plants to manage the fallout. There were tempers to tame, next steps to plan, and unnecessary porta-potties to manage.

“Unfortunately, I think we’re going to be in this for a while,” Butler said.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled Gary Quirk's name.

[f7ben]

9 minutes ago, ACE said:

I’m just living in reality 

most people can’t and don’t want to manage anything. They want to do their mindless 9-5 and go fishing or whatever other mindless stuff they want to do 

I just think these companies can pay more and should pay more. Fuck shareholders , make a quality product and take care of your employees and the company will be fine

[Rod]

12 minutes ago, f7ben said:

I just think these companies can pay more and should pay more. Fuck shareholders , make a quality product and take care of your employees and the company will be fine

Market dictates the game 

stop immigration and that’ll help 

[Carlos Danger]

GM and Ford are on pace to lose a billion dollars each this year. 

[Snake]

1 hour ago, f7ben said:

Perfect , bring the jobs home and let those people kill the masters 

Why isn't there a union owned and operated car company in this country?

Why isn't there a union owned anything that is a producer in this company?

I mean, there are plenty of non-union businesses that flourish in this country... why doesn't the union get involved on the ground floor, put up the money, get all the permits, acquire the raw materials, machinery, labor etc and rescue this country from the evil doers of capitalism?

It seems like such a simple solution, why hasn't anyone thought of it?

[f7ben]

27 minutes ago, Snake said:

Why isn't there a union owned and operated car company in this country?

Why isn't there a union owned anything that is a producer in this company?

I mean, there are plenty of non-union businesses that flourish in this country... why doesn't the union get involved on the ground floor, put up the money, get all the permits, acquire the raw materials, machinery, labor etc and rescue this country from the evil doers of capitalism?

It seems like such a simple solution, why hasn't anyone thought of it?

Idk man , probably because the CIA would launch a coup and destroy the union?

[Skidooski]

29 minutes ago, Snake said:

Why isn't there a union owned and operated car company in this country?

Why isn't there a union owned anything that is a producer in this company?

I mean, there are plenty of non-union businesses that flourish in this country... why doesn't the union get involved on the ground floor, put up the money, get all the permits, acquire the raw materials, machinery, labor etc and rescue this country from the evil doers of capitalism?

It seems like such a simple solution, why hasn't anyone thought of it?

UAW just wants their piece of the pie from the production workers IMO. There used to be some unionized groups in engineering but they seem to have faded away maybe. The UAW can build a car but that's where it ends

[spin_dry]

1 hour ago, ACE said:

I’m just living in reality 

most people can’t and don’t want to manage anything. They want to do their mindless 9-5 and go fishing or whatever other mindless stuff they want to do 

So? Some people have lives outside of work. 

[Snake]

44 minutes ago, spin_dry said:

So? Some people have lives outside of work. 

Apparently, some need one in retirement as well....

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, Snake said:

Apparently, some need one in retirement as well....

Like you  or let me guess, you posting here in retirement is "different". Dear god man buy a mirror FFS

[SnowRider]

6 minutes ago, HSR said:

Like you  or let me guess, you posting here in retirement is "different". Dear god man buy a mirror FFS

Again - Moe is the sites biggest hypocrite.  Always has been 

[Crnr2Crnr]

UAW workers saw UPS strike and said ME TOO!

what do you make of that @Snake?

[Skidooski]

49 minutes ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

UAW workers saw UPS strike and said ME TOO!

what do you make of that @Snake?

UAW strikes every four years

[Snake]

I guess I missed all the picket lines at UPS.....

[Crnr2Crnr]

1 hour ago, Snake said:

I guess I missed all the picket lines at UPS.....

so who won the UPS strike in your opinion? 

I'm hearing mixed comments from the turd brown 'heros'...

[spin_dry]

6 hours ago, Skidooski said:

They are busting their ass because they have good work ethics. The pay is shit because of the area but I suspect what they do get is good for the area.  

If someone has a good work ethic and works for shit wages then they’re retarded. 

[Guest]

[Deephaven]

Could hire back half if they left the union and pay twice and still get more done.  That is the problem.

[BOHICA]

Wonder why the big 3 don’t close up shop and move production to some low wage country?  Why do they stay in the states with strong union presents?