THE STRIKE
I could not have been prouder to be a union member than during our strike! We had the best strike in the country. This is because we are in a union town and located in the community. Other locals are off highways or in the south where there are anti-union feelings. We held the line with pride and conducted ourselves with dignity. This is why our community supported us! During the strike we had to adjust to many different issues that came up. We are not professional strikers, so we had to adapt. One of the changes we had to make was changing our strike times on Jackman Road. We did this for several reasons. First, the health and safety of our members. The lighting was poor, and we did not want our members walking back and forth to the hall in the dark. We also had a someone from the neighborhood threaten one of our members. This was unacceptable! We also had a concern for the neighbors, we did not want cars honking all hours of the night and disturbing them. We decided to shut down the Jackman Road locations from 9pm to 6am. I wrote a
letter to the neighbors explaining the changes and the reason for our strike. Sue Rogers and I went door to door passing out the letter and apologizing for the noise. It was received well, and we had no further incidences.
During the strike Julie West asked me to speak to her Son’s class about unions and the strike at St. Mary’s High School in Sandusky. I was honored that she would ask me, and I accepted the invitation from his teacher. I made power point presentation about unions and how they established our way of life. We rewarded participation with candy and the student that participated the most received a Starbucks gift card. The visit went well so we were asked to come back and we did in March. The teacher also asked for this to happen each year going forward and we accepted his offer. There should be no student that leaves our schools and not know the value of unions! I want to start this program in Toledo also.
During the strike we also had a movie night at local 12. This was put on by our local, local 12 and local 1435. We have established a nice partnership with them through our CAP programs. The movie was American Factory and it highlighted the organizing efforts of the UAW at Fuyao. This was special to us because of the involvement we had during the organizing drive. The event was well attended and demonstrated more of these events can take place. I asked Ann, Senator Browns aid if he could attend the event. He had a scheduling conflict, but he shot a video for us that we played before the movie started.
Our members also traveled to Fort Wayne Indiana for a candlelight vigil to mourn the loss of a UAW sister who was killed in an accident leaving her strike assignment. We wanted to represent local 14 and show our respect and solidarity during their time of grieving.
Our members also started to go to the strike line outside of the Renaissance Center which is the World Headquarters of General Motors. We made several trips to the Detroit to show our support for our Chairman Jeff King who was on the negotiation team. We started an event called Mondays with Mary. We wanted to be where the decisions were going to be made. During one of these events I was told that Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors was in the Food Court having lunch with her team. I went into the building to find her, and I did. I approached the table of GM’s top brass and introduced myself. I talked to Mary about fairness, our sacrifice during the bankruptcy and what we deserve. I also let her know that she would not be making the salary that she does if it was not for our sacrifice. It was a respectful exchange and we shook hands at the end of the conversation. I felt she should hear from rank and file members on fairness and what we gave up. Sometimes at the negotiation table sides get dug in and only think about winning instead of what is good for all parties. Two days later we had a deal. By no means am I saying that conversation had anything to do with it but, we need a leader that is not afraid to voice our positions and represent our membership to anyone, from the plant manager to the CEO and from a senator to the President of the country.
Our membership showed what it is made of and with that spirit and energy we can reassert our position as a strong
proud union again! Thank you for coming together and being awesome!
