Sunday, December 22, 2024
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Auto worker: Want to be able to afford the vehicles we build



United Auto Workers striking along Michigan Avenue outside the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne since midnight want to be able to afford the vehicles they assemble.

The UAW went on strike against Ford, Stellantis and General Motors at select factories around midnight. Brandon Bell, whoโ€™s worked at the Ford plant for three years, said workers need boosted pay and benefits. 

โ€œWe just want to be able to afford the vehicles we build,โ€ Bell told The Center Square in an interview along Michigan Avenue on Friday morning. โ€œThe average price of base model for the vehicle we build is about $60,000, and thereโ€™s no way we could afford that โ€“ maybe a lease, but we couldnโ€™t buy one.โ€

Bell said many employees have worked at the plant for 25-40 years and gave up pensions and wages to keep Fordโ€™s doors open during the 2008 recession.

โ€œAnd itโ€™s time for them to give back,โ€ Bells said.

During the pandemic, profits and executive pay soared for the Big Three but the UAW says typical workers still face benefit cuts from the 2008 recession.

โ€œGeneral Motors CEO Mary Barra made $29 million last year, yet a newly-hired factory worker factory at Lordstown, Ohio is making $16.50 an hour,โ€ UAW President Shawn Fain said in a Facebook live event last month.

Fain wants UAW members to receive a 40% raise over four years and a 32-hour work week with the same wage as a five-day workweek.

Bell said Ford starts hiring at $16.60 an hour, paying wages similar to McDonald’s despite an increased cost of living and inflation.

โ€œWeโ€™re not asking a lot,โ€ Bell said. โ€œWe just want to be able to afford to feed our family, not live paycheck to paycheck, and be able to afford a vehicle weโ€™ve built.โ€

The Wall Street Journal reported the strike is affecting factories in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. 

Michigan Sen. John Cherry, D-Flint, backed the strike.

โ€œIn Flint, we know the great work that UAW members do to make our community a better place, whether it is building ramps for the elderly to be able to access their house, or ensuring kids have a gift at Christmas, or restoring our McFarlan Veteranโ€™s Park,โ€ Cherry said in a statement. โ€œThey fight for our communities and working people across the country. I stand with the members of the UAW in their fight for a fair wage and fair working conditions.โ€

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, said American auto workers โ€œhave gotten the short end of the stick.โ€

Vance supported the UAWโ€™s demand for higher wages but blamed the โ€œprematureโ€ transition to electric vehicles as a major problem for the industry.

โ€œWhile most Americans want to drive a gas-powered car, the Biden Administration pursues a policy explicitly designed to increase the cost of gas,โ€ Vance said in a statement. โ€œThey do this in the name of the environment, but all theyโ€™re doing is enriching the dirtiest economy in the world at the expense of auto workers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.โ€