PARMA, Ohio — General Motors workers in Parma said Monday they expect to be on the picket line longer than the two days it took for them to reach a deal during the last strike 12 years ago.
“We have been preparing are members for that for a year,” said Al Tiller, a 22-year GM employee and shop chairman for the United Automobile Workers Local 1005. “We are prepared to go six months to a year. We are going to do what it takes. This isn’t just a fight for the UAW. It’s a fight for our communities. It’s a fight for the entire middle class.”
GM employees went on strike in 2007 but the automaker and the union quickly reached an agreement. Workers on the picket line Monday, including two who were part of that strike, said they didn’t expect a resolution anytime soon. (They also declined to speak for the record because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the union.)
Tiller said union members will be picketing outside the Parma plant 24-hours a day until the strike ends. GM employees about about 1,000 hourly workers at the plant.
The big issues, said Tiller and others, are wages, health care and the use of temporary workers. Tiller said the union workers deserve more of the profits GM has made since the Great Recession, in part to concessions made by workers.
“How can you make record profits and not give us back what we gave up to save your company,” Tiller said. “That’s what we are fighting for.”
GM said in a prepared statement that it's sharing the wealth, injecting $7 billion into plants and jobs and salaries. It offered to give $8,000 to each employee when a new contract is approved.
But skepticism fuels the picket the line in Parma.
“Lordstown,” Tiller said. “That’s my response. An hour down the Turnpike. Did they keep that open? I don’t believe anything they say about that.”
Workers are finding support from others in the auto industry. While Channel 3 was at the union hall in Parma, a Medina car dealership sent pizzas to picketers.
Politicians from both parties workers’ support and have used their plants for photo opportunities.President Trump Tweeted on Sunday that the two sides should come to a deal soon.
Parma Mayor DeGeeter isn’t picking sides.
"GM and Parma are both connected at the hip," he said. "That plant is iconic here and a huge lifeline for us."
DeGeeter wasn’t in office the last time the GM workers went on strike. But he said he understands the importance of getting back to work is about a lot more than just making cars.