STREETSBORO, Ohio — The autoworkers strike could once again be expanding. The United Auto Workers union has announced that the Big Three automakers have until Friday at 10 a.m. to make significant progress in contract negotiations or the picket lines will get bigger.
The UAW strike started on Sept. 14 with just three plants in the Midwest, including the Stellantis Jeep facility in Toledo. On Sept. 14, 38 parts and distribution centers across 20 states joined in.
UAW Local 573 was one of the chapters to join in last Friday, representing workers for Stellantis' Chrystler Parts and Distribution Center in Streetsboro.
"If the corporations aren't moving, then I expect there to be expansion," said Mike Kalman, President of UAW Local 573. "If not a few, maybe even all of them. Who knows?"
He and his roughly 100 members stress that they deserve the 40% wage increase they've been demanding.
"It's well overdue," he stressed. "We just want our fair share. We don't want CEO pay. We understand they're going to make the big bucks, but when we make concessions in 2009 and 2011 and all my members are living check to check, it's not good. We just want our fair share."
Streetsboro Mayor Glenn Broska told 3News their city can bear the impact of the strike. It's the autoworkers he's sympathetic for.
"I believe that the economic impact is more on them, only getting $500 a week for their strike pay," he said. "I don't like to see anybody on strike. I would rather it be able to be resolved in a fair and equitable manner."
Across the nation, over 18,000 UAW workers are striking against Stellantis, Ford, and GM. That's about 12% of the union.
In Streetsboro, picketers say the time to speak up is now or never since they'll have to live with the conditions of the agreed upon contract for four years.
Autoworker Mike Perez said rain or shine he can endure however long the strike will take.
"All of us here are willing to go the distance," he said. "So, we're all in it. Basically, if we don't do it now, we don't know when we'll get it back. It could be another 4 years, another 8 years, but right now's the best time to do it."
The most recent offers from the Big Three automakers all hover around 20% wage increases over four years. This week, UAW President Shawn Fain said progress has been "slower" in their efforts to get that up to the desired 40 percent.