BROOK PARK, Ohio — On Wednesday, Ford struck a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers that would end the strike against the company. Among those being told of the agreement were workers from the Cleveland Engine Plant in Brook Park, hundreds of whom have been impacted by the work stoppage despite none officially being asked to join the picket lines.
Employees from UAW Local 1250 were informed of the deal around 8 p.m., and in the coming days, the international union is expected to share the full text of the contract. They will then join their fellow union members across the country in voting on whether or not to ratify the agreement.
UAW 1250 spokesperson Pat Wallace has not yet seen the whole agreement, but has been told it contains large raises and additional retirement benefits. The rest of his Brook Park coworkers are excited, but also anxious to see exactly what was negotiated.
"It's more raises than we've had in the past 22 years combined of all our contracts, so that's good news," Wallace told 3News. "Looks like we're getting some more money for our retirees also who are going to potentially retire. We don't have those details yet, but should get them in the next couple of days."
The Cleveland Engine Plant employs more than 1,700 workers, and while they were not called to join the staggered strike, Ford did temporarily lay off 372 of them after walkouts at plants in Detroit and Chicago led to a decrease in production demand. If the agreement is ratified, all of those employees will be welcomed back on the job.
EARLIER COVERAGE: UAW workers react after hundreds laid off from Ford's Cleveland Engine Plant in Brook Park
But despite the progress, the overall UAW strike continues, as both General Motors and Stellantis have not reached agreements of their own. As such, workers from Stellantis' Chrysler Parts Distribution facility in Streetsboro remain on the picket lines.
"I come out here at least three times a week, and yeah, I plan on being out here as long as it takes," Stellantis worker Rudy Murray told WKYC Wednesday. "Me and my family [are] doing fine, but we had to finagle some stuff her and there just to make things work. But we're doing OK."
And while some union members like Murray continue to strike, others have joined those from Brook Park in being laid off. On Tuesday, GM ordered 139 of its Parma Metal Center employees not to report to work, bringing the current total number of layoffs at that plant to more than 270.
"I know many of them that have already been out on strike have, have went to Streetsboro and walked the picket lines with their brothers and sisters there," Dan Schwartz, president of UAW Local 1005 in Parma, said of his members.
According to Schwartz, those in Parma and Brook Park who have been laid off have been receiving $500 a week in strike assistance funds. This was partly out of necessity.
"There was a pretty good chance that they would get denied unemployment benefits through the state of Ohio," Schwartz admitted.
Meanwhile in Streetsboro, Murray and his fellow strikers are also receiving that assistance from the United Auto Workers more than a month after they started picketing.
"That's not close to what we usually make, but we're sustaining," Murray said. "We're making it work."
"Sometimes, it seems like it's painful, but we're looking at what's going on, what's going to happen," his coworker Michael Smith added. "We're going to get, God's will, what they [are] supposed to give us."