UAW Local 598 president Ryan Buchalski discusses tentative deal with General Motors to end strike. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press
FLINT — Smoke wafted from 55-gallon drums filled with burning wood along the strike lines on Wednesday as workers paced the Flint Assembly site in 58-degree temperatures and cold mist – as news trickled in about a possible UAW deal with General Motors after 31 days of picketing.
“Everybody is hoping for an agreement. We want to go back to work,” said Mike “Padre” Perez, 48, an electrician from Saginaw. “I’m really blessed to have a great job. I’ve got no ill thoughts toward anybody. We’re really fighting for the young guys.”
Every single day since Sept. 16, he has driven 55 miles each way to walk the picket line.
And he wasn’t alone in his commitment to solidarity.
“We are all here to support each other,” Perez said. “I brought 40 pounds of taco meat for taco Tuesday and Nick and Dawn brought 200 brats. We all feed each other. We find a way. The nurses from Hurley Hospital brought coffee. That’s the way we do.”
Passing drivers honked at Perez, carrying a large American flag and dressed in a big coat, gloves and a fuzzy hat with ear flaps as he walked near the truck plant entrance at Van Slyke and Atherton.
While no one says the strike is over, hourly workers are hopeful.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Alex Rodriguez, 63, an electrician from Detroit wearing a University of Michigan ball cap. “We shut down the nation. It hurt not just GM but small companies and restaurants. People depend on our money to survive. I’m glad it’s going to be over. We gave a lot up for GM to survive and GM to make a comeback. They came back strong. They owe it to us and to all taxpayers.”
Still, people are cautious. The union’s National GM Council meets Thursday to decide whether to submit the proposed tentative agreement to hourly workers for a ratification vote — and whether to end the strike before the vote.
“We’ll see what comes back,” said Steven Newman, 63, a pipefitter from Millington. “We haven’t been filled in on too many details. I’m like a popcorn machine inside. There’s no future for GM trades in sight. We haven’t had any apprentices for 10 years or so. And through attrition, they’re getting rid of us.”
GM, he said, is “piecemealing jobs away.”
Eyes stung as wind blew the smoke into the strikers. But no one complained.
Then a funeral procession drove past.
“Well, I don’t know if that’s a good sign,” someone muttered.
UAW Local 659 across the street from the assembly plant rallied on Sunday to boost morale, which is upbeat but distressed. Early enthusiasm often gives way to exhaustion and anxiety as days stretch into weeks. Or, in this case, five weeks. And strike pay is only $275 a week.
“It starts setting in, like, it just got real. This is what I have to live on,” said Frank Trubiro, a millwright by trade who serves as vice president of UAW Local 659. “We’ve given out over 400 food boxes, mostly to younger members, temporary workers, people earning a second-tier wage who can’t afford to save up.”
Union leaders have been working in the field 12-14 hours a day, seven days a week.
Local 659 represents about 1,800 strikers and about 1,300 additional members affected by the GM shutdown.
“We’re doing long days every day. You wake up in the middle of the night, during a thunderstorm, and just hope nobody is hurt,” Trubiro said.
One by one
Ryan Buchalski, UAW Local 598 president, walked for blocks around the huge factory greeting members with news of the proposed tentative agreement and shaking hands as his coffee turned cold.
“We hope we have a strong contract, something we can be proud of,” he said, praising the man who leads the international negotiation team for GM workers – Terry Dittes.
“He is definitely a rank-and-file kinda guy,” said Buchalski, who used to work on the body shop production line. “He understands where he came from, where we need to go and what’s important to members.”
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In fact, it’s confidence in Dittes that has members feeling good.
“I think everyone is looking toward the future positively,” said Buchalski, who represents more than 5,000 GM workers. “We want job security, that’s always important. And there’s the issue of products being assembled outside the U.S. and being shipped back.”
When workers watched GM shutter plants during the life of a labor contract, that emphasized for workers what feels like a uniquely important four-year agreement this time, he said. And workers feel like leadership is really listening, which unifies the front.
At Gate 6, Bert Piroro, 62, an electrician from Oakland Township, said workers look back and feel like they were “sold down the river.” If preventing that from happening again means a longer strike, Piroro wants to stay out. And he shared his thoughts with his union president.
“The last three contracts, we’ve done nothing but give back, give back. It’s time to get things we had back,” Piroro said. “Cost of living adjustments for retirees. And help for temporary workers. I know people on the job six years with no job security, not knowing about their future.”
He stepped along the soggy ground covered in straw.
Stoking the fire
Michael Lintz, 46, a material driver from Richville, stoked the wood in the hot drums as he spoke.
“It’s hard on the family,” he said. “Everyone has had to make sacrifices. You may go from meat and potatoes to pork and beans. We believe in what we’re doing for the greater good. There’s just a lot of misunderstanding about labor. When we do well, everybody does well. We set a standard for working class America.”
Older workers say they’re striking for the future.
“Years ago, I knew what it was like to be laid off with children and a mortgage,” said Ray Vanhecke, 68, a millwright from Grand Blanc.
He is referring to people like Ricky Callaway, 38, of Flint, a materials handler who is hoping his long-term temporary position will one day turn into a permanent job that sustains his family. Callaway walked through his union hall carrying his 2-year-old son Carter on his left shoulder, sound asleep.
“I’m headed out to the picket line. I’d usually take my son, but it’s cold and I don’t want him to get sick,” said Callaway, a third-generation GM employee whose grandfather took part in the great sit-down strike that began on December 30,1936, and lasted until February 11, 1937.
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As for the tentative agreement, “It’s a step in the right direction. We’re all waiting to see what transpires,” Callaway said as he walked through the door.
GM workers promised that no one will be clapping and cheering until the janitorial workers from Aramark resolve their contract, too, said Steve Gruener, president of UAW Local 659.
Aramark workers have been without a contract for more than a year while, at the same time, reporting for work at various GM facilities. They went out on strike a day before GM workers, who had to cross that line initially. Many said they would never do that again.
He said very clearly that the union watches out for everybody. “It’s my thought that UAW GM workers will not go back to work until the Aramark contract is settled as well.”
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard at 313-222-6512or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.
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