The United Auto Workers strike in the Chicagoland area continues for the second day from Naperville to Bolingbrook as negotiations remain ongoing as the union tries to reach an agreement with the big three.
“We need the higher pay," said UAW Local 2114 member Kennetha Houston. “We need the higher pay.”
Houston works at the General Motors Parts Distribution Center in Bolingbrook. She told NBC Chicago for the past year she’s been commuting from Gary, Indiana.
“I mean not having the pay, coming here, busting our tails, working overtime voluntary, sometimes mandatory for pennies—it just doesn’t add up,” she said.
Houston said she and her colleagues are struggling to make ends meet, living paycheck-to-paycheck and experiencing the pinch from inflation and cost-of-living increases.
“$17-an-hour (as an) starting wage is just not livable for a lot of our workers,” said UAW Local 2114 recording secretary Steve Gregor. “They can’t afford our cars.”
5,500 workers in the Chicago area joined nearly 13,000 already on strike across the country. The strike expanded to 38 new locations Friday afternoon after the union said GM and Stellantis failed to make any progress with negotiations.
Local
“We’re the real people out here making stuff happen and I feel it’s about time we get our fair share,” said UAW Local 2114 member Donte Gregor. “We definitely put a lot of work for it and we don’t get the benefits like they do.”
The union is asking for several concessions, including cost of living increases, profit sharing, and job security. Today, the union said, “Stellantis has made some movement on wages, but they have not offered the kind of increase that would make up for years of stagnant pay.”
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter here.
As for GM, the union said the automaker is refusing to make significant progress.
“I’m upset that we gotten to a point where we have to go on strike and can’t come to an agreement real quick and right way,” said UAW Local 2114 member Phillip Lee.
Ford is not affected by the strike. The union said Ford has made important progress at the bargaining table on issues, like job security and profit sharing, but they’re not done yet.
