Yesterday afternoon, workers at GM’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant in Michigan began a walkout strike, expanding a nationwide work stoppage that began last month in protest of unfair labor practices and corporate greed across the country. With this walkout, nearly 50,000 auto workers are standing in solidarity against the powerful auto giant in a nationwide fight for basic rights like a living wage and improved working conditions.
The workers at the GM plant join other union members who have taken part in similar protests at GM plants across the US since early September. This includes workers from the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant, as well as those employed at GM’s Toledo Transmission Plant in Ohio.
All together, these pickets are demanding decent wages and better benefits, as well as an end to the improper use of temporary workers with no benefits and honorariums that are given instead of wages. GM, in turn, is asking its workers to accept a permanent wage freeze and other significant cuts to their current pay and other benefits.
The company had agreed to an end of strike agreement in mid-September, which provided a pay increase for permanent workers and improved job security, but the workers have since rejected the deal, citing an inadequate increase in their wages and a lack of adequate protections for temporary workers. The workers are now demanding a contract that includes these protections, along with a higher wage increase and improved benefits.
In addition, GM workers are also demanding an end to the company’s practice of closing plants with little or no warning. This has caused hardship and disruption to workers and local communities, and with the closure of the Lordstown, Ohio plant in March, the situation has become untenable for many workers.
The strike remains ongoing, and workers have vowed to stay on the picket line until a more equitable and fair deal is reached with GM. As the strike continues to grow, it has the potential to become one of the largest auto strikes in decades as auto workers in the US stand together to demand their rights and a better future.