UAW Prepares to Strike: Corvette Assembly Plant Targeted

As contract talks between GM and the United Auto Workers continued well past the September 14th deadline, Local 2164 in Bowling Green was mobilizing its membership should the call come down to take to the picket line. In an article appearing Saturday on the Washington Post’s website, Sholnn Freeman writes of the contract negotiations and provides the following insight into the union’s plans as they target the Bowling Green Assembly Plant:

“They just said we need to be ready,” said Eldon Renaud, president of Local 2164 in Bowling Green, Ky., where GM’s Chevrolet Corvette is made. Local officials have delegated strike captains and let people know when they might have to walk the picket line, Renaud said. On Thursday afternoon, workers from the local were making stakes for picket signs, and at 4 a.m. yesterday, a union official returned to Kentucky from a trip to Indianapolis, where he picked up the signs. Renaud said UAW members in Bowling Green would walk the line in four-hour intervals starting at midnight if they get a go-ahead phone call from national union leaders in Detroit. Union members would have to participate in order to qualify for $200 per week in strike benefits. The picket is set to take place at the property line of the Bowling Green plant.

The UAW named GM their Strike Target last Thursday and talks have been underway since then. Once the contract expired at 11:59 p.m on September 14, an extension was agreed to on an hour-by-hour basis. Both sides remained in negotiations throughout the weekend with talks resuming Monday.
Source:
Washington Post
Photo Credit: By Mark Humphrey — Associated Press Photo Related:
AutoBlog Tours The Corvette Assembly Plant
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