DETROIT—Months of negotiating between the United Auto Workers and corporate officials at Eaton Aerospace in Jackson, Mich., have come to a standstill, forcing over 500 workers to walk off the job on September 16. The workers produce hydraulics equipment for civil, commercial, and military aircraft. The strike came after the workers’ extended contract expired on September 5.
“We are fighting for our future and our community,” said Donnie Huffman, president of UAW Local 475. “Every worker should have the right to be able to spend time with our grandkids. When your CEO is making more than $20 million, it’s pretty galling when they cry poverty at the negotiating table.”
Eaton’s push for a two-tier retirement system that would end the pension plan and 401(k) for all new hires angered the workers, the union said. In addition to working to safeguard their right to retire, workers are also fighting for their next contract to offer top-notch healthcare, fair wages that recognize workers’ efforts in the company’s profitability, and better scheduling and promotion procedures.
Don Donihue, a trustee at UAW Local 475, said “It’s insulting that Eaton executives are trying to deny us our right to retire while giving themselves millions year after year. They can clearly afford to pay what we’re asking for.”
“This company has made billions on workers’ backs,” he said.
The Auto Workers pointed to the fact that, over the last decade, Eaton Aerospace has had revenue of over $208 billion and a net income of $22 billion. In 2023, the aerospace company reported net income of $3.2 billion, an increase from $2.5 billion the year before. CEO Craig Arnold was paid $20.5 million in 2023, an increase of 46 percent. Eaton has yet to offer workers a contract that reflects the gains its top executives have been receiving, the UAW said.
“Eaton workers see the record profits and know it should mean a record contract,” said UAW Region 1D Director Steve Dawes. “This corporation continues to funnel money to the top and then ask workers to sacrifice more. Our members see through that and are demanding their fair share of the profits.”
Join the Stand-Up movement
The workers at Eaton now join the “Stand-Up” movement led by the UAW, named after their historic strike against the Detroit 3 last year. That series of rolling walkouts kept the auto firms off balance and resulted in record gains in the UAW’s contracts.
Wins included abolishing the hated two-tier system, wage increases for all workers by at least 25 percent, and some workers doubled their pay. Cost of living adjustments, which ended almost 15 years ago, were reintroduced, the right to strike over plant closures was achieved, and the electric vehicle and battery plants were brought under the master contract.
These accomplishments were significant and were credited to a UAW unafraid to confront big business. In the last year, UAW members have won record contracts, including at Cornell University in New York and Daimler Truck in North Carolina. And newly organized UAW members at Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., opened bargaining on September 16.
The strike in Jackson also follows more concerted action in the Metro Detroit area by the Auto Workers.
Stellantis, one of the companies in the Detroit 3, is attempting to go back on its commitments to the workers and their union, despite “making billions in profits off of the American market, the American taxpayer, and the American autoworker,” said Jonah Furman, a staff member at the Auto Workers.
So on September 15, the UAW filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board for “Stellantis’ illegal refusal to provide information about the company’s plans regarding product commitments it made in the UAW’s 2023 collective bargaining agreement.”
The union reported, “Several UAW locals covering thousands of members have also filed contract grievances over the company’s attempt to move Dodge Durango production out of the United States, in violation of the UAW’s national agreement.”
“The union demands” Stellantis “rescind its decision to push back the above-referenced launches and immediately plan for and fund the Belvidere investments in order to comply with the agreed upon timeline for launching the Belvidere Mega Hub (2024), the Belvidere Stamping operation (2025) and Belvidere midsize truck production (2027).”
Reopening the Belvidere, Ill., plant was a major win of special concern to the community, the workers, and their union in the 2023 Stand-Up strike. “On behalf of autoworkers everywhere, we’re standing up against a company that wants to go back on its commitments and drive a race to the bottom at the expense of the American worker,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement.
“In our 2023 contract, we won major gains, including a commitment to reopen an idled assembly plant in Belvidere, and to build the Dodge Durango in Detroit. We also won the right to strike over those commitments, if we have to.
“Now, Stellantis wants to go back on the deal. As a united UAW, we intend to enforce our contract, and to make Stellantis keep the promise.”
UAW Stellantis Department Director Kevin Gotinsky said “UAW members generate that profit and build the product that keeps this company running. We will take action if necessary to stop Stellantis from violating our contract and abandoning the American worker.”
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