DETROIT—Nine weeks spent on strike. Nine weeks dedicated to sacrifice, standing alongside each other, worker to worker, taking on Marathon’s corporate greed. This was the sentiment expressed Saturday in Southwest Detroit outside the Marathon refinery, where Teamsters Local 283 held a large community rally and demonstration outside the plant gates.
The strike was called by more than 200 Teamsters on Sept. 4 following months of negotiations related to pay and safety issues. The union said that Marathon has not been bargaining in good faith, stalling, and causing frustration among the workers. The refinery workers, which include board operators, field operators, chemists, laboratory technicians, electricians, and mechanics, voted with a 95% majority to go on strike.
The rally drew huge support from the United Auto Workers and the Steelworkers, as well as political leaders, including Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Michigan Secretary of State Joselyn Benson, and Detroit City Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero. Many other unionists were there from the Teachers, Firefighters, Nurses, and Electrical Workers.
Steve Hicks, president of Local 283, told People’s World that the community rally meant a lot to the workers who have been fighting for over two months on the picket lines against Marathon’s corporate greed.
“It’s a great day when workers can come together, stick together, and that’s how we win. Corporate greed is out of hand in our country. It’s causing inflation for everything. They’re making billions of dollars and don’t want to share with their employees?”
“We beat corporate greed by solidarity as a working class,” Jeff Tricoff, a member of Local 283, said. “We thank the UAW and USW for their support, and we encourage the Teamsters to show up for them when they call on us.”
The Teamsters and Marathon have resumed bargaining talks, but Tricoff said that the recent movement on negotiating will not deter them from continuing to fight for the best contract they can get.
“We won’t break. We know what we’re worth. We’re not settling for scraps, and we will get what we deserve from them,” he said.
“We got a pandemic on our hands, and it is corporate greed,” Shawn Fain, President of the UAW said. “It’s the same damn thing at Stellantis,” where the UAW is currently engaged in strike authorization votes to hold the auto giant accountable for the contract they won in the 2023 Stand Up Strike. “It’s the same damn thing everywhere.
“This is a fight for the entire working class. This is our generation’s defining moment,” he said. “What we do in these times will define what’s going to happen for generations to come.
“You are the backbone of this company. Without you and your labor, there is no production. You are the reason that billions of dollars in profits keep rolling in.”
LaShawn English, UAW Region 1 Director, connected the workers at the Big Three directly with the workers here at Marathon. “You know, we like to say that the auto workers are the backbone of the car industry—but y’all are the backbone of us…our cars we produce need gas!”
“I’m a rank-and-file guy,” said Dave Mortland, a member of USW Local 912 out of Toledo. “I work every day, and my passion is helping my brothers and sisters on the shop floor. As a fellow refinery worker, I know it’s not an easy profession. The conditions, the environment, can be rough. Whether it’s dragging steam hoses up a tower to warm up a transmitter or laying your back under a compressor pushing valves up at 120 degrees. Guess what? The folks in management—they don’t get it.”
“Let’s put something in perspective. Remember, they made $815,000 per employee in 2023. The white-collar pimps that forced our brothers and sisters at Local 283 out did a classic union-busting thing” bringing in scabs from out of state. “But the one thing that our friends here in Detroit have is fight.
“I want Marathon to know that the Steelworkers are watching your behavior. We’re watching how you are treating our brothers and sisters at the Detroit Marathon refinery. Your fight is our fight.”
On the picket line, Trevor Walters, a Detroit Firefighter and IAFF Local 344 member, told People’s World his commitment to standing with the Teamsters and supporting their struggle is due to its influence on his union’s ability to assert their rights.
“We are in a unique position where striking may not be our best tool, but the power of the labor movement as a whole will determine our power at the bargaining table. This is a fight for every worker,” he said.
Community support is key
“Back in 2012, when they wanted to upgrade the heavy oil project here, they paraded all these Detroiters—I mean, those Black faces like me—to the City Council,” said Ron Barnes, refinery worker at Marathon and member of Local 283. “They showed us off, said, ‘Oh, we hired Detroiters.’ We’re going to be competitive. We’re going to do this, we’re going to do that. They broke every one of those promises.”
“Right now, we’re in District 6 in Detroit. Mexicantown is here. And I count on my hands, both hands, the number of people from District 6 that have been hired in my 21 years here,” he said.
Gabriela Santiago-Romero, City Council representative for Detroit’s District 6, mentioned that the refinery plant is right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. “We have families that are living here around what could be an explosion. Let’s be real what we have here. Marathon is not being responsible right now. I cannot support anything that Marathon wants until they support our workers,” she said.
“There’s a 25-mile blast radius, and the Teamsters are supposed to be in there keeping that plant safe. We’re here for the Teamsters, 250 of them. This plant is not being run safely.”
Coming from the state capital in Lansing, the Secretary of State Joselyn Benson made remarks before joining the picket line outside the plant gates. “Solidarity is what wins,” she told People’s World.
“Solidarity is what builds power. Solidarity is what ensures that you can get a fair wage in your workplace, and be treated fairly in your workplace. And I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to fight,” she told the workers to a large applause.
In light of the results of the 2024 elections, working people understand the stakes and what we’re up against now with Trump heading to the White House in 2025, she said.
“We know the forces of darkness that are gonna try to silence men and women all around our country… that are gonna try to take away our rights. But we will fight back because the power of the people will always be greater than the people in power.
“I’m proud to be here today, standing with you, fighting with you, marching with you, and ensuring that Michigan is a state where every voice is heard at the ballot box, in the workplace, in state government, and everywhere in between.”
Rashida Tlaib, the representative from Michigan’s 12th Congressional District here in Detroit, brought the fighting spirit she is known for—whether it’s fighting for a ceasefire in Gaza or against monopoly energy corporations. The workers’ excitement when she gave her remarks demonstrated the strong community support she continues to maintain here.
“It is always the unions and the working class,” she told the workers. “I’m serious, workers always save our country. They save our country.
“When we withhold our labor, when we say, you’re not gonna use our body and our labor and everything to sit there and hurt our communities. I know we will rise up together and say enough is enough.”
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