"There's got to be a point where you say enough is enough," said Robert Woodruff, 49, about the strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union against General Dynamics Land Systems. Woodruff, a mechanic with 20 years in the plant, says the walkout is "not about money." Referring to a lifetime cap the company is trying to impose on health benefits, he noted, "we have union brothers and sisters facing cancer and other health problems and the cap is really going to hurt them; I can't accept that."
The Lima plant, located in Northwest Ohio, is owned by the U.S. government and run by General Dynamics. The company produces the M1A2 Abrams, the army's main battle tank, at the factory. The plant also refurbishes older-model M1A1 Abrams tanks, produces a mobile combat bridge-deploying vehicle known as the Wolverine, and has begun work on a new eight-wheeled assault vehicle. The strike affects this plant, a planning facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and a parts plant employing 130 in Eynon, Pennsylvania, which makes suspension components for the Abrams.
With a flurry of recent new military contracts "the company is making more money now than ever and should not try to take away our retirement benefits. We made concessions when they were hurting and now it's time for them to return it," said Joe Petaway, 51, a machinist who has worked in the plant since 1981.
Surrounded by a sprawling oil refinery owned by Clark and British Petroleum that is organized by the Paper, Allied, and Chemical Employees union (PACE), many workers and local residents honked their horns and gave the thumbs-up as they drove by. "We've gotten a lot of support and only a few negative gestures," reported one striker. All 470 UAW members at the plant have honored the picket line, along with some retirees who have come down to help out.
During the strike the government has been constructing facilities at the plant to house Ohio National Guardsmen who are to be posted there. A spokesman for the army tank plant claimed the stationing of National Guard troops at the plant is not related to the strike.
Eva Braiman is a meat packer and is the Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Cleveland. Ilona Gersh contributed to this article.
The new contract was ratified by 76 percent of the hourly production and maintenance workers, 85 percent of the salaried technical and engineering members of the UAW, and 90 percent of the salaried office and clerical workers organized by the union. In addition to those actively employed by the company, the contract covers 3,100 retirees.
Current retirees, including all those who retired after July 1997 with no health care, will get Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical coverage. The company will contribute up to $350 every month for retirees, and $700 for a family plan. This is identical to full-time employee health benefits. Future retirees, however, will have to pay 15 percent of the monthly insurance premium. The copayments by UAW members have been cut in half, and the lifetime maximum payment has been doubled to $500,000 for each individual.
In addition to a cost of living allowance, UAW members will receive a 3 percent wage increase over the next three years and a 3.5 percent increase in 2004.
Ilona Gersh is a member of UAW Local 174, and works at Textron Automotive in Westland, Michigan.
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