In addition to those working in the plant, the contract covers 700 workers on layoff and 2,000 retirees and surviving spouses.

“Maytag wants a pension plan that is tied to stock market shares through a 401(k) plan,” said one striker at the picket line June 27. “After giving 27 years to a company that has made big profits, they want me to live out my life on a ‘maybe,’” he said.

At the local union hall, Greg Christy, a member of Local 997’s communications committee and a Maytag production worker for 20 years, said, “pensions and health care are big issues in the strike. The average seniority in the Newton plant is 14 years.

“Maytag wants to increase the payment of medical coverage onto the backs of workers that could cost as much as $4,000 out of their pockets per year,” he said.

Pat Teed, president of the UAW local, told the Newton Daily News that the “pension plan took a giant step backward” in the company’s proposal. “The membership was upset with medical and drug benefits,” he added.

With 19,500 employees worldwide, Maytag is the third-largest U.S. household appliance maker, behind Whirlpool and General Electric. One week before the strike began, bosses at the Newton-based company announced a “restructuring” plan designed to save $150 million a year and establish an 8 percent operating profit margin in the first quarter of 2005. As a first step, the company announced the elimination of 1,100 jobs from plants in eight cities. The 700 Local 997 members laid off in Newton are victims of an earlier “restructuring.”

Newton is a city of 15,000 about 35 miles east of Des Moines. On the road into town, yard signs and shop windows declare solidarity with the strike. Union members say that food and other contributions are coming into the UAW hall for distribution to strikers.

The day this reporter joined the picket, nine members of International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 1526 from Amana, Iowa, were visiting the strike to bring their local’s support. The IAM local organizes more than 2,000 workers at a Amana refrigeration plant, which was purchased by Maytag in 2001. Shortly after the deal went through, IAM workers went on strike for 49 days against Maytag demands for a two-tier wage and health plan.

“Workers and their unions in the area have been very supportive from day one, and so have many of the smaller local businesses,” said Greg Christy. The local’s web site, www.uaw997.org, includes further information about the strike. The union is asking for messages of solidarity and contributions to be sent to UAW 997, 1813 1st Street ‘N’ Newton, Iowa 50208, Tel. (641) 792-5005.  
 
 
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