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The Aftermath of a GM Strike
The strike between the United Autoworkers and General Motors ended weeks ago.
But the aftermath is still being felt in my hometown.
The whole episode cost GM $3 billion dollars. For workers, they suffered loss too.
Each time the two sides come to a crossroads a picket line, there is loss even when there is a resolution. Each strike settlement is essentially an economic cease fire.
Growing up in these Midwestern parts, I don’t know a single person who is not related to someone who has worked for “Generous Motors” as it was called in the mid-twentieth century.
When a strike happens, we are all UAW members.
Community Response to the GM/UAW Strike
When workers walk off and onto the picket line, lines are drawn between our community and General Motors.
From the moment the strike started, workers reported for their new role as striking workers. They all take shifts shifts, not on the assembly line, but on the picket line for 24 hours straight every day in all types of weather. The picket line never stopped during the whole strike, even when the tentative agreement was first announced.
Whenever I drove by the plants with the picketers out front, I honked my horn like other…