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The United Auto Workers Local 551 headquarters in Hegewisch brimmed with red shirts and picket signs Saturday afternoon as hundreds of union members, leaders and allies rallied outside Ford’s Chicago assembly plant as thousands of autoworkers across the country enter their fourth week of strike.
“Today is about the fabric of the working class, and the autoworkers are a big piece of that,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “We all, the working class, we are the ones who make the world run. Not the billionaire class. But the working class ... we’ve been left behind. It’s not some executive that owns our future. We own the future, working class people from all walks of life.”
Fain’s visit took place hot on the heels of 4,600 striking workers walking off the job last week at the century-old Torrence Avenue plant on the city’s Southeast Side. Morale was only uplifted by the presence of several local figures such as Mayor Brandon Johnson, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates.
“This fight is about unraveling a system of inequities,” Johnson said, highlighting the interconnectedness of labor struggles across industries. “This is about unraveling a system of disparities. This is about unraveling a system that wants to pit workers against workers. We’re not going to stand for it, are we?”
Others supporting the strike on Saturday included President of the Association of Flight Attendants Sara Nelson, Chairperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno of the Philippines Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, several Chicago public school teachers and other local members from the Service Employees International Union.
“Right here, in this room, I see every gender, race, color and creed,” Nelson said. “We are the working class and we are building up the power ... and we are going to wreck the billionaire economy and build up our own.”
Spirits ran high after Fain announced a negotiation victory to members on Friday: plans to strike against the General Motors Arlington Assembly plant in Texas had been called off when the automaker agreed to cover EV battery workers under the labor agreement.
“The future of this industry — we’re not against a green economy — it’s got to be a just transition for the working class. It can’t be a race to the bottom,” Fain said at a later news conference, surrounded by picketing members next to Ford’s SHO Center and Sequencing Centers just northeast of the assembly plant. Cars drove by, honking in support.
“So it was a huge move yesterday, and now we got to lock it down with the other two companies. They’re going to follow suit, one way or the other. We can do it the easy way or we can do it the hard way.”