They rallied and cheered and then they marched.
Hundreds of UAW members and supporters in red took the union’s contract fight against the Detroit Three downtown along Jefferson Avenue Friday night from the UAW-Ford National Programs Center and joined up with striking Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan workers in a show of joint solidarity.
“Say it loud, say it proud, Detroit is a union town,” they chanted at one point.
Then they took their shouts and cheers past the front doors of the Renaissance Center and the home of General Motors.
It was an exclamation point and a rousing moment less than a day since thousands of workers at three assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri began a historic strike against Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis, owner of Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat. It marks the first time the United Auto Workers union has struck all three automakers at the same time, and it comes at a moment of heightened interest in unions and unionizing.
As the rally and march took place, men and women in formal wear navigated their way toward Huntington Place for the Charity Preview for the North American International Detroit Auto Show, highlighting what might have otherwise been the big story on a Friday night before the show opens to the public.
Numerous politicians, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, joined union leaders on stage before the march.One of the highlights for the crowd, shouting “Bernie” at times, was U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, who told them that the struggle is about whether the economy works for all of us or just a few.
Weekly wages for workers are comparably lower than they were 50 years ago, Sanders said, and CEO pay is hundreds of times the what the average worker makes.
Sanders said there’s been a massive redistribution of wealth.
“Instead of going from the top to the bottom. It’s going from the bottom to the top,” he said. “We’re going to reverse that trend.”
He called on the CEOs to “end your greed” and negotiate a fair contract.
UAW President Shawn Fain struck many of the themes he’s been known for, blasting the CEOs and calling out the claims that have been made that the union’s demands would wreck the economy.
“We’re not going to wreck the economy. We’re going to wreck their economy,” he said.
Following the march, Fain also answered media questions, many of which focused on the state of negotiations. Fain said the union had been available for bargaining and that there would be a meeting with Ford on Saturday morning. He indicated the strike could be spread, however.