United Automobile Workers in Indiana joined the union’s national strike against General Motors Monday. Some picketers at the Fort Wayne Assembly plant want the company to hire more of its temp workers full time.
Dozens of union members waved signs during their four-hour shift on the picket line as cars drive by and honk outside Indiana’s largest GM facility.
Lucy Esparza has worked at the plant for nearly two decades. She says the company’s reliance on temporary workers to cut costs is unfair.
“I mean we have temps in here that have been here two or three years and they’re not hired in,” Esparza says. “You know, like obviously GM needs these bodies; they need these people working here and I think it’s only fair and square that they get hired in.”
READ MORE: Bedford GM Workers Part Of Nationwide Strike
According to company figures, the plant employs about forty-five hundred workers.
UAW workers at GM facilities in Bedford, Kokomo and Marion also joined the strike.
Contact Samantha at shorton@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @SamHorton5.
