'All of us stick together': Employees laid off from Sharonville Ford plant join UAW picket in West Chester

WEST CHESTER, Ohio — Some of the 360 workers who were laid off last week in Sharonville joined the picket line in West Chester with fellow United Auto Workers members who are on strike from General Motors.

Ford announced Friday that 360 additional employees at its Sharonville transmission plant would be laid off just one week after laying off 306 workers. The layoffs are a direct response to the strike more than an hour away at the Louisville Assembly Plant.

While employees at the Sharonville plant have not been called to join the strike, 8,700 union members at the Louisville plant — Ford's largest plant in the world — went on strike weeks ago. The Louisville plant's assembly lines build multiple Ford vehicles, which then use transmissions from plants like Sharonville's.

About 115 GM workers in West Chester have been on strike since Sept. 21. They were joined on the picket lines Monday by some of the laid-off Sharonville workers, demanding a new contract for fair wages and restoring benefits they gave up.

"That support just makes us go one day longer, one day longer, another day stronger, when we know we got reinforcements coming in," said Janet Billingsley, president of UAW Local 674.

UAW is fighting for a 36% wage increase, as well as a cost of living adjustment and restoring pensions, which is something they lost after 2008.

"It's time for us to get our fair share and bring some of the other workers up. Like we said, it's not just about us, it's about everybody, anybody that's getting unfair wages," said Billingsley. "We helped you out, so now why are you still penalizing us? You guys are making your big bonuses, but some of our people still don't, we don't have back what we gave up, and they're making record profits, get us back to where we were."

T.J. Bailey was laid off by Ford after working at the Sharonville plant for 11 years.

"We don't sit in the big penthouses, or nothing like that, we go to Krogers and I saw my dog's food went from ten bucks to $32," Bailey said.

Workers who were laid off can join the picket line or do community service three hours a week to get $500 weekly strike pay.

"Only making $500 a week is going to be pretty tough to make bills, to make ends meet," said Gary Stanfort, another employee laid off in Sharonville.

RELATED | Hundreds of Sharonville Ford plant workers have been laid off. What's next for them?

Depending on how long the nationwide UAW strike lasts, some members told WCPO over the past few weeks that they've made arrangements with local food pantries.

"I haven't gotten to that point yet, but if things continue, I think we all might be at that point, so I think it's important that all of us stick together," Bailey said.

Meanwhile, UAW sent 6,800 employees who work at a Stellantis plant in Michigan on strike Monday. This is another targeted, surprised strike at the company's Ram truck facility in Sterling Heights, located about a half-hour north of Detroit.

The union started the strike on Sept. 15 at one assembly plant from each company. Right now, about 41,000 workers are on strike against Ford, GM and Stellantis. Strikes are entering its sixth week, with about 28% of the union's workforce on strike against the big three.

In a statement to WCPO, a GM spokesperson said:

"Negotiations remain ongoing, and we will continue to work towards finding solutions to address outstanding issues. Our goal remains to reach an agreement that rewards our employees and allows GM to be successful into the future."

WCPO also reached out to Ford, but as of Monday afternoon, have not heard back.