BY JOHN SARGE
PLYMOUTH, Michigan - A strike by 500 workers at two Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI) seat factories led Ford to close down all or part of three auto assembly plants on February 7, idling 6,800 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW). The struck plants supply seats for two popular Ford trucks built at the Michigan Truck Plant (MTP), and the Lorain and Avon Lake assembly plants outside of Cleveland.

The 300 striking workers here and 200 in Oberlin, Ohio, are demanding an initial contract. The workers joined the UAW last summer during national contract negotiations between the UAW and the Big Three (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler).

When the workers set up picket lines January 28, Ford announced that they would not accept seats built by managers and scabs after the company moved to rapidly replace the striking workers. Hundreds of auto workers and other unionists had joined the picket lines at both plants the first morning of the strike. Ford moved to avoid conflicts with union members in the assembly plants.

Union officials reported to members of UAW Local 900, which represents the 4,000 workers at MTP, that negotiations had broken off with JCI the same day that Ford announced the plant shutdowns because the parts supplier refused to even offer the same pay and benefits they pay in an unorganized plant in Taylor, Michigan.

With the shut down of production at its own plants and the breakdown of negotiations, the auto giant moved to find a different way to get seats. Pickets report that at about 2 p.m. February 9, with the help of a large contingent of cops, 12 trucks loaded with seat-making machines rolled out of the plant.

Workers were called back to work at MTP on the morning of February 12 to resume building trucks without seats. The Wall Street Journal reported that JCI moved the equipment to a unionized plant in Kentucky organized by the United Steelworkers of America. Parts will be made there and shipped to JCI's major competitor in auto seat manufacturing, Lear, and to Ford's Chesterfield, Michigan, trim plant for assembly. The workers at most Lear plants and at the Ford location are members of the UAW. Some workers at the Chesterfield plant were asked to go on a seven-day-a-week schedule, working 12-hour shifts, even before press reports on Ford's plans. The UAW has not released a statement on its response to these latest moves to weaken the strike by JCI workers.

The picket lines are firm and continue to draw solidarity. Other workers visit the lines. Just hours after the trucks rolled out small groups of UAW Local 900 members stopped by after their union meeting. Students at Oberlin College organized a strike support meeting on February 11 that drew about 40 students.

On the first day back at MTP, the a big topic of discussion was what Ford's moves mean for the strike at JCI and what should unionists in the plant do to support their brothers and sisters on the picket lines.

John Sarge is a member of UAW Local 900 at MTP. Kibwe Diarra, a UAW member in Cleveland, contributed to the article.  
 
 
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