The Militant - December 25, 2000 -- Freightliner workers prepare for strike

Vol.64/No.49 December 25, 2000

Freightliner workers prepare for strike

BY LAUREN HART
MOUNT HOLLY, North Carolina--Workers at the Freightliner truck assembly plant here are preparing for a possible strike when the current three-year contract expires December 15. The company declared December 8 that if the more than 1,700 United Auto Workers (UAW) members here do not accept its demands the plant will be shut down and most production moved to Mexico. Freightliner's proposal includes a three-year wage freeze for most workers. Only a few of the top-paid workers would see a pay raise.

In October, Freightliner laid off the entire third shift at the UAW-organized assembly plant, as well as shifts at two nonunion parts plants in the area--a total of nearly 2,300 jobs--citing slow sales. The union held a rally in September to protest the layoffs.

Production and maintenance workers at the Mount Holly plant voted to join the UAW in 1990. They won their first contract after a 17-day strike the following year. Workers going in for second shift December 8 told Militant reporters that they are prepared to walk out if need be. A van driver making a delivery also stopped to make sure there was not a strike, explaining he wouldn't cross the picket line.

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