WYOMING, Mich. — The strike against General Motors by 49,000 United Auto Workers has entered day 8. While progress in negotiations has been reported, there is no indication that this strike will end anytime soon.
At the GM Plant in Wyoming, union workers on strike continue to show up on the picket line. On Friday, workers received their full paycheck from GM for their last week of work. They will now start living on strike pay, which is $250 dollars per week.
The workers aren't the only ones bearing the financial burden of this strike, one local business said it is feeling the pinch too.
Frankie V's Pizzeria and Sports Lounge in Wyoming is a popular spot for some of the GM plant workers.
"Typically we have a standing order with them on Friday that we deliver to them all the time," says Frank Vitale, owner of Frankie V's Pizzeria and Sports Lounge. "We even predicated our happy hour to them, specifically starting at 3 o'clock which is when they usually get out. It's been kind of quiet at 3 o'clock so it has affected us ever since they've been on strike."
Vitale remarks that his staff is not only missing workers from a business perspective, they also miss the high energy and the positive vibes they bring to the restaurant.
"The guys come in and have a good time, so we don't have that same energy now. It's a little bit quieter. We like to have that laughter in the place so that is being missed, not only for bartenders but for the other guests around too."
Vitale says he believes the GM workers deserve fair wages and deserve to afford to live comfortably. He hopes that GM and the union will sit down and get this negotiation done so that the workers can return to their usual 3 p.m. happy hour at Frankie V's.
"We've been here for 19 years so we have a long tradition with the workers," said Vitale. "When the plant reopens, we welcome them back. The community needs that and so do our businesses."
The union wants a bigger share of GM's more than $30 billion in profits during the past five years. GM wants to hang on to that money as it faces global auto sales decline and potentially another recession. They're also negotiating over the use of temporary workers and a path to make them full-time, and a faster track for getting newly hired workers to the top UAW wage.
This is the first national strike by the UAW since 2007, when they shut down General Motors for two days.
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