U.S. Sen. Gary Peters joins UAW picket line at Ford Assembly Plant
WAYNE, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - U.S. Sen. Gary Peters joined UAW members on the picket line outside of the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne Friday following the historic strike that saw UAW members walk out on all of Detroit's Big Three automakers simultaneously.
UAW members are seeking a wage increase, better benefits, and a return to a traditional pension.
U.S. Sen. Gary Peters joined UAW members on the picket line outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne Friday.
"What the UAW is doing is about standing up to the middle class. These workers here sacrificed a lot back in 2008 and 2009 when the auto industry was in real serious trouble. They sacrificed, and now things have turned around," Peters said. "There's record profits right now. You're seeing the executives earning record pay. Workers need to be able to share in that as well and have fair wages.
"I think there is a lot going on at the bargaining table, right now, back and forth, and we support that collective bargaining as to where they got to get to. But clearly, there's still a gap there that needs to be filled, but the UAW is right to say they need fair wages. They want to share when the times are good, just like when they sacrificed when times are bad.
"The one thing we know about the union movement is that when unions are successful, all of America is successful, and right now, it hasn't been stacked in favor of the American middle class. This is why labor unions now have public support equal to what it was back in the 1960s when labor was strong, and when we had contracts. But since that time, we've seen CEO pay skyrocket while middle-class wages have stagnated. And when the UAW is successful here we, and we're going to fight to make sure they are successful, that usually means higher wages for everybody in the economy, and everybody starts getting their share."
Roughly 9% of all UAW members are on strike around the country.
Those numbers will rise exponentially in the coming days, weeks, and months until a deal is made.