In full strike, General Motors workers struggle to make ends meet

ADDS announcement of increase in weekly compensation

DETROIT (awp / afp) – Betty Johnson, after 34 years working on the assembly lines of American automaker General Motors in Michigan and Tennessee, knew a strike would mean many personal sacrifices.

"It's not easy," she said at the end of last week in front of a picket line at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant.

"I still have $ 45 of my $ 250 strike payout package," she says, referring to the fraction of weekly pay that Strawberry employees receive each week.

"I'm about to dig into my retirement savings".

Nearly 50,000 unionized US GM workers have been on strike since September 16 at the UAW (United Auto Workers) appeal. They are demanding wage increases and improving the situation of employees hired after the historic 2009 bankruptcy rescue by the Obama administration.

On Saturday, the UAW announced a $ 25 increase in weekly compensation to $ 275 and especially permission to work part-time outside of GM, without seeing this envelope amputated, "provided they help keep pickets, "said a statement from the union.

"These decisions show the UAW's commitment and solidarity with all its members and their families, who have united in a courageous movement to defend this middle-class lifestyle," said Gary Jones, president of the UAW. union.

The demands of the strikers relate to job security but also health insurance and the status of temporary workers.

But it is increasingly difficult for them to continue living decently with very little income.

Betty Johnson has already contacted United Way, a charitable organization, for financial support in the payment of her energy bills and mortgage loan.

Free food

"I do not know how we can feed five children with $ 250 a week," she says, adding that temporary workers are even worse off with their hourly wage of $ 16.5, according to the UAW.

President of UAW Local 5960 in the suburbs of Detroit and an employee of a factory where GM makes electric vehicles, Louis Rocha observed the importance of community support in this difficult context.

The section offers free meals at any time, thanks to donations from local businesses, churches and individuals. For example, pizzas have been distributed every day since September 16, he says.

According to him, self-help is visible on many levels, like a veterinarian who offered to operate a family's cat for free and avoid euthanasia.

The vice-president of this section 5960, Gerald Lang, even thinks that GM executives have underestimated the ability of workers to stand together during this strike.

But despite this mutual support, disgruntled employees must find ways to cope financially and cut corners.

Diana Reed, who has been with GM for five years and is also a member of section 5960, says she has begun searching her home for all kinds of merchandise for sale online.

To make matters worse, this single mother of five boys claims that the three eldest, employees, help pay the bills, while the two youngest, at university, interrupted their studies to avoid tuition.

"Do I live it wrong? Yes, but it's a concession to make," she adds.

Diana Reed, who used to give food banks, is now accepting donations of food.

"I had to swallow my pride and it was hard, but what helped me do that was to think of my boys."

str / bfm / alb / bds / fjb