Chrysler's UAW Rank-And-File May Feel Their Temp-Erature Rise In Illinois
Chrysler's been hyping the new third shift being added to the Toledo, Ohio plant to boost production of the Liberty-platform Dodge Nitro SUV. And no wonder — they're hiring the 750 added workers in Toledo from the pool of UAW workers sitting around in the job bank. That's the type of news that makes the UAW very happy — unlike the news out of the Belvidere, Illinois plant. They'll be adding a third shift, just like Toledo — except with one minor difference.
Every one of the 1,000 new employees working on the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Patriot will be a "temp" worker paid $8-an-hour less than their UAW co-workers. In addition, they'll have two-year contracts and have to wait eight months for health insurance benefits. Despite union leadership agreeing to the addition of the provision in the 2003 labor contract, we're guessing this probably won't go over too well with the 2,650 UAW rank-and-file employees at the factory.
At least their leadership's taking full responsibility. For instance, Bill Parker, president of UAW Local 1700 which covers the Belvidere plant, had this to say about the provision:
"My question is where are all these decisions being made?"
Glad to see the worker bees have someone they can count on to stick by their decisions — no matter how difficult.
Chrysler hires all-temps third shift at Ill. plant [Detroit News]
Related:
Breaking! GM Doing The Churn N' Burn — Hiring Temps To Replace Union Workers [internal]