Deliveries to Lordstown plant stop

Strikers were in an upbeat and pleasant mood as the walkout began.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

LORDSTOWN — A truck driver parked outside the Lordstown auto plant laughed as he considered the fate of his load of door frames.

“I guess I’m headed back home,” said Roger Jagosz, a driver from Michigan who had arrived at the plant to find a picket line across the entrance.

Members of the United Auto Workers were told Monday morning not to allow anyone inside the plant.

“Nobody goes into the plant once we set the pickets up,” said Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112. “Nobody.”

Jagosz said he hadn’t seen any deliveries going into the plant. Officials from his company instructed him to drop his load at a site in Wooster and then head home.

Ben Strickland, shop chairman for Local 1112, said he didn’t expect any deliveries to be made to the plant but added that trucks with finished Chevrolet Cobalts and Pontiac G5s were being allowed out.

The cars are moved by a carrier that uses union drivers represented by the Teamsters. The UAW didn’t want to interfere with their work, Strickland said.

About 2,500 UAW workers are off the job at the assembly plant, and about 1,100 are out at the fabricating plant, which makes metal parts.

Supply plant workers affected

Local 1112 also represents about 500 workers at area supply plants. Most of them were sent home Monday because of the strike, Strickland said. The plants kept some workers on the job for maintenance work.

Among the suppliers with local plants are Intier, which produces seats for the plant; Lear, which makes headliners; and Jamestown Industries, which makes front-end parts.

The number of pickets at assembly plant gates ranged from a handful to a dozen, but several dozen people mingled at the entrances to the fabricating plant.

Strikers generally were in an upbeat and pleasant mood Monday. Some waved signs at passing cars, and one man stood on a flatbed trailer and pumped his fist at cars passing along the Ohio Turnpike.

Strikers have been assigned a four-hour shift for picket duty each week. Strike pay is $200 a week.

Supporting the strike

Rhonda Staub of Austintown, who has 28 years with GM, said she supports the strike because she doesn’t think the union should make any concessions.

“It’s about time. We need to stand up for our rights,” said Staub, who is a native of Michigan and has worked at six other GM plants.

Charlotte Woodson of Canfield said she supports the strike because the UAW is demanding that GM commit to keeping plants such as Lordstown open.

“We don’t want to be on strike. It’s something that needs to be done to protect jobs,” said the 25-year veteran of Lordstown.

Strikers wouldn’t speculate on how long they might be out, saying the only information they have on the talks is from the media.

“We could be out for months or we could be going back to work tomorrow,” said Mike Zillinger of Warren, who has 34 years at the plant. “We just don’t know.”

shilling@vindy.com