UAW workers rally to keep plant open

Over 400 members of UAW Local 122 came together May 11 to try to stop the closing of Chrysler’s Twinsburg Stamping Plant in Twinsburg, Ohio. From the union’s Web site, members were urged to “pack the hall” for a meeting on the plant’s future that featured Twinsburg Mayor Katherine Procop and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. Angry questions focused on the fact that the closing of Twinsburg and three other plants was a violation of the union contract, highlighting the double standard of upholding contracts involving executive salaries while allowing companies to flagrantly violate contracts with hourly workers. Workers held signs that read “An Injury to One is an Injury to All,” and “No Human Being is a Bad Asset,” a reference to the 5,000 workers who will lose their jobs if Chrysler sells their plants as “bad assets.” The meeting ended with workers chanting, “The people have spoken! Keep the plant open!”