MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Members of the United Auto Workers remain on the picket line at the General Motors Parts distribution facility in Martinsburg, but the local union president believed this week’s tentative contract with Ford Motor Company was a good sign.
“I don’t think G-M nor Stellantis is going to want Ford to get ahead of them in producing vehicles,” said Vanessa Banks, President of UAW Local 1590.
Banks said she heard from the union’s vice-President last week a cryptic message which seemed to indicate the tentative agreements were near for the other two companies as well.
“He said all the pieces were there, they just needed to be glued together. So I really think all three of them are close, Ford just made it before the others did,” she said.
The Ford proposal included a 25 percent pay raise over four years not including the cost of living adjustments each year. Banks said it seemed like a sound agreement from what she had read and it gave great hope to her local members who remain on strike, but have started to show frustration.
“Everybody is still okay with doing it, but they are getting impatient with nobody coming up with an agreement. This is going to give them hope that it’s over soon,” she said.
Banks spent part of her time on the picket line in Martinsburg at West Virginia’s only UAW shop Thursday, then travelled to Winchester, Virginia to stand with striking Stellantis workers at a facility there.
Story by WVMetroNews Anchor Chris Lawrence
