HAMBURG, N.Y. (WKBW) — The United Auto Workers at the Ford Stamping Plant in Hamburg are among the thousands patiently waiting to see if the union will reach a contract agreement with the company.
One worker from the facility tells 7 News reporter Yoselin Person he’ll be going on strike with his union brothers and sisters if an agreement isn’t made.
“It’s a sacrifice we’re going to have to take and I’m willing to take a sacrifice to have better days,” he says.
The Ford worker who doesn’t want to disclose his name says he’s ready to stand up for himself along with others if a contract isn’t agreed upon with the Big 3 automakers.
This worker has been working at the Ford facility for nine years.
He says coming up with an agreement for better pay is long overdue.
He says that the starting hourly rate is $15 an hour.
“And throughout eight years you’ll hit close to like 30 an hour and eight years is kind of a long time,” he says. “These past few years they’ve been hiring people and they’ve been quitting right away because they can’t afford to work there.”
The GM manufacturing team released a statement on their website saying this:
A representative from UAW had this to say in last week’s picket practice.
“But there's a willingness because of the amount of money these companies are making and the steps back that we took in 2008, 2006,” Jimmy Lakeman says. “So there’s a lot of people that haven’t caught up to where they were in 2006, but the company is making billions of dollars and it’s shown every day through their shareholders, stocks, and everything else.”
And just down the road from the Ford Stamping Plant, some businesses like Lakeshore Cafe say while they don’t expect this to impact their business, they stand with the UAW.
“It’s kind of sad. You know we don’t want that to happen, but there's not much we can do about it,” says a worker. “Stay strong through it.”
The deadline for a new contract between the union and the Big 3 automakers is Thursday, September 14, 11:59 p.m.
