CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- More than 800 automobile mechanics are now in the second day of a strike against more than 50 new car dealerships in the Chicago area and no new contract talks are scheduled.
The auto technicians went on strike against the New Car Dealers Committee a couple of days after their deal with the 56 dealers expired. Mechanics Union Local 701 went on strike in 2017, too. That walkout lasted seven weeks and union business representative Ronnie Gonzalez hopes this strike is shorter than that.
“We understand that it’s a major inconvenience to the members and to the customers, but we are willing to stand up for what we believe is right and what we deserve,” Gonzalez said.
Although a newly signed law forbids dealers from paying mechanics less for warranty work than other maintenance and repairs, Gonzalez said one of the main issues is the dealers’ insistence on being able to, in effect, cut workers’ pay when business is slow.
“You would still be responsible for being there for your 40 hours, but you’re not getting compensated for that entire time.”
Gonzalez also said there’s a dispute between the two sides over car dealers’ contribution rates to the union’s health insurance fund.
Dave Sloan, president of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, said the car dealers’ proposal was misrepresented to mechanics.
“These techs have not financially recovered from the last strike, so how the union leadership would have them back on the street is just unconscionable," Sloan said. “Why they would hang their members out to dry for union politics is beyond me.”
Sloan said car mechanics are guaranteed $80,000 a year in pay.
He said the New Car Dealers Committee does not want to contribute a greater amount to the union’s health insurance fund, because the fund is overfunded by 32 months.
Gonzalez said the union had previously reached a contract settlement with a group of 30 dealers, and that while the mechanics are striking against the group of 56 dealers, more than 40 other dealers are “kind of sitting on the fence waiting to see which agreement they want to sign.”
Gonzalez said the union has given the so-called “fence-sitter” group 10 days to pick a side.
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