CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- About 4,000 workers at Ford’s Chicago assembly plant joined the picket line Friday and will remain off the job as contract negotiations with the country’s top three automakers continue.
The plant in Chicago makes Ford Explorers and Explorer Police Interceptors along with the Lincoln Aviator SUV. UAW union president Shawn Fain in a video conference said that the progress has been too little in contract talks with Ford and GM.
Marissa Martinez, longtime Ford employee, puts air compressors on engine’s all day every day.
"We're making history right now and I'm proud to be part of it," she said.
Martinez told WBBM that she’ll be on her way to retirement soon enough, but would like to leave behind better conditions for the remaining workers with this strike.
Israel, another worker who works on the assembly line and said he would stand on the picket line as long as possible.
"We hope that they do to come to an agreement for equality, better rates, better benefits."
About 25,000 thousand United Auto Workers are now on strike.
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