Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
In a new video, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) President Shawn Fain and Vice President Mike Booth visited UAW Local 292 members at the General Motors Component Holding Plant in Kokomo, Indiana. For 50 years, the plant produced semiconductors, until the work was outsourced in 2017 to devastating effect.
“This place changed my family’s life,” said Fain, whose grandparents hired in at the facility in the 1940s. “It’s a shame to see where it is today. There’s over two and a half million square feet of floor space here. Over two million of that square footage is empty, and a workforce that used to have roughly 15,000 people, now there’s just 100 people left.”
“This is just another example in a long line of failings of GM and the Big Three companies and how little they care for the workers and the communities we live in.” Fain said. “These workers want to be here. They’re proud of these jobs. Some of these people have been here 25 years, and they’re standing here hanging in the balance now waiting to see what’s left for them in the future.”