The Teamsters are in the UAW's corner in its national strike against General Motors.
Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa, in a news release Monday, said his members will not cross or work behind picket lines. That includes some of the 10,000 Teamsters who deliver cars and trucks for the auto industry, including hundreds who haul trucks from the Flint Truck Assembly Plant.
"Workers should not solely bear the brunt of decades of bad business decisions by GM management. By outsourcing good jobs and creating a growing environment of economic and job insecurity, GM has failed its workers and its customers," Hoffa said in the release.
"This struggle highlights the ever-growing crisis in our nation's health care system and corporate America's continued pursuit of unfair trade deals. This approach has failed the American worker and is destroying the middle class."
Rod Eaton, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 332, said the move impacts about 500-600 members in the Flint area.
That includes vehicle haulers working in and out of GM's Flint Truck Assembly Plant and switchers working at GM's Flint Service and Parts Operations plant in Swartz Creek.
"It's going to knock out all of our car hauling at (Flint Truck)," Eaton said. "Our guys came out as soon as they were notified of the strike."
Eaton, an experienced negotiator, said some companies simply don't believe a union will strike.
He said it appears that is the situation at GM. Sometimes it takes the shock of a strike to show a company the union is serious, he noted.
Eaton said there is one positive sign in the strike so far: Both sides still are talking.
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