On UAW picket lines, there's chili, cornhole and a sense of family

Nearly a week into the UAW strike against the Detroit 3, 34-year-old Dustin Pultz was doing his first shift on the picket line.

He made sure to dress for the occasion. Or, more accurately, undress.

Pultz sported reflective sunglasses, knee-high red socks and a fanny pack designed to look like a beer belly, choosing to go shirtless in the late-summer sun. He dyed his mohawk bright red the night before in anticipation of a six-hour stint outside Stellantis' Toledo Assembly Complex, where he usually builds Jeep Wranglers.

"Just get out here, have some fun but don't go too crazy," Pultz said of his approach to the day. "We're not out here partying, we're protesting. When we get a convoy of Jeeps roll by, every single person will grab a sign and go out to the road. We're hootin' and hollerin'."

Here at Toledo Assembly — one of three plants in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri where a total of 13,000 UAW members began striking Sept. 15 — the weather was warm, and spirits were high.

The strikers played cornhole, tossed a football and blared rap music from a speaker.

A regular cadence of cars passing along the Interstate 75 service drive honked in support. Horns also bellowed occasionally from semitrucks rolling by on the freeway.

"There's been so much support, and I'm loving it," Pultz said.

A few minutes later, almost on cue, two people pulled up to the gate in a white Wrangler offering strikers cups of chili and crackers. Inside were UAW members Doris Jones and Ron Birchfield.

"We're out here to make sure our members' needs are taken care of," Birchfield said. "We don't want to be on strike, but unfortunately, this is where we're at right now."

Toledo Assembly, with nearly 6,000 hourly workers, is the largest of the three plants that UAW President Shawn Fain selected to begin the strike. Fifty miles north, 3,300 workers have been picketing outside Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Assembly Plant, and 500 miles southwest is General Motors' Wentzville Assembly, where 3,600 are on strike.

Workers at additional plants could walk off the job at noon Friday, Fain's next deadline for the automakers to show progress at the bargaining table. Because no one outside the top leadership knows which locations could be next, locals around the country have been preparing for a potential call to action.

In front of Stellantis' North American offices — the former Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills, Mich. — UAW Local 412 members held a practice picket Wednesday, shouting their demands near the automaker's doorstep. The local represents an array of workers from the Chrysler Technology Center, Sterling Heights Assembly Plant and Warren Truck Assembly Plant, among other sites.

Janine Camper, who works at Sterling Heights Assembly, said she's ready to join the strike if called. She was hired at Chrysler in 1995 and has spent the last year at the Ram pickup plant after her job in the salaried bargaining unit was outsourced.

Camper believes the pressure being created by the strike is helping the union's cause. The automakers "know we're standing up — we're not taking it anymore," she said. "We gave up so much."

Camper also had a message for Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares.

"He has to show loyalty," Camper said. "It starts from the top. He's not showing us loyalty. He's getting big, fat checks, and we're getting the scraps."

Omar Stephens, a salaried skilled trades steward at the Chrysler Technology Center, said he's "not expecting the moon" with the next contract. He understands the union might not get everything it's asking for, but he just wants a fair deal. Stephens also wants the company to resume paying the cost-of-living adjustments that were included in his paychecks during the first half of his 23-year career.

"I want them to make sure they take care of the salaried employees because we didn't get taken care of last contract," he said. "I definitely want to see the two-tier system go away. I do believe we need to get paid fairly. COLA is big. I just want a fair contract for everybody. That's the biggest thing."

Pultz lives in Cygnet, Ohio, about 40 miles south of his job at Toledo Assembly. He's a single father of three and said he wants a contract that improves wages, maintains health care coverage and takes care of temporary workers.

He's been at the Jeep plant for a decade and said he's excited by the aggressiveness shown so far by Fain.

"Shawn is hopefully our white knight," he said. "Our Harvey Dent, man. He's a fighter, and so far, we stand behind him. We stand with him."

At the next gate over, near the plant's massive Jeep sign, Tim Gable picketed in a red "Union Strong" T-shirt.

He's typically a team leader in the Wrangler's chassis department, overseeing workers assembling rear sway bars, shocks and brake lines. Now he's the grill master.

Gable was cooking chicken legs and had containers of burgers and hot dogs nearby.

"Whoever's behind the grill has the most power," he joked.

Cody McLaughlin, 29, was the strike captain at Gable's gate. He encouraged the dozen or so workers to hold their signs high as cars drove by and as trucks entered and exited.

He's worked at Toledo Assembly for more than nine years and said he hopes the next contract protects temporary workers. While Ford and GM are obligated to convert temps to full time after two years, no such stipulation exists at Stellantis.

McLaughlin said he knows some temps who have been there nearly as long as he has.

"They work more than most of us, sometimes," he said. "The company just takes advantage of them."

McLaughlin also hopes the UAW can secure some work-life balance protections. His wife also works at the plant, but they're on separate shifts: 5:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. for him, and 5 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. for her.

"If I wake up early enough, I get to see her for an hour before work," he said. "I get home at 4:20; she leaves at 4:30 every day."

Even with the dual incomes, McLaughlin said they're barely scraping by. Now, for as long as the walkout lasts, they'll have to make do with $500 a week in strike pay for each of them instead of their regular paychecks.

"We don't get to put money away very much unless we want to work every day," he said. "Then I don't get to see her or the kids very much. I just feel we're kind of bottom of the middle class. People look at us like we're rich, but unless you want to be there 10 hours a day, seven days a week, you don't make that much."

McLaughlin was on his first official strike shift but said he and his wife had come to the plant nearly every day.

"Everybody here, it's like one big family," McLaughlin said. "We all stand together. Everybody on my team's been out multiple times, just to drive by and honk or stop and hang out, make sure the spirits stay up."