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Milwaukee Stellantis plant to close
A new deal with the UAW Local 75 union includes the Milwaukee plant merging with one in Belvidere, Ill.
MILWAUKEE - The United Auto Workers strike is over, but so is the existence of the Stellantis production plant in Milwaukee.
A new deal with the UAW Local 75 union includes the Milwaukee plant merging with one in Belvidere, Ill.
The hope was to create more jobs and increase wages. According to the new deal, workers will get increased wages, but not without being willing to move.
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UAW members were on strike for 44 days, and now the deal has come with a cost.
"It certainly is difficult when an agreement comes together and your community is left out," Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said.
Stellantis facility in Milwaukee
Stellantis said that in order to raise wages for union workers, a merger of auto part production plants needs to happen.
President Joe Biden traveled to Belvidere on Thursday to reopen the Stellantis plant.
"I strongly believe when a company transitions to a new technology, they should retool, reboot and rehire in the same factories with the same workers and the same community that existed there before," Biden said. "You should get the first shot at the jobs. That's what you made happen here in Belvidere. It should happen all across America."
But that is a different story in Milwaukee.
"That plant had been here for a long time and will leave a void down in the Bay View neighborhood, which is sad but I think, because the plant is as massive as it was, I think presents opportunities for us to look forward to as well," Johnson said.
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Johnson joined the UAW members on the picket line during the strike.
"When folks have good paying, family-supporting jobs, they have stability," Johnson said. "When individuals have stability, their families have stability."
But now that deal is done, he hopes all employees are able to find a new beginning.
"I’m hopeful that folks who had gained full employment here will still stay here and find employment elsewhere in the city of Milwaukee," Johnson said.
About 100 workers were on strike in Milwaukee and it is still unclear how many of them will be out of a job, able to retire early, or able to transfer to the Belvidere production plant.