One week after fatal accident killed crane operator Terry Garr, millwright dies of COVID-19 at Sterling Stamping Plant wsws.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wsws.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Autoworkers call for independent investigation into worker death at Stellantis Sterling Stamping Plant
There are growing calls among autoworkers for an independent investigation into the death of Terry Garr, a 57-year-old crane operator at Stellantis Sterling Stamping outside Detroit who died in a tragic on-the-job accident April 21. Underscoring the need for an independent investigation and accounting, there have been no official accounts of the death of Garr outside of a sketchy police report. It seems the death occurred while a press machine was being lifted by a crane when it suddenly shifted, crushing the worker. The
World Socialist Web Site has learned that the United Auto Workers union has been removing Facebook posts reporting the tragedy.
Stop Stellantis and UAW’s conspiracy to abolish the 8-hour day!
The Sterling Heights Assembly Rank-and-File Safety Committee calls on autoworkers to oppose the impending imposition of a 12-hour 7-day (12/7) work rotation at the plant.
We call for the rescinding of the 12/7 schedule and the reinstatement of the principle of the eight-hour day for all workers, the payment of time and one-half after eight hours and for Saturday work.
Management must immediately fill all vacancies in skilled trades to end their overwork. The new hires should come, in the first place, from among qualified production workers.
Shift change at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) in Sterling Heights, Michigan, north of Detroit, in 2019 (WSWS Photo)
Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly workers call for fight to defend the eight-hour day
Opposition is growing among autoworkers against the move by Stellantis, in league with the United Auto Workers, to impose a 12-hour, seven-day work rotation for skilled trades at the giant Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) in the north Detroit suburbs.
Management has announced it plans to impose a new work schedule starting April 5 that would have four alternating skilled trades crews working seven-day, 12-hour shifts over a two-week rotation. The new mandatory schedule eliminates overtime pay after eight hours and time-and-one-half for Saturday work, fundamental gains workers won over more than a century of struggle.