100+ UAW workers at Royersford manufacturing facility are on strike
The 103 workers in Royersford manufacture mechanical steering control systems and shift and throttle cables for the global company.
More than 100 workers at a Dometic manufacturing facility in Royersford are on strike, their union announced Monday.
Dometic, a global company headquartered in Stockholm, makes appliances and other accessories for “mobile living” in boats, RVs, and trucks. In Royersford, they manufacture mechanical steering control systems and shift and throttle cables.
The striking employees are members of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 644, based in Pottstown. According to the union, the employer offered a 10.1% wage increase over three years, with member health-care costs increasing by 5% over three years. The union said that offer isn’t enough given the rate of inflation in recent years.
“We have a decent portion of this workforce that, quite frankly, is below the living wage,” Local 644 president Jim Hutchinson said in a video shared with The Inquirer by a UAW spokesperson.
The union and employer have been negotiating for about two weeks, Hutchinson said.
“This is a very uncomfortable time for me and others who are making far less money, but sometimes we have to tear the Band-Aid off and take a little more pain,” said Rich Brewer, an industrial maintenance mechanic hired last December, in the same video.
UAW has been in the spotlight recently as 150,000 members who work at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis voted in August to go on strike if they don’t have a competitive contract offer by the time their current agreement expires on Thursday.
The union has more than 400,000 active members across North America, with more than 600 locals and contracts with 1,050 employers. While the name of the union suggests that its members consist of auto industry workers, the national organization has members across many different sectors, including higher education, government, and nonprofits.
Local 644 is part of UAW’s Region 9, which includes eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and upstate New York. Region director Daniel Vicente joined the union when he was working at Dometic, as a member of Local 644.
A spokesperson for Dometic did not respond to a request for comment Monday.