TOLEDO, Ohio — A United Auto Workers strike at Mobis North America, a parts supplier for Jeep, ended in less than 24 hours after the two sides reached a tentative contract agreement, chairman Jeremy Navarre confirmed to WTOL 11 just after 10 p.m. Wednesday.
"The strike has officially ended," a post from Navarre on social media reads. "2nd shift will report tomorrow. Roll out information will be provided very soon!"
Contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday and the plant's workers went on strike for the first time ever after a deal was not reached.
In a statement, a Mobis representative said the company was pleased to have reached a tentative agreement. Workers will return to work for the Thursday afternoon shift, they said.
Two weeks ago, Mobis North America's 400-some employees at the Toledo Assembly Complex near unanimously approved strike authorization against the company with Navarre, who said he and the other workers were inspired by the UAW's strike against the Big 3 and how it paid off for the autoworkers.
Mobis supplies the chassis for the Jeep Gladiator, one of the plant's biggest sellers. Ahead of the contract deadline, UAW Local 12 President Bruce Baumhower confirmed to WTOL 11 Wednesday afternoon that production of the vehicle had ended at 9:30 a.m. the same day.
Prior to the strike, Baumhower said the union was hoping for a last-minute deal because strikes don't just hurt the company, they hurt everyone, and perhaps one of the biggest unintentional blowbacks of a Mobis strike will come right back on the Jeep plant.
"It'll shut that side down. It's kind of crazy to think that Chrysler had Mobis shut down for six weeks because they were on strike and Mobis feeds them, along with 15 other Local 12 plants that were shut down," Baumhower said on Tuesday. "Now it's role reversal. Now Mobis will have one-half of Chrysler shut down. My hope is we can reach a deal before we have to strike again."
But, he said a strike is a necessary move to get fair contracts for the workers.
Editor's note: The above story has been edited to include information provided in a statement from Mobis.
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