TOLEDO, Ohio — From partners and spouses joining the picket line in solidarity to couples that met at GM and are both on strike, the impact of the current strike extends to the entire family in some cases right here in Toledo.
Robert and Heather Moore's love story started while they both worked at GM. Now, they're walking the picket line together.
"It's going to be four years next week," said Heather Moore. "We have a mine and yours family so we have children that range from 18, so college is expensive at the moment, all the way down to 11 years old."
The strike has brought up a lot of questions at home about strikes and unions. They're questions they answer as proud members of UAW Local 14.
"We explain to them daily what it means, how it impacts daily the whole country's economy. On what we do and the trickle down effect of our pay and what we buy across every city," said Robert Moore.
Partners who don't work for the company are also joining the strike, like Derek Nowakowski, who is supporting his partner Brian Van Pelt.
"I've come down, picketed, helped with signs, come down and just do whatever i can to help them," said Nowakowski.
That help also includes bringing down their dogs Louie and Lucy in their own UAW shirts to raise spirits while picketers are out in the heat.
"We want to make sure that everybody knows that we're here to make a firm stand for what we're about and everything, but we want to make sure as well that everyone has a good time and everyone's spirits are up, especially because this isn't something we want to do, this is something we have to do," said Van Pelt.