TOLEDO, Ohio — UAW President Shawn Fain in a livestream on Friday accused the Big Three automakers of being the reason for recent acts of violence against picketers after incidents on the picket lines in California, Michigan and Massachusetts.
The incident in Michigan, which saw five workers injured, happened on Tuesday outside a Flint-area General Motors plant.
The striking workers were blocking a driveway, and an employee was trying to leave the Flint Processing Center in Swartz Creek and struck the workers, according to an Associated Press report.
In an address Thursday, Fain referenced other reports of violence on picket lines around the country and blamed the Big Three.
All three companies, Stellantis, Ford and GM, have strongly denied the accusations. A GM spokesperson said Fain is prioritizing inflammatory rhetoric over serious efforts to reach a deal.
Picketers at the Toledo Jeep Assembly Complex, owned by Stellantis, said they're aware of the unsettling acts, but it won't stop them.
"Of course we're mindful now that we've got to be careful for something like that," Calisha Evans, a line operator, said. "But I don't want it to stop our message from getting across."
It should be easy given that the level of opposition they say they've seen so far is tame at best.
"We get maybe one or two middle fingers, and that's it," team leader Johnathon Rodenbeck said, "but it's no big deal."
The Toledo picketers say most of the Glass City has been supportive.
"They know why we're out here, they stand behind us, and as you can see when they come by they're giving us honks and shouting positive things to us," said Tremain Robinson, a production operator.
Much of the food they eat and the water they drink comes from community donations, too.
Robinson said if it wasn't safe, he wouldn't bring his own daughter to the picket line.
"If it was an unsafe environment I definitely wouldn't have my child out here," said Robinson.