Friend,

Last night, the Big 3 auto manufacturers - GM, Ford, and Stellantis - failed to reach an agreement with workers by the midnight Eastern deadline. For the first time in the union's history, the UAW is striking against all three companies at the same time, starting with three plants.

One of those plants is in Wentzville. That's where workers make Chevy and GMC mid-size trucks and full-size vans. As of 11:00 PM local time, workers went on strike.

During the Great Recession, taxpayers and workers bailed out the auto industry. Workers made substantial concessions to help the companies survive.

Now, these auto companies are making massive profits, participating in multi-million dollar stock buybacks, and increasing executive pay while workers get left behind.

A few days ago, I was with UAW Local 2250 in Wentzville. I spoke with a woman who is from Pennsylvania. She's been working at our plant since 2019 because the one she used to work at closed and she was assigned here. Her entire family is still in Pennsylvania, and she sees them maybe 3 times a year. Another worker mentioned that she couldn't afford the consumer vehicles they make at the plant because pay is not keeping up with inflation. And just about everyone mentioned how unfair it was for some workers to be treated worse and receive less benefits because of the companies' tier system.

The UAW's fight isn’t just about the auto sector. It's about American workers everywhere. It’s about whether we have to accept crappy health care, crappy retirement, crappy housing, crappy schools, crappy everything so the super wealthy can get even wealthier. It’s about whether we are going to continue down this self-destructive path of eliminating the middle class while expanding the ranks of the working poor - a term that shouldn’t even exist in America. It’s about whether we are going to give up control of just about everything to mega corporations that don’t give a damn about us.

There are people working at these plants who have had to uproot their entire lives because some corporate suit somewhere decided that some factories in some towns weren’t worth it anymore.

America’s workers deserve better. These folks are on the frontlines of the fight for dignity in our country, and they need us to stand with them.

I am in contact with union leadership to see what resources they need from us. Stay tuned, and consider visiting the picket line and showing your support.

I'll be traveling a lot in the next two weeks. We'll be in Howard, St. Charles, Platte, Lincoln, Jefferson, Boone, Macon, and Miller Counties, along with the City of St. Louis. And Liberty Belle brought some decorations to the truck (made at the Wentzville plant).

We've got good momentum. We've recruited nearly 500 volunteers, and we're ready to expand our campaign team.

We cannot afford to wait until 2024 to get to work. Please consider supporting our campaign by hosting an event, donating, or signing up to volunteer. We've got a huge opportunity in Missouri. Help us get it done.