On one of the first drizzly days in Beaverton this fall, Joseph Acosta sat under a pop-up tent in front of the Chrysler Parts Distribution Center. The longtime auto worker was signing up for strike benefits from the United Auto Workers union to help provide for his family while he’s on the picket line. Behind him, drivers honked their horns in support.
Dan Dayrit, left, and Roy Bautista, both employees at the Chrysler Parts Distribution Center in Beaverton, picket with fellow United Auto Workers (UAW) and supporters outside the plant on Sept. 25, 2023. Dayrit has worked at the facility for over 25 years, and Bautista has worked there for seven.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Grant Wagner, left, talks with United Auto Workers (UAW) regional rep David Parsons, right, as they picket. UAW employees at the Beaverton warehouse walked off the job on Friday, joining UAW strikes at auto manufacturing plants across the country.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
United Auto Workers (UAW) and supporters picket as truck turns into the Chrysler Parts Distribution Center in Beaverton.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
United Auto Workers (UAW) regional rep David Parsons, right, talks with folks on the picket line on Monday.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
United Auto Workers (UAW) and supporters picket in front of the Chrysler Parts Distribution Center in Beaverton.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Dwayne Rabe, left, and Patrick Bushart picket on Monday. Rabe has worked 38 years at the facility, and Bushart retired in 2009 after 33 years on the job.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
A security guard sits outside building, watching the strike.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
United Auto Workers (UAW) picket in front of the Chrysler Parts Distribution Center on Monday.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
“I’m a third-generation Chrysler worker,” said Acosta, who started in the auto industry 10 years ago in his hometown of Belvidere, Illinois. “They have done good for my family. It’s just now that times are changing, we want to be treated just as fair. They’re making record-breaking profits, it should trickle down to the workers who helped make those profits.”
As he stepped out into the rain on Monday to join other workers on strike, Acosta said he moved to the Portland area two years ago to work at the Beaverton center. That’s when he got more involved in the local union.
The United Auto Workers Union strike started on Sept. 15 and expanded on Friday by more than 5,500 workers. Strikes are targeting 30 U.S. locations run by General Motors and Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler and operator of the parts facility in Beaverton, where more than 40 workers are employed. The UAW union said that more than 18,000 workers were on strike across the country as of Monday.
Jill McCambridge, the local union benefits representative in Beaverton, has been working in the auto industry for 26 years. She said that when car companies were facing dramatic losses in 2007, employees were willing to help out.
United Auto Workers (UAW) and supporters picket in front of the Chrysler Parts Distribution Center in Beaverton on Sept. 25, 2023. The UAW strikers in Beaverton walked off the job on Friday, as cars pass by, many of them honking their support.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
“We were asked to open our contract up and make some concessions,” McCambridge said from the picket line Monday. “We all voted to do that to help support our company, keep it going.”
She said Stellantis needs to keep its promise to raise wages and provide other benefits, now that the company is profitable again. In the first six months of 2023, Stellantis reported nearly $12 billion in profits.
Stellantis declined OPB’s request for an interview.