MADISON COUNTY, Ill. – Workers in Troy and Highland, Illinois, were on strike Monday afternoon against the Eaton Corporation and their B-Line business, a massive city block complex. Union workers at the Pinckneyville, Illinois, plant joined them.
“It started at midnight on Sunday,” Tony Robertson, a machinist at Eaton B-Line, said. “It has been leading up. We’ve had a few contracts in the past we probably should have striked, but now we’re here to make our presence known.”
The International Association of Machinists Local 660 went on strike at midnight. Eaton is a metal manufacturing business that deals in electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical power all over the world.
“They offered us a 3% raise and with the cost of living going up and the economy going up, they don’t take into all that consideration, and we would like to see a better wage,” Robertson said.
Striking machinists said their union reps and Eaton Corporation leaders are to meet this week. Until then, about 400 striking employees will continue taking shifts outside the plant, letting passing drivers know their displeasure.
“There’s a lot of experience out at both of these plants and I don’t think there’s a computer out there that can match what we can do,” Robertson said.
The Eaton Corporation could not be reached for comment.
