Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis UAW Workers Got Rid of Tiers With a Strike Threat
Fifteen hundred autoworkers in Indianapolis made their New Year’s resolution public: unless Allison Transmission agreed to eliminate tiers in wages, benefits, shift premiums, and holidays, they would hit the bricks.
“The fight plan throughout negotiations was ending tiers,” said Phil Shupe, a ten-year assembler on tier two and bargaining committee member. “We weren’t going to accept anything from the company that had any more division. We stood firm that we all needed to be equal.” Workers at Allison make commercial heavy-duty automatic transmissions for fire trucks, school buses, and tanks, as well as hybrid propulsion systems.
United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 933 members there hadn’t struck since the 1970s. But in December, they rejected Allison’s offer by 96 percent.
“The company realized this time around that we weren’t joking,” said Darrin Nelson, an eighteen-year employee and a shop committeeperson in skilled trades. “We were walking — making it very clear it was either put up or shut up.”
The company put up a four-year contract, compared to the last six-year contract term. Workers clinched a contract in the nick of time — by presenting a clear picture of what would happen if they walked.
Allison could have lost millions a day in revenue, taken a reputational hit, and lost customers, said Shupe. And even if it tried bringing in scabs, the truck drivers who deliver transmissions to customers wouldn’t cross the picket line. Some were Teamsters; others at Ryder Logistics were fellow UAW Local 933 members. “We let them know we meant business,” said Shupe.
Workers ratified their new contract by 82 percent on January 16. It hikes starting wages from $14.72 to $20 an hour and increases some workers’ earnings by 150 percent, and eliminates most aspects of the tiers (see box for details).
Allison’s customers include the Pentagon, Volkswagen’s subsidiary Traton SE, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and Paccar, a large manufacturer of commercial trucks. These contracts have made big profits for Allison’s shareholders.
Coming off the UAW’s lucrative contract wins at the Big Three automakers, Allison workers thought it was their turn. They wanted to seize the momentum and win their share of the pie, too. “We saw that if our CEO was making what their CEOs were making even at a smaller company, we needed to demand more money,” said Monica Nelson, a seventeen-year job setter, a person who checks the measurements on the machines making sure everything is up to spec. “They [the Big Three] did away with the tiers, we needed to do away with the tiers.”
Allison Transmission had raked in $6 billion in profits in the last decade, and more than half a billion in the first three quarters of 2023, according to the UAW. CEO David Graziosi made $9.3 million in 2022, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Meanwhile, company managers were stingy about replacing broken microwaves.
Ahead of the contract expiration, managers started hauling workers into captive-audience meetings to surface any complaints. At one of these meetings, a worker raised the issue of a broken microwave in the break room.
The manager’s answer was, “I’ll have somebody go out there and look at it, but we are not replacing any broken microwave,” recalled Local 933 vice president Andy Davis, who works on the assembly line. “A billion-dollar company is going to be that petty! We work long hours. So you’re talking about somebody not even being able to microwave a lunch.” Davis, with fourteen years on the job, didn’t expect any better from company honchos. “But I was really happy to see my union brothers and sisters hear the manager’s response,” he said, “so they could see who we’re dealing with.”
The company had proposed a wage opener mid-contract last February. In a tight labor market, it was having a hard time hiring at $14.72. “People could earn better money at a car wash,” said Davis.
But workers rejected the reopener, near the end of a six-year contract. “If the contract is no longer viable, then let’s start negotiations now,” said Davis. “We’ve got nine months till the contract runs out anyways. Instead of just picking and choosing what you want to do as a company, why don’t we sit down and have an honest discussion about what could benefit everyone?”
Apparently in retaliation, though on the pretext of safety, the company went around the factory floor removing all the chairs — a salve to workers’ sore feet from standing for ten to twelve hours.
“After we rejected the wage proposal by vote, the supervisors formed a pack,” said Davis. “They moved from department to department, grabbing all of our chairs, putting them on a fork truck and taking them out — laughing and being jerks about it.” As the November contract expiration neared, workers began organizing across divisions — electing a new shop committee, more representative of the various tiers.
George Freeman, bargaining chair, joked when sitting across from company negotiators that they’d bring in hard-charging, Indiana-native UAW president Shawn Fain. The threat threw management off-balance. “They want us to know they are in charge — master and servant,” said Freeman.
But their savior wasn’t Fain, even though workers credited the international for providing legal and communications support. The organization that they built across the plant was the key to their success.
Workers started holding gate meetings to update members on the progress in negotiations, answer questions, and make sure people were united behind the demand to end tiers.
In the last round of negotiations, the company had thrown money around in a signing bonus just before the holidays to entice workers into voting yes for a six-year contract. Monica Nelson wanted to make sure her coworkers didn’t fall for that old trick again. “They’re offering you $10,000 up front, but you’re locking in on this six-year contract,” she said about the company’s past sign-on bonus. “You need to vote it down and ask for more money on the hour. Because if you get more money on the hour, you can make that $10,000 they gave you in two months.”
The big task was building solidarity after the company had successfully used solidarity-wrecking tiers to keep workers divided. “We had to get everybody on board,” said Nelson. “We had to start getting people to be more unified. If they throw out four people, you don’t need to take the overtime. Because if you’re taking the overtime, you’re basically proving we don’t need those four people that they threw out whose jobs were protected by contract language.”
Nelson had these conversations on the floor because she was a floater. But one person couldn’t reach everybody. Monica Nelson and Davis began organizing the meetings outside the plant gates on “red T-shirt Wednesdays,” once every two weeks. The instructions were simple: “Wednesday, 5 p.m. break, front gate, bring your questions, write them down, and we’ll answer them.”
“It started with five to seven people, then it turned into thirty people,” Nelson said. “And when it got to forty people, the shop committee would come out, with the chairman.” Eventually, they expanded the meetings to a second shift and different plants in the factory complex. They also handed out flyers with charts showing the CEO pay.
For Darrin Nelson, the change was long overdue. He had attended the UAW convention in 2014 as an alternate delegate and concluded it was a big con. “I thought to myself, ‘This is all for show, because everything’s already predetermined,’” he said. “Nobody has a chance to run for any of these positions, because the convention was set up for the caucus that’s in power to always win.”
So when reformers organized for one-member, one-vote elections in 2021, Nelson threw himself into the project. “The direction that we’ve been going the last fifteen, twenty years has been absolutely brutal for the membership,” he said. “The only way that things are going to change, from the top down to the local levels, is if we get one-member, one-vote to pass and let the membership as a whole decide on who they want as their elected officials.
“At the end of the day, it’s the results. If you make gains and go in the right direction, you show the membership that things are possible. We got a new leadership who says, ‘Enough is enough, we’re gonna walk.’ Because that’s the only tool that you have to get them to the table to get the things that you deserve.”
INDIANAPOLIS — Salt and plow truck drivers work tirelessly through winter to keep the roads clear. Have you ever wondered how they prepare for their shift?
Indianapolis Department of Public Works is currently running twelve-hour rotating shifts. This is to keep up with multiple rounds of ice, snow, and cold temperatures.
WRTV went to the 11 a.m. shift change at one of the DPW’s buildings on Thursday.
WRTV
As B-shift employees exited the building, groups of A-shifters filtered in and waited for their group briefing.
“A shift, good morning, good morning!” greeted William Walker, superintendent of District 3.
Walker was speaking to the group of incoming A-shift employees. They gathered in a large circle around Walker. Some stood; others found benches or couches to lounge on through the meeting.
Walker described the forecast and potential impacts on all the workers.
“The game plan today is the weather advisory is in effect,” Walker said. “Snow expected late tonight, continuing into Friday morning. There’s a potential for sticking on untreated pavement.”
WRTV
Walker went on to take roll call and give drivers their assignments for the day.
“You’re going to get your trucks, check them out, make sure they’re fueled up, have salt in them,” Walker spoke to the group of drivers. “Ready to go when we deploy at three o’clock today.”
After the meeting, drivers went outside to the row of waiting salt and plow trucks. Some performed maintenance, others were doing walk-arounds to ensure all their equipment was working properly.
WRTV
Today’s challenge was the shifting weather: from treating for freezing drizzle in the morning to focusing on what they call the ‘snow fight’ in the evening.
Dewayne Clemmons, Chief Union Steward, shared what happens once the drivers are deployed.
“It depends on the inclement weather that we get,” Clemmons said. “We approach it differently.”
“There’s times that we’ve gotten so much snow that we just pause the salting, and just go strictly into a plowing operation, because at that point, all we’re doing is just wasting salt,” Clemmons continued.
WRTV
Adam Pinsker, spokesperson for DPW, shared more of the process.
“When the snow comes, they’ll be out plowing.,” Pinsker said of the crews. “That’ll start as soon as the first bit of snow comes down. It can be tricky because some parts of the city, like the last snow event we had, certain parts of the city got three or four inches, and other parts got less than two inches. So it does vary by where you are in Indianapolis.”
Decisions to pause salting and move to plowing come from the Operations team. This is communicated to the different districts and ultimately communicated to each driver.
Even though the group of drivers has a plan when leaving the briefing at the start of the shift, the plan often shifts as the forecast unfolds.
In Thursday night’s instance, A-shifters will continue plowing roads until 11 p.m., when B-shift returns for their next 12-hour shift.
The work doesn’t stop once the snow has been plowed.
“Then we go back to salting, to start breaking it up, and try to get it down to bare pavement,” continued Dewayne Clemmons.
From December 1 through April 1, drivers are not allowed to take scheduled vacations. This is in addition to working the rotating 12-hour shifts when the weather demands it.
WRTV
It’s a lot of work, but there is a support team for the drivers. There were countless other workers on-site at the changing of shifts.
“We also have Indianapolis Fleet Services. They’re there to make sure that these vehicles are maintenanced if there’s a problem,” Pinsker told WRTV. “We have laborers who work back here at the salt barns and in the facilities. We have supervisors who are out here, so it takes an entire team to support our drivers and make sure they have what they need to succeed in this snow fight.”
During the A-shift prep meeting, Clemmons encouraged the group.
“It looks like we may be in this until Sunday,” Clemmons said. “It don’t look like it’s going to be as long as our last snow fight. We do appreciate you guys coming in. We’re spending more time with each other than we’re spending with our own families. So again, it doesn’t go unnoticed.”
WRTV
What can everyday drivers do to help these hardworking DPW drivers during their next snow fight?
“When these trucks are out on the roads, just give them their space, because they’re trying to make the roads safe for the city of Indianapolis,” Clemmons concluded.
There used to be a holiday tradition in Precious Sarver’s home. Two Christmas trees. One for her, one for the kids.
This year, there’s only one tree.
It cost $5 at the dollar store. And it’s sitting on a table in the family’s eastside hotel room, where they’ve been living for more than a month.
“I do everything right,” Sarver said through tears, “and I end up here.”
Sarver, 46, said she and her three children had no choice after a landlord forced them out in hopes of charging more in rent to the next tenant.
Sarver spent some time looking for another place to live, but even the search is expensive. She estimated spending a couple hundred dollars just on application fees. The housing search became even more difficult after the death of her mother.
Now, Sarver is paying $343 each week for the hotel room. There are two full beds, an air mattress, TV, fridge and microwave.
“Look where I’m at,” she said. “I never would’ve thought in a million years that I’d be homeless.”
Sarver has already told her kids that Christmas will have to wait this year. That was after not being able to make them a Thanksgiving meal.
But the tree wasn’t optional. It’s an all-white miniature version, sharing table space with boxes of cereal and paper plates. The family loves the holiday season. Her oldest son counts down the days until B105.7 FM starts playing Christmas music.
“We do the Christmas thing,” Sarver said.
The only thing missing from the tree is ornaments. Those are sitting in one of the two storage units that Sarver is paying $180 for each month.
‘I can’t be the only one’
Sarver said she’s not the only one struggling at the hotel. There’s a mother with five or six kids, and another woman who just gave birth.
“I can’t be the only one,” she said. “I gotta imagine older people going through this is insane.”
They’re part of what homelessness advocates sometimes call the “hidden homeless.” They live out of their cars or double up with friends and family. Or, in Sarver’s case, they end up in an extended-stay hotel.
“Most of the people that clean this place live here with their kids,” she said.
Even outside of the hotel, Sarver can see the extent of the homelessness crisis in Indianapolis. There’s a woman who sits in the cold with a blanket, Sarver said, and no socks.
“So I stopped and gave her a McChicken,” she said. “I don’t have anything else.”
‘I know God’s got a plan’
Sarver said she takes pride in doing the right thing: paying bills on time, helping others, volunteering at a local school.
Things only got worse for Sarver’s family when she accidentally dropped $520 in the hotel hallway.
Security footage shows a man picking it up and walking away.
“That was my phone bill, food money, gas,” she said.
That money also could have helped Sarver cover a security deposit, which she said is one of the biggest obstacles between her family and a home. Plus, Sarver has a nerve condition in both legs that requires her to use a cane, so finding a home isn’t only about money. She also needs something accessible.
Sarver collects about $1,900 a month in disability payments between her and her youngest son, who has special needs. And she gets help paying rent through the Indianapolis Housing Agency’s Section 8 program.
But the program doesn’t help with a security deposit.
For that, Sarver said she’d need to come up with about $1,700.
It’s hard to see where that money will come from.
“But I know God’s got a plan,” she said. “It’s gotta be something else for us.”
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers throws against the Las Vegas Raiders during a game at Allegiant Stadium on Dec. 13, 2020 in Las Vegas. Rivers, now 44 years old, has signed a practice contract with the Colts in hopes of returning to the NFL for the first time since 2021.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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In July, former quarterback Philip Rivers was asked if he could still play an NFL game, during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show.
“Oh yeah. I’m a little heavier than I was, but I could get through a game,” Rivers replied, adding with a laugh. “Now, I may need a wheelchair the next morning.”
YouTube
But now the sports world is absorbing the news that Rivers, a grandfather at age 44, has signed a practice contract with the Indianapolis Colts. The team recently lost its starting quarterback, Daniel Jones, for the rest of the season, due to injury, endangering its playoff hopes.
Here are some key numbers that provide some context into Rivers’ return:
21: Years since Rivers’ first season.
“I mean, that’s pretty ridiculous to think,” says Seth Wickersham, a senior writer at ESPN. But Wickersham also says the idea of Rivers returning isn’t as wild as it sounds.
Rivers doesn’t have the speed of younger athletes, but that was never part of his game. But what Rivers does have, Wickersham says, is a very particular set of skills.
“Against, you know, all logic, sanity and reason, the NFL has kind of become an old man’s game for quarterbacks.”
For one thing, veterans like Rivers have proven they can quickly understand game situations. And today’s quarterbacks don’t get hit as much, if they stay in the pocket rather than scramble around. This season, similar circumstances allowed another 40-something quarterback, Joe Flacco, to return to the NFL to help the Cincinnati Bengals after Joe Burrow was injured.
10: Children in Philip and Tiffany Rivers’ family. On Wednesday, Rivers said they’re thrilled, nervous and a bit surprised about the idea of him playing in the NFL again.
“My 6-year-old actually asked me like 4 months ago, like, ‘Dad, why don’t you play anymore?’ ” Rivers said in a news conference. “And I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m sorry. The best you’re gonna get is me coaching on the sideline.’ “
8: Pro Bowl appearances for Rivers, who maintained elite stats while spending most of his career with the Chargers, from 2004 until 2019. (The team moved from San Diego to Los Angeles in 2017.)
5: Years of a waiting before a Hall of Fame induction. With his strong résumé, Rivers “was always going to get in on what’s called the first ballot, which is the first year that he’s eligible,” Wickersham says. If Rivers joins the active roster, his Hall of Fame candidacy would reset.
0: Number of playoff appearances by the Colts since Rivers spent the 2020 season with the team following the surprise retirement of Andrew Luck. Indianapolis reached the playoffs with Rivers, but lost to the Buffalo Bills in January 2021.
240: Consecutive regular season starts by Rivers, the second most for any quarterback. It’s a sign of both stamina and smarts, Wickersham says: “You don’t play football for that many games in a row if you’re getting hit all the time.”
14: Current Colts players that Rivers says were on the team when he was last there.
“The teammates that I was able to play with, shoot, 14 of them are still here,” he said on Wednesday. “Training room is the same. PR guys are the same. Equipment room is the same. They wanted me. I try to keep it as simple as that.”
32: Number of NFL starting quarterbacks. And during his career, not many of them could do what Rivers did — and might still do.
“There’s 16,000 starting quarterbacks in high school every year. There’s 858 in college at the highest level,” Wickersham says. “There’s 32 starters in the NFL. There’s 10 good ones and there’s three great ones, give or take, in a year.”
“There are very few guys like Philip Rivers,” he adds. “So if anyone can come off of the street and deliver a couple of wins and help this team make the playoffs, he’s one of the few guys that could do it.”
2: The number of Indianapolis star athletes who have torn their Achilles tendons this year, at key moments. First there was the Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton, knocked out of Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Months later, the Colts lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones — who had already been “playing through” a broken fibula.
“It’s just another stinging moment for Indianapolis sports,” says Samantha Horton, of member station WFYI.
For the city’s fans, she says, “I think some of them are just hopeful that … a dream of even seeing the playoffs can remain alive this year.”
For the Colts, that dream might depend on what Rivers can still do.
“It’s been heartbreaking for this to happen to Indy fans especially after the Pacers’ run,” Colts fan Grace Branson says. “The Colts were off to a great and hopeful start. I’m glad that Rivers is familiar with this offense so it gives me some hope and confidence for the rest of the season.”
WFYI’s Samantha Horton contributed to this story.
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