UAW strikers step off the picket line at Toledo Jeep Plant

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Workers at the Toledo Jeep plant have been out on the picket lines since day one of the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike.

On the 44th day of the strike, UAW President Shawn Fain told strikers a tentative agreement was reached with Stellantis, Jeep’s parent company, telling strikers they could go back to work.

Robert Vasquez, a strike captain on the picket line, said he is happy with the agreement put forth and he is ready to go back to work.

The UAW reached a tentative agreement with Ford, one of the other big three automakers. Stellantis put forth their own deal, following Ford’s model, which the UAW accepted.

“I’ve been here since 1997, and the tentative agreement that Ford got and obviously that we got, is the most lucrative and I believe is the best contract that we’ve ever had,” Vasquez said.

On Nov. 2, UAW leadership will decide whether to send the agreement to membership for a vote.

Workers on the picket line said they are happy with wage increases and are ready to go back to work, but some of them are focused on the kind of benefits that will come with the contract.

“I don’t want just a raise; I need something that provides something for my future,” Tiara Kendig, an assembly plant worker, said. “Everybody loves instant gratification, but I need to know that it’s going to last.”

She said that there was a lot of sacrifices made to go on strike, and she hopes the contract will fulfill worker’s needs.

“We were the first ones to go out,” Kendig said. “So I need to know that I stood out here for a reason.”

Fain said that union leadership will meet on Nov. 2 to decide whether send the contract to Stellantis’ 43,000 UAW members.

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