Five people were injured Tuesday after a car drove through a group of people demonstrating outside the GM Flint Processing Center in Michigan. Demonstrators were participating in the ongoing UAW union strike. The driver has not yet been located.
According to a report from MLive, the incident occurred around 4 p.m. outside the GM Flint Processing Center located on 6060 West Bristol Road in Swartz Creek. Protesters were reportedly blocking an exit on West Bristol Road when the vehicle drove through the group of people. The Metro Police Authority of Genesee County says that five people suffered minor injuries, with two of those hit taken to a local hospital.
The driver of the vehicle fled the scene, and has yet to be located. According to UAW Region 1-D President Steve Dawes, the model of the vehicle involved was possibly a Chevy HHR or Chrysler PT Cruiser, and was painted in some kind of dark color.
“It was uncalled for. These people are out here, you know these are my membership, and they’re out here doing a peaceful, legal demonstration,” Dawes told MLive. “This is very serious and we’re going to be pushing this issue.”
The UAW initially called for strikes against GM, Ford, and Stellantis following expiration of the previous labor contracts on September 14th. The union is currently employing a targeted strike strategy wherein workers at only certain facilities are called on to strike, rather than all workers at all facilities all at once.
The UAW expanded its strike last week to include 38 parts distribution facilities at GM and Stellantis, citing a lack of substantial progress in contract negotiations between the union and the two automakers. The UAW opted not to expand strikes against Ford, stating that more substantial progress had been made in negotiations with the Blue Oval brand. The GM Flint Processing Center in Swartz Creek was among those facilities called on to strike in last week’s expansion. Workers are represented by UAW Local 659.
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Your not supposed to block roads and others egress to those roads or you get someone pissed off enough so that's what will happen. Didn't you mother ever tell you to not play in the street.
Maybe drive defensively vs running down pedestrians demonstrating legally and leaving the scene that is now a crime on operator of vehicle!
Sounds like they did drive defensively.
So you would hit a kid in the street? You think it is ok to to use your car and hit a person in your way on purpose? You and a lot of others on here are worse than terrorists.
Go to work your hurting a lot of people financially cause of your greed.
Oh I don't know, maybe don't block a public roadway...
It’s not a peaceful, legal demonstration if they are blocking traffic. They are breaking the law and asking for problems.
Says Stan? My understanding, pedestrians have the right of way and one should operate a vehicle defensively and not deliberately use vehicle to hit or run over pedestrians. More importantly operator should have been calm, shut off vehicle and contacted law enforcement to complain. Not use vehicle as a deadly weapon AND leave the scene of a crime! Last time I checked it was illegal to hit and run!!
LOL, yeah if I’m stopped, surrounded, and feeling threatened by a screaming mob, I’ll just calmly shut off my car and wait for someone to come rescue me? LOL, that’s not how it works.
Oscoda Bill, Thank you for letting us know about that. I too question why GM management of that factory did not make contingent plans for strike. Example: How many exits from facility should be coned off (blocked or locked) with having one exit security controlled by either local law enforcement or private security guards. I also wonder why local law enforcement did not have officers on site to keep everything legal.
By law all entrances the union members use day-to-day are allowed to be pocketed.
I meant Picketted
Picketed not blocked.
Stan: Why put your vehicle in that position? Are you looking for a hit and run charge?? Why did GM plant management have any constituency plans for strike. Like having only one exit guarded by law enforcement detail to enter and exit? Why was exit gate not locked. Management has blame here for being perfunctory in their safety duties. We can debate and allege all we want. However, let an investigation proceed proper. I wonder if hit and run turned themselves in immediately to nearest police station to help sort incident out.
I don’t disagree that management and local law enforcement could certainly have helped the situation to be avoided. However, ultimately the strikers chose to break the law and cause the confrontation.
How do you know it was a screaming mob? Were you the POS that ran into them?
LOL, wrong state. I wouldn’t live in that blue state.
Avi,
A pedestrian is to find as a person walking along a road or developed area.
These are picketers. According to teamster.org,
DON'T prevent vehicles from entering or exiting the facility. DON'T cause damage to company vehicles or other property. DON'T get in heated exchanges. DON'T threaten anyone with bodily or property harm (explicit or implied). DON'T get arrested — remember this is practice. DON'T in any way obstruct entrances or exits of the ...
Maybe they had kids to pick up with no other option!,!
We were walking out the way still don’t give him the right to run us over
Why did the union officials allow the picketers to block a public road? Not only is that illegal but being in a public road endangered the lives of the picketers. Were these union officials and picketers unable to understand the potential danger that standing in a public road could present? Maybe the first step here should be charging union officials with gross negligence in that they obviously did not properly instruct the picketers on the dangers of standing in the right-of-way of vehicles in a public road.
Fain told the picketers before the strike started that they were not to interfere with employees who worked at the targeted facilities that were not on strike. I think that was just lip service because obviously the minions didn't listen and the union doesn't seem to mind them blocking roads and driveways.
Oscoda Bill: Are you sure they were blocking a public road? I ask because you used a question mark (?) in your first sentence of your comment. Your other questions as allegations need to be responded by union officials and/or picketers. Regarding charges, it would be proper to first find the perpetrator of hit and run to find out why as operator of vehicle to reason he hit and ran from the crime scene vs sitting calmly in his vehicle and calling 911. As an operator of a vehicle I would have chosen to not put myself and vehicle in that strike climate. Don't go looking for trouble. Now driver is up for a hit and run and human beings are in hospital and/or injured.
The article says that "Protesters were reportedly blocking an exit on West Bristol Road", I left the question mark because while it seems likely that this is a public road but I do not know for sure.
Anyway, while I agree that the driver of the car should not intentionally hit people the union officials also have a responsibility to not place their members in a potentially dangerous situation (standing in a road with moving vehicles) in order to further the union cause.
Everyone has the right to protest but it has to be a civil protest you cannot block streets or roads and impair traffic so that even emergency vehicles can’t get through maybe that /Driver had to get to his kids school to pick up a child the point is play stupid games win stupid prizes.
Bill: And management of plant has a duty to have constingency plan of how to govern their exits proper. Like shutting down and locking gates on all except one entrance/exit along with having a law enforcement detail governing that one only open entrance/exit. It does not take a college degree to understand management safety official was perfunctory in their safety duties UNLESS upper management strategized to not do anything for safety to gain public on managements side vs safety of all.
Avi: But if it's a public roadway, that is on the law enforcement, not plant management—that's not technically their property and could also be seen as illegal. Frankly, this "accident" has nothing to do with the plant management or employees, it's individuals who have BOTH chosen not to follow the rules (picketers by blocking the road and the driver committing hit and run).
Avi, the UAW called the strike, the UAW directed which facilities were to be targeted, the UAW obviously requested/authorized UAW members to picket, and the UAW even provided the picket signs. Yet, in all of your posts on this topic you blame either GM or the police for the lack of compliance with the law and the resulting dangerous conditions on the picket line. These UAW members are obviously taking their direction from UAW leadership. Do you think that they would have gotten out of the road if an GM safety officer requested them to get off the road? Are you actually contending that the UAW leadership has no responsibility in this event?
Happens every time. At least once.
Beachy29579: Plant management safety official should have had contingency plans for entrance/exit control with security personal.
I was taught at a very young age not to play in traffic.
Stan: These are not children playing. Last time I checked striking workers are legally allowed to picket in our democracy. NOW, whom is responsible for governing picket lines proper? Why were there no law enforcement detail on strike site??
Picket on the sidewalk then...why do they feel the need to block driveways, especially with cars and trucks actively using that driveway? They won't use law enforcement on strike details...it is a waste of public resources and it is on private property. If the strikers were in the road causing a traffic issue, then the police would step in. IMO, the plant should be utilizing private security and barricades to ensure that anyone that has business with the facility can get in and out safely.
Do they really need law enforcement to tell them not to block traffic, as you said they are not children.
The United States is a Representative Republic not a Democracy. Public School and the Media have failed you Avi Sir.
As a pedestrian back in the 70s I was struck by a car during a ice storm. The young woman never cleaned her windshield. She was ticketed. My point is the car always wins. Don't challenge people in a vehicle. You'll just get hurt.
Mr C: Was the vehicle being so called 'challenged'? Where was law enforcement contingent to govern the strike site?
If you believe that picketers weren't actively trying to block plant traffic from entering or leaving the plant, you must be living under a rock. It happens with every strike. I have seen a few videos over the last week where picketers were stopping tractor trailers and other cars from using the plant entrances. If the picketers interfere with plant operations or cause traffic issues, then the police should be called and someone should be going to jail.
I find it laughable that the UAW rep was saying that they weren't blocking the driveway. I have seen several videos over the last week where picketers were stopping truck drivers and other vehicles from entering the driveways of the facilities that were on strike. I believe the Ford plant had tractor trailers that were blocking traffic because the strikers wouldn't let them turn into the facility. This happened during the last strike against GM 4 years ago. Even when this strike began, Fain told his minions that they were not supposed to interfere with employees who were not on strike and allow them to enter and leave the facility peacefully. Apparently, that isn't the case. If you play in traffic, you're running the risk of getting hit by a car and if that was the case, the strikers share some fault in this as well as the driver. It doesn't make the situation right, but if they had just been demonstrating on the sidewalk, they wouldn't have been hit.
Under no circumstances is it alright to run over a person or persons with a car .To say it is alright is just wrong . Only a coward would drive away.
Only a moron would play in traffic...
But, it's ok to play in traffic? It doesn't take a genius to see a few ways that could go wrong...someone who drives away may be a coward, but the picketer trying to play traffic cop isn't to bright either.
You've obviously never had to cross a picket line. Stopping would have been a great way to wind up in ICU or dead; however, they should have contacted local PD after getting a safe distance away.
Only a pos would hit someone with a car on purpose.