Cedar Rapids, North Liberty union members deliver supplies to Deere strikers

WATERLOO — Union members from Linn and Johnson counties on Friday delivered about 9,000 pounds of food, supplies and necessities to John Deere workers on strike in Waterloo.

In less than 15 minutes, some 30 union members — from Quaker Oats and General Mills in Cedar Rapids and Cole’s Quality Foods in North Liberty — unloaded the supplies from trucks and trailers at the UAW Local 838 Hall.

The donations were in response to a call to action put out to members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union Local 110.

Donated items included food, coffee, diapers, hand warmers and winter hats, toiletries and frozen meat, as well as cases of cereal and snacks made at General Mills and Quaker.

“When it comes to solidarity and it comes to situations like this, where companies are trying to take things away from their employees — the people that actually do the work and make these companies profitable — this is what happens,” said Bob Dixon, first vice president of Local 110.

“People have to strike and they have to defend themselves, and we’re proud of these guys for what they’re doing.”

More than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers have been on strike since Oct. 14 at 14 Deere factories in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and Georgia after UAW members rejected a Deere contract offer. It is the first major walkout at Deere in more than three decades.

“I think we have a strong labor movement in Iowa, demonstrated by the support that we give each other,” Local 110 President Shane Forbes said.

“We have to stick together through thick and thin, no matter what’s going on,” he said. “An injury to one is an injury to all of us. It’s an honor to be here with these guys to stand and fight with them."

Forbes related the current strike to when he was on strike in the 1990s.

“It’s a tough decision to make for your family,” he said. “But you got to understand the pros and the cons of it, and what’s at risk if you let the company take and take and take.”

Safety vests

The John Deere workers on strike in Milan, Ill., showed up on the picket lines Friday morning wearing neon green safety vests over their sweatshirts and jackets.

The vests are part of new safety protocols to make conditions safer after Richard Rich, a UAW Local 79 member, was struck and killed by a minivan as he crossed the street to the picket line around 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Rich, 56, was a 15-year employee of the Deere Parts Distribution Center in Milan.

Jen Hartmann, a Deere & Co. spokeswoman, said the company had been in communication with the UAW about safety protocols “to ensure the safety of our employees who are picketing and for all those entering and exiting our facilities.”

The Quad-City Times contributed to this report.