Striking United Auto Workers held a rally on Sept. 24, headlined by the Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

The rally marks the ninth day of striking at the General Motors plant in Wentzville, Missouri which is part of a nationwide UAW strike effort. It is the first time in U.S. history that UAW is striking against the Detroit “Big Three” automakers: General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis simultaneously. The unprecedented nature of the strike has consequently brought in immense support.

Following speeches by union-affiliates and state representative speakers, both Reps. Bush and Ocasio-Cortez gave speeches to the crowd. 

In her speech, Bush referred to the $21 billion profit collectively made by the “Big Three” automakers in the first half of this year. Bush additionally made a statement on why the strike matters to college students.

“Not only are we seeing auto workers on strike, but nurses, service workers, actors, writers and even grad students at multiple universities have gone on strike to demand better wages and working conditions,” Bush said. “It’s a movement that is impacting everyone who works for a living – including college students working their way through school and navigating the job market once they graduate.” 

After Bush concluded her speech, the crowd cheered for Ocasio-Cortez as she took her position behind the speaker’s microphone.

“What the figures in Washington and Wall Street don’t reflect is that in a time of record profits, CEO’s of the ‘Big Three’ are giving themselves 40% raises and bottling billions of dollars to manipulate stock prices off of [the UAW’s] back-breaking labor,” Ocasio-Cortez said. 

She added that Americans are living through an absolute economic crisis of inequality.

Members of the Mizzou Young Democratic Socialists of America and Southeast Missouri State University College Democrats participated in the rally. 

Camille Shoals, the professional development coordinator for SEMO College Democrats, spoke about her and her colleagues’ presence at the rally. 

“The fact that all of these people are unionized and aren’t making a decent wage is actually an affront to democracy,” Shoals said. 

She added that all college students should care about the strike because she said almost every occupation has a union or will have a union in the next five to 10 years. 

Sheila Robinson, a worker at the Wentzville GM plant, gave her perspective on why the strike matters to MU students in particular. Robinson’s daughter, Tierra Ford, graduated from MU, and Robinson said the wage she earned at GM supported her daughter’s education. 

Like the rest of the UAW, Robinson said she is hoping for better wages as a result of the strike. 

Edited by Sophia Anderson | sanderson@themaneater.com

Copy Edited by Sterling Sewell | ssewell@themaneater.com