NORWOOD, Ohio — As the United Auto Workers strike enters its third week, local mechanics are starting to feel the impact.
At Dave’s Auto Care and Towing in Norwood, owner Senan Odeh said wait times were already long for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts.
“It’s doubling down on us, because I don’t think we fully recovered from Covid,” he said. “Even before the strike we were seeing it. Now with the strike, it’s going to amplify it for sure.”
Senan’s shop has a choice between ordering OEM parts from dealers and aftermarket parts from local suppliers. Senan said he often will point customers to OEM parts because of their reliability. However, wait times can be longer.
“We tried to order a GM part the other day for a Cadillac,” Senan said. “I called for an ETA and he’s like ‘there’s one in the county, and we don’t know if that’s the correct listing for that.’”
The General Motors Parts Distribution Center in West Chester serves more than 400 local dealers. Workers walked off the job on Friday, September 22.
UAW Local 674 President Janet Billingsley said local dealers are already starting to feel the effects: “The longer we stay out, the harder it's going to get.”
Before expanding the strike Friday to two additional assembly plants, UAW national president Shawn Fain highlighted his appreciation for the more than 5,000 union members on strike at parts distribution centers nation-wide.
“These facilities represent a key revenue stream for the Big Three,” he said.
Targeting the strike to parts distribution centers is an effective way of crippling a part of the automotive supply chain that’s close to the consumer, said Dr. Henry Jin, Miami University Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management.
“When you strike a parts center, and these parts centers directly feed consumer services and dealerships, then your statement becomes a whole lot more amplified,” he said.
The result is delayed repairs and frustrated workers, which puts more pressure on companies, Jin said.
