LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — A Lansing couple said they and their children depend on the auto industry to put food on their table.
With one less source of income and an ongoing strike, they said the light at the end of the tunnel seems far away.
Victoria Moshier, Kourtney Johnson and their two young children may not have a place to live in the next few days, because their landlord’s property was condemned by the city.
On top of that, their family hasn’t received unemployment yet and doesn’t qualify for strike pay.
“It’s stressful. We are literally losing our house right now,” said Johnson.
Johnson is a UAW member who was laid off three weeks ago from Avancez LLC, a dashboard supplier for General Motors. Moshier said things have gone downhill since then.
“Thursday, I ran into a deer,” Moshier said. “So, now my car is undriveable and that was my job. I do DoorDash and Uber.”
And there are no signs yet of the strike slowing down. Today, at least 6,800 autoworkers at the Stellantis auto plant in Sterling Heights walked off the job on strike. Here in Lansing, striking workers could be seen on several corners.
Douglas Elders, Avancez chair at UAW Local 652, said although he stands with Big Three autoworkers, he’s also sad for his brothers and sisters who are forced to live off unemployment, which is $362 per week.
“It’s affected my whole entire plant,” Elders said. “It’s not just us. It’s including Ryder. And right, until they strike at [Lansing Grand River Assembly] or wherever their next point of action is going to be.”
Johnson and Moshier are remaining positive that the Big Three executives will speed up the process and give the strikers what they want.
“We’re running through our options right now, and we don’t have many of them,” Johnson said. “So we’re just going to keep fighting and pushing forward.”
Elders said workers at Avancez will also lose their insurance on Oct. 31, so they’re currently fighting to avoid that happening.
The family has a GoFundMe set up. You can find it here.
