Editor’s note: The Salisbury Post has been following the contract negotiations between UAW and Rowan County’s largest private employer and will continue until a new contract is signed. 

CLEVELAND — With contract negotiations at the Daimler Freightliner Cleveland Truck Manufacturing Plant currently underway between corporate and United Auto Workers, members of the labor union practice a strike on Tuesday in front of the facility.

At the front of the practice picket lines was UAW Local 3520 President Corey Hill.

Hill indicated that various elements of his union’s demands were being met with unacceptable responses. A primary force behind the union’s bargaining efforts has been stagnant wages outpaced by corporate profits. 

As such, one contract demand is a 20 percent raise to current compensation, with future raises of 10 percent annually guaranteed through 2027. 

According to Hill, corporate response was 8 percent now with 3 percent increases in 2025 and 2026. 

Another demand from the union was for increased job security. For one facility worker from Salisbury, that demand is particularly important. 

“We also want more job security,” said Laniya Hargrave. “We don’t want to have to worry about getting fired or let go at any time.”

Hargrave came onto the payroll a year ago and said she has been disappointed with how her tenure at the truck manufacturing plant has played out.

“I just feel like we have complex trucks,” she said. “It is more work, it takes longer and I feel like the job that we are doing, we need more money.”

As she takes care of her family, the burdens are only increasing. 

“Rent went up,” Hargrave said. “I am taking care of kids, nieces and nephews.”

For the family-oriented Hargrave, that care does not stop when she leaves home. 

“(My fellow workers) are definitely my family,” Hargrave said. “We are all family. We all take up for each other and have each other’s backs.”

That’s why she said that if negotiations are not settled by the April 26 deadline, she is prepared to strike. 

“It’s worth it,” Hargrave said of the possibility of being out of work for an extended period. 

It’s worth it to her so that she and fellow Salisbury resident Shamora Houston can earn a living at the Cleveland facility.

“I am preparing to be out of work for several weeks,” Houston said. “I know that UAW is not playing and that they mean business with the strike. If the only way for us to get what we need in the contract is through us striking, then I am ready.”

Houston started at the facility around the same time as Hargrave and what were once high aspirations for a worthwhile job have been ceded to harsher realities.

“Whenever you hear about Freightliner, it was always about how hard it was to get in,” Houston said. “When you get here, the work that we do does not match the pay.”

Similarly, costs of living are squeezing what Houston does bring home to the point that she is struggling. 

“We pay rent,” Houston said. “It’s been tough. I feel like if rent is going up everything else is going up, why can’t our pay go up.”