UAW Local 379 Prepared to Strike Today over Unfair Labor Practices at Cummins

98% of Members Voted to Walk Out at Noon on Friday If Cummins Fails to Meet Demands for a Fair Contract

Bloomfield, CT — UAW Local 379 representing nearly 240 members at Cummins - Jacobs Vehicle Systems set a strike deadline of Friday, October 3, at noon. Unless management returns to the bargaining table with a fair agreement, workers will go on an unfair labor practice strike beginning today.

Instead of prioritizing negotiating a fair contract, Cummins has interfered with the federal labor law rights of its employees by committing multiple unfair labor practice violations during the course of negotiations—including retaliating against employees for protected concerted activity, making unilateral changes to contractual protections, and bargaining in bad faith. 

On September 20, 98% of Local 379 members voted to authorize a strike. 

Over more than a dozen bargaining sessions since September, Cummins has failed to make progress on key priorities including wages, sick and vacation time, job security, profit sharing, and retirement security.

Instead of meeting the workers’ needs, Cummins has insisted on unacceptable concessions that undermine job security, abuse temporary workers, and make changes to benefits and paid time off solely at management’s discretion.

UAW Local 379 members supply engine braking, cylinder deactivation, start and stop and thermal management technologies at Cummins - Jacobs Vehicle Systems in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

After their contract expired on September 27, workers put management on notice that they were prepared to strike. In all, Local 379 has held three practice pickets outside the Cummins facility in Bloomfield. UAW members are more than ready to hold the line for however long it takes to reach an agreement. This would be the first strike at Jacobs since 1961.

Over the past three years, profits at Cummins have soared to $14.4 billion. Meanwhile, workers have fallen further behind as CEO pay and shareholder distributions totaled nearly a billion dollars in 2024. Cummins can more than afford the contract these workers deserve with strong wage increases, improved health care, and job security.

“We’ve been working hard for months to negotiate a fair contract while management has been wasting our time,” said Anthony Banks, President of UAW Local 379. “It’s time for all of us at Cummins here in Connecticut to have security for ourselves and our families. Corporations like Cummins are making record profits off of our work, which means we deserve a record contract.”

If UAW Local 379 members walk off the job, please join us on the picket line starting at noon on Friday at Cummins Valvetrain Technologies, located at 22 East Dudley Town Road in Bloomfield, CT.

Press Contact:
Jose Melara | jmelara@uaw.net

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