Free financial services offered to striking GM UAW workers

FOX 2 - General Motors' decision to keep covering striking auto workers' health care provided a little sigh of relief for Dominique Redic.

Her kids were walking the picket line with her on Friday.

"She was diagnosed with alopecia since she was 4 years old, so it means a lot," Redic said. "It is less to come out of my pocket - especially during the struggle of being out here striking."

She is fighting for them, for her family, like so many.

"You need money to make it," said James Reynolds, a striking GM worker. "I have a 13- and a 15-year-old at home. I want them to be able to get a job one day."

Immediate bills are a concern. To help with that some have stepped forward like Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner offering free financial counseling services.
 
"Finances are something that causes a lot of stress," Meisner said. "Stress causes a lot of problems physically. So if we can come in and just have a calm conversation about what's coming in, what is going out."

They can help reorder the family budget and even intervene with a mortgage company.

"It's a wonderful thing, I mean a lot of people weren't prepared for this," said Reynolds.
 
Healthcare, plant closures, wages and temporary workers like Redic are what experts say were likely taken to the main table as both sides slug it out on the finer points, day in, day out.

Other UAW workers at other auto companies are watching closely.

"They set the tone for what's to come they're not going to offer to Chrysler what they won't offer to GM," said Shane Flower, a Chrysler Fiat worker.

The negotiations are ongoing during a widening corruption investigation that started with Fiat Chrysler and the UAW, which the feds called co- conspirators to workers. Their focus is right here on the ground and fighting for what they feel is fair.

"We stimulate the economy, a lot it affects all of us," said one worker. "We barely get by. I worked two jobs for three years to get by."