The chants of picketers rang out in front of the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant Monday morning, the day after the UAW called for a national strike against General Motors.

At different entrances, dozens of men and women carried green and white or red and white “UAW on strike” signs and made their voices heard — “We are the union … mighty, mighty union” or the call and answer of “What do we want? Jobs. What do we need? Security.”

Trucks and cars honked in support.

The plant is one of the five GM announced to much controversy last year would not be assigned new vehicles — “unallocated” in GM parlance. The factory got a reprieve event though production of the once-pioneering electric Volt was ended. About 800 people remain employed as the factory produces Chevrolet Impalas and Cadillac CT6 sedans until January.

The status of the plant, which straddles the boundary of Detroit and Hamtramck, has been assumed for months to be a bargaining point in contract talks. GM's offer to the UAW includes production of an electric pickup at the site, sources told the Free Press, though it wasn't clear how many workers that would employ.

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Joel Petrimoulx chairs the plant’s medical unit, where about 70 members maintain a mini emergency room to treat injured workers.

“We’re out here for job security, safe working conditions, health care. We’re just basically out here to support workers’ rights,” he said, noting, “We’re hoping for a short (strike), but prepared for whatever.”

A Monroe man who declined to give his name said he wants GM to bring another vehicle to the plant and that he doesn’t want to lose the benefits he has.

“I worked for what I’ve got. I’m trying to keep it,” he said.

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Nelson Worley, 62, has worked for GM for 42 years and at D-Ham, as its known locally, since 1985.

It’s Worley’s first time on the picket line. Past strikes had settled before he ever got the chance.

One issue above all others is motivating the Imlay City man, who plans to retire at the end of the year: temporary workers.

His son was a temp for 18 months. Now he’s in a salaried role. Being a temp, Worley said, is a stressful way to live. Life happens. Cars break down. Kids get sick.

“They can terminate you at any time. You’re at the mercy of the company,” Worley said, describing how the company would bring in 100 workers and see half that number gone in a matter of weeks. “Assembly line work is not for everybody. It’s a grueling job.”

Worley’s message: Stop stringing along the temps.

“If (a temp is) here two years, you need them.”

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.