Fifty-four members of United Auto Workers Local 1024 Unit 1 walked off the job at 7 a.m. July 28 at the Novolex packaging equipment plant in Cedar Rapids, launching a strike that has drawn attention from labor advocates and elected officials across the Corridor.
The facility at 2400 Sixth St. SW, long known as Evergreen Packaging Equipment before Novolex acquired parent company Pactiv Evergreen in a $6.7 billion deal completed in April 2025, manufactures gable-top carton filling machines used by dairy, juice and plant-based beverage producers worldwide. More than 1,300 of the machines have been installed globally, according to the company.
In a July 28 Facebook post, UAW Region 4 said Novolex "has refused to come to the table with a sincere proposal sufficiently addressing our members' demands on wages, retirement or vacation and adequate compensation for new hires." The union described the walkout as a test of solidarity, urging members across the region to support Local 1024 "fighting for their future."
Local 1024 echoed that message in its own post, calling on the community to donate supplies or visit the union hall at 619 20th Ave. SW to support striking workers. "Standing on a picket line takes guts, endurance, and community support," the union wrote. "No one should have to hold the line alone."
Dan Derby, vice chair of UAW Local 1024, told KCRG-TV9 the union is seeking to bring wages, benefits and retirement offerings in line with the broader market. "They've kind of been behind the eight ball for quite some time, and we're just trying to get back at being fair for our employees," Derby said.
State Sen. Molly Donahue, D-Cedar Rapids, visited the picket line July 29, bringing coffee and doughnuts for striking workers. In a Facebook post, she said the strike was as much about working conditions as pay, pointing to what she described as broken air conditioning that had gone unrepaired through the Iowa summer.
"These workers are fighting for fair wages and something as basic as safe working conditions," Ms. Donahue wrote. "The weekends, workplace protections, fair wages, and benefits so many of us enjoy today didn't happen by accident - they were won because unions fought for them."
Picketing is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the plant. Novolex had not responded to a request for comment as of midday Thursday.
The roots of the Novolex plant trace back more than a century to the Cherry-Burrell Corp., founded in the 1880s by entrepreneurs John Cherry and David Burrell to help keep milk fresh in transit. The site later produced military parts during World War II before shifting fully to packaging equipment in the late 1960s. It employs roughly 164 people, mostly from the Cedar Rapids area.
