Earlier this month, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) eliminated a shift at its Belvidere, Illinois, assembly plant, laying off roughly 1,400 workers. Workers are worried that Chrysler will eliminate another shift later this year, with hundreds or thousands more jobs cut. As the company consolidates production in Detroit—also eliminating a shift at its Windsor, Ontario, plant—the danger exists that it could shut down the Belvidere factory.

The cuts are part of the ongoing global jobs massacre by Fiat Chrysler and the other auto giants, carried out with the collaboration of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union in the United States, Unifor in Canada, and their counterparts elsewhere.

Reporters for the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter recently spoke to workers and residents in Belvidere about what the layoffs will mean for the region, and what it will take to fight back against them.