About 70 union production workers have gone out on strike at a Woodbridge Corp. factory in Lithonia, Georgia.

Members of the United Auto Workers Local 472 want raises and better benefits, including sick days, according to union officials and workers.

The plant makes seating and dashboard components for manufacturers of cars and golf carts. Its main customers are Yamaha, Nissan and Augusta-based Club Car.

“We are trying to make a big change,” said Eli Collazo, chair of the bargaining committee for United Auto Workers Local 472 and a worker at the plant for more than four years. “If we stick together, we can accomplish that. There’s power in numbers.”

Woodbridge’s corporate headquarters are in Ottawa, Canada. A statement from the company Tuesday said it had conducted “extensive negotiations with the UAW” and had hoped for an agreement.

“However, we were disappointed by the union’s decision to strike,” the company said. “Woodbridge remains committed to supporting our teammates and local communities.”

Woodbridge hopes the dispute can be resolved, the statement said. “We value our relationships with teammates and union partners and aim to promptly reach a mutually beneficial agreement.”

Union members said that since the workers went out on strike starting Wednesday, the company has hired temporary workers as replacements.

Pay starts at $16.50 an hour and tops out at $20.50 an hour, Collazo said. “We would like at least $24.50 an hour, and we could do a progression to get there.”

Many of the workers have been with the company for decades, he said. “As time goes by, life gets expensive. The cost of living goes up, and their wages have not caught up to that. (Workers) are behind the eight ball.”

The previous contract was signed in late 2019, a few months before COVID-19 hit. While many plants shut down the following spring, the Woodbridge factory and its workers were designated as essential and continued production.

“We all took risks when it happened,” Collazo said. “And then, at the end, all the company gave us was a T-shirt and a hot dog cookout. They say we’re all family, but we’re not. When you’re family, you take care of your own.”

The four-year contract with Woodbridge expired Sept. 30. After the contract expired, workers stayed on the job for weeks while negotiating with the company.

“Despite numerous meetings and bargaining sessions, management has yet to make a significant offer on three critical issues for workers: wages, benefits and seniority,” Tim Smith, director of UAW Region 8, which includes Georgia and most of the Southeast, said in a statement.

While workers do not want a long strike, they have been preparing for one, Collazo said. “We have been telling people to try to save money, save your overtime money. I hope the company starts to feel the pressure and really negotiate. We need them as much as they need us.”

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