As temperatures dipped below 37 degrees early Monday and coated lawns with frost, UAW members bundled up in layers remained loyal after five weeks on the strike line but made clear they're ready to go back to work.

Now.

But before things resolve in the ongoing UAW strike against the Detroit Three automakers, they likely would need to get worse, striking workers at 6:30 a.m. in Center Line told the Detroit Free Press, hours before the news that another Stellantis facility would be added in the latest expansion of the strike.

"It's not painful enough for the companies," said Jim Grieshaber, of Clinton Township, as he unloaded wood from his Ram pickup truck in the darkness to strengthen the fire at the MOPAR parts warehouse in Center Line. He works at the Stellantis facility as an outbound dispatcher now, having worked nearly three decades for the automaker. The site supplies repair and replacement parts for Chrysler, Ram, Dodge, Jeep and Fiat vehicles.

Strike shifts began at 6 a.m., and within five hours of Grieshaber's statement, the UAW announced a surprise walkout of 6,800 workers at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, where the popular and profitable Ram 1500 is built.

"Enough is enough. Let's get it done," said Dave Knupp, of Port Huron, a warehouse worker who reorganizes parts and has 28 years with the company. "Members are really struggling on $500 a week."

His father spent 38 years at the Center Line facility. His grandmother, a single parent, retired from Chrysler (now Stellantis) after being one of the first women allowed to drive a Hi-Lo on the dock. His great-grandfather worked for Chrysler, too.

"You gotta do what you gotta do," he said, having carpooled an hour to the strike line. "We'll stick together."

People were dressed in winter coats, hats, earmuffs, big gloves. Each breath created a misty cloud.

"I'm freezing. And I've got hand (warming) packets," said Victora Hill, of Eastpointe, a picker packer with 26 years with the automaker. "I'm ready for this to be over with. We're not asking for a million-dollar bonus. Chrysler has given us a decent living. We appreciate that. But we've got to keep it going."

Her husband, John, a Hi-Lo driver who loads trucks headed to Canada and Mexico when he's not on the strike line, has been with Chrysler nearly three decades. He wore jogging pants, four shirts and a Carhartt jumpsuit.

"I don't mind striking," he said. "But it's discouraging to see scabs by the busload. It makes us feel worthless."

Seeing guards hired specifically to monitor the strike line and then periodically walking through the strike line isn't the worst of it, John Hill said. He said he believed they've been shipped in from New York, get rental cars and stay in a hotel. "That's money that could be put in our paychecks instead."

The Free Press asked Stellantis for a response to the criticism from Hill. The company didn't immediately respond.

UAW members walked the picket line in silence, more than a dozen at a time. They have sought and received permission to block vehicles for five minutes. Then workers will flash a light that allows vehicles through. That's the law. And that leaves people, including John Hill, frustrated.

The aroma of burning wood filled the air. A Center Line police officer watched activity from his Ford F-150 across the street. Cars and trucks slowly crossed the picket line.

David Cummings, an electrician from Rochester Hills who has worked for the automaker for 26 years, said union workers voted UAW President Shawn Fain into office and now they've got to trust him.

"Not one of us wants to sit out here," Cummings said. "My wife is frustrated. She wants to call Fain personally."

People call these workers lazy and claim they don't want to work, which genuinely hurts, workers told the Free Press. They work 10- to 16-hour days, depending on what's needed, said workers, who shared detail of their schedules.

"We don't choose to be out here. We're united to get a fair contract," Cummings said. "We're not greedy. People work their butts off."

Just as Cummings was finishing his strike duty on Monday, his son, who works on the assembly line that builds the Ram 1500, was ordered out on strike in Sterling Heights.

Liz Dasich, an inbound dispatcher from Sterling Heights holding a warm coffee thermos outside the Center Line parts depot, said she was pretty wound up about the lack of progress toward a tentative agreement.

"But I calmed down," she said. "I never, ever thought I'd be out here."

She predicted expanding the strike to include a Ram or Jeep plant might motivate Stellantis to improve its offer and get the needed tentative agreement.

"That's hardball," Dasich said. "And I'm anxious to get back in there. I hope this gets resolved soon."

More: For striking UAW workers, picket line feels different in the middle of the night

Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Chrysler workers after 5 weeks on UAW strike line: Enough is enough