Angry workers as the UAW's stone walls contract GM, Ford and Chrysler

"We all know that they lie!"

Angry workers as the UAW's stone walls contract GM, Ford and Chrysler

By
Tom Hall

September 7, 2019

Just one week before the current contract expires, United Auto Workers continues its discussions with Detroit automakers under the veil of silence. He did not inform the auto workers of updates on the interviews nor even informed them of the content of the ongoing discussions.

Senior worker at GM plant in Wentzville, near St. Louis, told WSWS Autoworker Newsletter"For months before negotiations, union representatives always said they knew nothing. Even representatives known to have loose lips have not spoken. We all know that they lie.

"Most people know they hide something; they just do not know what. The feeling is that members should be included and kept informed of what is happening. Of course, we have the right. This concerns our future.

"There is no integrity in our local and we have now been shown that there is no integrity in the entire UAW."

"There is no trust or faith in this local or in UAW," she concluded. "It's the atmosphere in this factory."

One retiree commented, "What is the union asking pensioners? We need an increase. They took money from us and never gave us an increase. "

In a letter sent to local union leaders, Terry Dittes, vice president of UAW-GM, said that UAW members would not be warned in advance of the content of any new agreement. The letter informed GM local officials of a meeting of the UAW-GM National Council convened in Detroit on the morning of September 15, the day after the official expiration of the contract.

"We will only know the agenda a few hours before the meeting," said Dittes. "It may be to vote on an agreement in principle, on the current offer of the company on the table or on other necessary actions."

In other words, the UAW will not inform the base of the results of the talks before the end of the eleventh hour. The timing of this meeting makes it clear that the UAW intends to keep workers at work without a new contract, with the possible exception of "Hollywood strikes" on one or two sites to allow workers to wind down, despite a damning vote to join the strike last month.

Worker at Fairfax GM assembly plant in Kansas City tells WSWS Autoworker Newsletter"It came out this morning and we all read [Dittes’ letter]. You can not believe what they say, they could tell us anything. "

The total breakdown of the media shows that what is happening is not a "negotiation" in the true sense of the word, but a lot of strategy sessions between companies and their UAW agents on how to impose concessions on a company. work more and more restive.

Given the magnitude of the corruption scandal, which involved three quarters of the bargaining team members of the latest Fiat-Chrysler contract, workers are skeptical about each union statement, including the punctuation marks.

The fear with which the UAW considers its own members was expressed in an open letter from UAW-Ford vice president, Rory Gamble, circulated Wednesday. The letter, which purported to contain "an update on the negotiations and the state of progress of this process," contained no information.

Instead, Gamble has tried to prevent workers from communicating and distributing information among themselves, especially information from the WSWS. Autoworker Newsletter, obliquely designated as an "entity" that "attempts to distort perception".

In a statement issued Tuesday, the WSWS Acollaborater NOTelectronic letter wrote: "The people who are apparently in charge of the negotiations on behalf of auto workers, the president of the UAW, Gary Jones, have seen their homes searched or face criminal charges. If they're negotiating something, it's their advocacy negotiations. If they are arguing, it is with their lawyers what they can do to stay in jail. "

Indeed, according to the Detroit NewJones recently retained the services of New York lawyer J. Bruce Maffeo, a lawyer with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters during his government's watch, which began three decades ago to settle the case of racketeering within the meaning of the RICO law.

Under these conditions, workers have no choice but to repudiate the authority of the UAW. The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter urges the auto workers to set up grassroots business committees, democratically controlled by the workers themselves and independent of the company's agents in the United Arab Emirates.

In each factory and workplace, workers should elect their own representatives and formulate their own demands. The core committees will provide workers with real information about what's going on, unify all categories of workers in the auto industry, and protect workers from victimization.

The establishment of such a network of committees will serve as a framework for a national conference of basic committees to coordinate the fight against car manufacturers.

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