In the face of massive opposition from workers, the UAW calls for a national strike at GM

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In the face of massive opposition from workers, the UAW calls for a national strike at GM

By
WSWS Autoworker Information Bulletin

September 15, 2019

UPDATE AT 12:30 PM EDT

RECENT NEWS: United Auto Workers announced a nationwide strike at General Motors at a press conference in downtown Detroit. The strike will officially begin at midnight tonight.

If the strike continues, it could become the first major national strike of an American automaker for decades.

The announcement was made following a meeting of the National Council of Directors General of the UAW. Earlier Sunday, Flint's auto workers denounced the union for ordering them to cross the picket lines of the UAW janitors employed by Aramark who were called by the union after Saturday at midnight .

The UAW ordered workers in the auto industry to continue working after the contract expires last night in order to save time. However, in the face of workers 'anger at companies' demands for concessions and the growing corruption of unions, officials concluded that they had no other choice Call for a strike at the national level.

Of note, UAW President, Gary Jones, who was identified last week as a participant in stealing millions of dollars of union funds for lavish golf outings, stays in the Palms Springs villas and Other personal indulgences were missing at the press conference.

The strike will be a powerful expression of the resurgence of the class struggle in the United States and the world and a sign of the immense power of the working class. However, workers must be warned that the UAW will seek to close it as soon as possible and to pass concessions. They should learn from previous strikes, including that of GM in 2007. The strike in Hollywood lasted only two days before the UAW reached an agreement that would introduce the hateful structure of wages at two levels.

This underscores the urgency for auto workers to remove the UAW from contractual struggle by organizing grassroots committees and preparing a fight to mobilize the 158,000 GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler workers. The UAW and companies must no longer be allowed to challenge the will of workers and sign a contract that will have devastating consequences for auto workers, their families and future generations of workers.

the World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Information Bulletin will provide further updates as this story develops.

Workers in the auto industry are furious as the UAW orders them to cross the picket lines of janitors

In a blatant betrayal, the United Auto Workers union ordered production workers at General Motors to cross picket lines at the UAW concierge companies, which the union called for strike action at five factories after midnight on Saturday.

The UAW is keeping auto workers at work despite the fact that GM's 46,000-worker contract has expired at midnight, and even though GM continues to call for the abolition of health care benefits. health, the closure of factories and the increase in the number of poor. remunerate temporary and contract workers.

The five plants involved in the Guards strike are: Flint Metal Center, Flint Engine Operations, Flint Assembly and Warren Tech Center, all located in Michigan, and Parma Metal Center near Cleveland, Ohio. Janitors, who work for GM contractor Aramark, are also members of the UAW.

The morning work scenes of workers at Flint, the birthplace of the UAW and site of the 1936-37 historic strike, where the union ordered workers to cross the picket lines of the same factories summarize the UAW's transformation into a corrupt branch of management. The on-site strike demonstrated the immense industrial and social power of the working class when it fights in unity and solidarity. This legacy is precisely what the UAW repudiated a long time ago and sought to destroy.

This betrayal could be followed later Sunday by the union enjoining the workers of these five factories to stop working and honoring the janitors' picket lines in order to avoid a direct strike against GM and to try to divide, disorient and to demoralize the workers. who want a united, all-out fight against automakers. Such a sordid maneuver would leave most of GM's facilities fully operational, including 11 of the 12 US assembly plants.

The auto workers who spoke to the press were furious that the UAW was forcing them to take sticks against the janitors. A Flint worker was on the verge of tears, according to the Detroit newspaper. Free press.

"They separated us from GM," said one of the janitors at the newspaper. "We are a union. Everything should be done together. We are supposed to be brothers and sisters. "

While the union forced workers in the five factories to scratch, the UAW-GM Council held a private meeting at 10:00 am at the Renaissance Marriott Hotel (located in the GM-owned Renaissance Center), which would be followed press conference. The body, which is made up of local union leaders from GM factories across the country, will decide what action to take. Far from workers' feelings in the workshops, UAW representatives on the International Executive Board hope to gain insight into the situation of local union bureaucrats, while giving them the order to march to stay on course .

A report team for the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter The UAW authorities forbade the person to enter the premises to cover the meeting. When Autoworker Newsletter Jerry White, editor-in-chief of WSWS Labor, opposed this blatant attack on press freedom and the Wall Street newspaper was allowed to attend the press conference, retorted a UAW official, "Freedom means that I do not have to answer your questions."

Whatever the case may be, the UAW has already set the tone by rubbing against its own members. Its goal is to divide auto workers and break the momentum of mass action.

This betrayal of the UAW goes against the strike mandate of 96% of workers at GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler (FCA). The failure at this stage to trigger a symbolic strike by GM workers shows just how much the UAW fears of quickly losing control of even limited action and unleashing the power of the working class. The UAW wants to announce a settlement while the workers are still in the factories, fearing that once the workers leave their jobs, they will not be able to bring them back to work.

The union fears that a strike – particularly one that forces the company to withdraw – does not favor worker activism and undermines its corporate policy. With his henchmen, UAW President Gary Jones, who faces an imminent criminal charge of bribery, believes union leaders must prove that they are always helpful to the government and businesses for plead successfully.

On Saturday evening, the Vice President of the UAW, Terry Dittes, sent a letter to the presidents of GM locals, workshop presidents, finance and other local officials, announcing that UAW would pursue negotiations with a view to reaching an agreement and that "no decision or action would be taken. until the IEB [International Executive Board] meets at midnight and the National Council meets at 10 am on Sunday. "

In comments aimed at core employees worried about being kept in the dark for weeks on the status of negotiations, or even on the UAW's claims, Dittes said that "some progress has been made". Say, however, that "significant differences remain between the parties with respect to wages, health care benefits, temporary employees, job security and benefit-sharing".

The fact is that the UAW and the companies have reached an agreement long ago and that the "negotiations" are nothing more than strategy sessions to decide how best to get the agreement out facing the massive opposition of the workers. Even if Dittes' comments are taken into account, it means that the UAW forces workers to stay at work under conditions where GM has not moved its iota of its demands.

The UAW International Executive Council, consisting of President Gary Jones, Secretary-Treasurer Ray Curry, Vice Presidents Terry Dittes (GM), Rory Gamble (Ford) and Cindy Estrada (FCA) and Nine Regional Directors met on Saturday at midnight. The same body held a controversial meeting on Friday where it demonstrated the union's disregard for the workers by voting to keep Mr. Jones in power, although he is now involved in a ploy in which officials of the union said he was in power. UAW have diverted more than a million dollars from their funds for golf outings. luxury villas, champagne and other luxuries.

The UAW can still feel the need to call for a limited strike to let off steam and regain some credibility with the workers. Such action, however, would be designed to have the least impact on corporate net income, while creating better conditions for reaching a favorable business deal. A three-day walkout at GM and a six-hour strike at Chrysler in 2007 were followed by the introduction of the two-tier wage system.

The workers are determined to fight GM, which has made profits of $ 35 billion over the last three years, while spending more than $ 10 billion in share buybacks for its wealthy shareholders since 2015.

The same goes for the Ford and Fiat Chrysler workers. On Friday, the UAW extended contracts with other automakers to divide workers in the auto sector, even as the big three companies work together to impose new concessions. Stewards and team leaders have been spreading through the factories to tell the workers that they should not go out tonight.

Fiat Chrysler worker at Sterling Heights assembly plant (SHAP) hands over to WSWS Autoworker Newsletter"A lot has been taken away from us. If we all get up now and go out, businesses would lose millions in the first hour of the strike. The people of the United States should close the whole country. We are ready. All together would be more powerful than billionaires. Production is connected around the world and we work on the same products as Canadian and Mexican workers. This makes it an international struggle.

"I worked C crew [swing shift] at SHAP for five years. People are so tired that there are a lot of accidents with C Crew workers trying to get home. You can talk to any doctor and he will tell you how bad this change is for your health. I've heard senior management say that Chrysler will never give up the Crew Crew because it's too profitable. "

Like other global manufacturers, GM has reduced tens to thousands of white-collar jobs and production, and is closing five factories in the United States and Canada, including the United States. Iconic assembly plant and factory in Lordstown, Ohio. its only assembly plant in Detroit.

Plant closures, announced late last year, are part of GM's and the UAW's joint strategy of using job threats to advance even deeper concessions. In the past, UAW and automakers have announced so-called "factory economy" agreements including "competitive wage structures" and other concessions, including commissioning factories with mostly lower-paying second-level workers, as well as temporary and contract workers who has to pay UAW dues but can be hired and fired at will.

The self-employed have already seen this game plan and are determined to prevent this from happening again. They know that the whole "bargaining process" is a fraud, because those who claim to be negotiating for them have been exposed as bribe takers working for management.

To end this corporate-UAW conspiracy, workers must take control of the negotiations and contract out of the hands of the UAW by establishing basic factory committees. Workers must hold meetings in factories and on social media to elect these committees, formulate their own demands and prepare to intervene directly to thwart any decision of the UAW having adverse consequences for workers and their families.

What is needed is a real struggle to mobilize the 158,000 workers of GM, Ford and FCA and much larger groups of the working class. This includes making contact with GM and other auto workers in Canada, Mexico, Korea and other countries, and putting in place a common fight for the defense of jobs and jobs. of the standard of living.

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