UAW to auto workers: we will not tell you anything, but do not read the world socialist website

UAW to automatic workers: we will not tell you anything, but do not read the World Socialist Website

By
Joseph Kishore

September 7, 2019

Just under a week before the expiry of contracts at Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler, the UAW is terrorized by the opposition of auto workers who will escape its control.

Even though the UAW does not say anything to the workers about supposed "negotiations," it has pleaded that they are not looking for other sources of information, especially the WSWS. Autoworker Newsletter. This is the core content of a letter sent Thursday by Rory Gamble, vice president of UAW-Ford, to Ford workers.

The letter begins by stating that its purpose is to "provide you – and especially to our new members for whom the bargaining process may not be familiar – an update on the negotiations and the state of affairs." progress of this process. "

In fact, the letter does not contain an "update". It states that "many subcommittees have negotiated" and that "most have entered into tentative agreements", but that there remain "broader economic problems".

What these "many" subcommittees accepted, even what the "many" men and women of the subcommittee were talking about, is not explained. With regard to the "broader economic problems" that "remain", workers have to guess what they might be.

After submitting this "update" to the automatic workers, Gamble goes on to the main task. "Many entities against us are trying to distort perception," he writes. "I ask you to be wary of sources where your information and material you choose to share come from. It is imperative that we not be misled on these negotiations by rumors, erroneous information from outside influences. "

Gamble is too shy to name names, but he clearly refers to the World Socialist Website Autoworker Newsletter. In 2015, while the WSWS was at the center of the grassroots opposition among auto workers, the president of the UAW, Dennis Williams – whose home was recently raided by the FBI – denounced the "outside groups" who "like to attract people", then AFL-CIO attorney Bruce Miller attacked the WSWS as "vultures left dressed in red clothes" .

Consider Gamble's warning. Workers, he writes, must be wary of entities that seek to "distort their perception" and "be wary of where your information comes from."

A solid advice, no doubt. It should be applied primarily to the UAW itself. After all, the organization was portrayed as a criminal syndicate that stole money from self-employed workers and accepted bribes from companies in exchange for past contracts favorable to a company.

Gamble himself has not been named or involved (yet) in the federal investigation. He joined the UAW leadership only at the organization's convention in June 2018, replacing Ford's outgoing vice president, Jimmy Settles.

Gamble, however, previously headed the UAW 1 region, which includes the Detroit area. In that role, he worked closely with Settles in the notorious 2015 Ford vote, resulting in numerous allegations of vote rigging and ballot stuffing. The regulations orchestrated a postponement of the last-minute vote to Local 600 (which covers Ford's operations in Dearborn), as the deal is about to be defeated. The final vote at Local 600 finally sufficed for the UAW to claim ratification of 51% of the national contract.

In the aforementioned 2015 statement, AFL-CIO attorney, Miller, blamed the WSWS for "accusing the UAW of selling its members with the settlement." of the contract". The fact that the UAW sold its members – literally – has been amply proven. All the WSWS said about the 2015 and UAW contracts was correct.

Four years later, the UAW is participating in these contractual "negotiations" under truly extraordinary circumstances. Senior executives and officials have been indicted or implicated in an expanding corruption scandal, and current president Gary Jones has burst into his home.

Michael Grimes, former senior adviser to Cindy Estrada, the current vice president at Fiat Chrysler, recently acknowledged his guilt. In 2015, Estrada was vice president of the UAW for General Motors. Grimes pleaded guilty last week for taking over $ 1.5 million in bribes and bribes in 12 years when he was a member of the board of directors UAW-GM Center for Human Resources.

The UAW is not the only one to fear what will come out of it. the Detroit News & # 39; Daniel Howes, in a column published on Thursday, notes that "the legal quagmire surrounding current and past leaders, and the political context surrounding a process turbocharged by social media, pose huge problems for the UAW and the three automakers who are trying to sell a prospective (and clean) contract to their hourly workforce. "

The fear of "social media" is the fear that workers can communicate and organize independently of the UAW. Unions and businesses gained experience not only from the 2015 auto contracts, but also last year's teachers' strikes, which developed largely outside the control of the teacher unions.

the New York Times In an article published at the time, teachers in West Virginia had "found ways to organize and act outside the usual parameters of traditional unionism," including through "a huge group on Facebook".

Whatever Gamble and the UAW are hoping for, auto workers will not consider their advice. Workers are and will continue to share information online and to organize their opposition. The WSWS call Autoworker Newsletter for the formation of independent core committees wins a powerful response.

A battle is looming on the horizon, pitting auto workers against businesses and their lackeys bought and paid for lackeys in the UAE. We urge all workers to register for the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter as an essential source of information and perspective for the coming struggle.

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