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| From 2008: see below |
According to reports in the Wall Street Journal there appear to be some open rumblings of opposition to UAW president Bob King’s love affair with the auto bosses. The UAW is presently in negotiations with Ford Motor Co. and the UAW president, who I have nicknamed Bob “good housekeeping King” has mad it clear he doesn’t want to “overburden the auto makers” the Journal reports. How nice of him to be so concerned about the CEO’s and speculators rather than his members---overburdening them is OK.
The UAW leadership has cooperated with the bosses to the point that they are junior partners and it is hard to even refer to it as Union anymore other than there are workers in it who pay dues to have their wages, benefits and jobs negotiated away by “experts”. This is true of the entire organized Labor movement though, not just the UAW.
Auto-workers have lost cost of living raises, health care benefits, wages have been savaged and retirement benefits shredded. From this report in the WSJ,it appears that there is some opposition developing to the present leadership’s approach that is not simply based on reducing the concessions but winning back previous takeaways. The UAW leadership already have an “understanding that the new contract won’t include automatic wage increases and cost of living raises” the Wall Street Journal adds. Instead, King and the UAW tops want a contract that will include profit sharing bonuses, bonuses based on job performance, attendance, productivity and quality. The transformation from union to a private competitor for employment agencies like Manpower and Labor Ready is almost complete.
Auto-workers have lost cost of living raises, health care benefits, wages have been savaged and retirement benefits shredded. From this report in the WSJ,it appears that there is some opposition developing to the present leadership’s approach that is not simply based on reducing the concessions but winning back previous takeaways. The UAW leadership already have an “understanding that the new contract won’t include automatic wage increases and cost of living raises” the Wall Street Journal adds. Instead, King and the UAW tops want a contract that will include profit sharing bonuses, bonuses based on job performance, attendance, productivity and quality. The transformation from union to a private competitor for employment agencies like Manpower and Labor Ready is almost complete.
Some opposition among the rank and file is developing around a proactive approach. A group called Auto-worker Caravan organized a meeting to oppose any contract that doesn’t increase the wage for new hires which has sunk to $14. The opposition also wants temporary workers to get permanent jobs and the COLA (cost of living raises) to be reinstated as well as the end to plant closings.
The UAW leadership seems convinced that they will get their way as usual. “I’m confident that if we get a good contract we’ll get it ratified” the UAW president assured his friends at the Detroit Economic club yesterday. The hook for the leadership is these one -time bonuses that are very good for the employers but terrible for us. “It would be hard for a lot of workers to turn down a check for $5000” says one anonymous person close to the Union.
The UAW leadership seems convinced that they will get their way as usual. “I’m confident that if we get a good contract we’ll get it ratified” the UAW president assured his friends at the Detroit Economic club yesterday. The hook for the leadership is these one -time bonuses that are very good for the employers but terrible for us. “It would be hard for a lot of workers to turn down a check for $5000” says one anonymous person close to the Union.
What this person neglects to point out is that most workers know that is a bad decision just like the Team Concept is a bad idea. And were the likes of Bob King to actually lead a struggle against the bosses they would reject both. We accept things that we know in our gut are against our best interests when we are faced with a formidable adversary like a combination of the employers, the state and our own leaders. But turn it down we must. It is blood money and does nothing to strengthen us in our war with the employers and completely abandons the future generation of workers.
If the report is anything near the truth it is a good sign that these rumblings from below are occurring. It is hard to say as I have written before whether it will be possible to save the UAW at all and that when the explosion comes in this industry it may well be at the new plants and from the new hires. A few years ago there was a similar situation at the Chrysler local in Kokomo Indiana when the membership rejected their leadership’s concessionary contract. At a Union meeting in Kokomo representatives from the UAW international were booed and jeered. When it comes to shoving employer friendly agreements down their members’ throats though the Labor hierarchy and its army of full time staff can go to work.
The bosses have blamed the bankruptcy and subsequent bailout of the auto industry on auto workers. They have successfully emaciated a once proud Union and undermined that section of the US working class that was a benchmark we could aspire to for decent jobs with benefits and pensions that provided a somewhat secure existence. They are now blaming us public sector workers for the bankruptcy of American society. But the US auto industry’s woes were not to do with wages and benefits but the private ownership of what amounts to the transportation industry; workers produce more value than our wages can buy back in whatever form and as the productive forces become ever more efficient and mechanized, we can buy back even less. The industry, like all major industries, had too much capacity. There are too many auto plants in the world and already the Chinese auto industry is facing the same problem. It is a problem of the system itself.
The policies of the present Union leadership that collaborate with the employers and isolate every struggle will take us further down the road to oblivion. The UAW was built through great occupations and strikes that took place during the thirties. Mass pickets, linking every dispute to issues that effect other workers and our communities is what will begin to turn the tide. The great 44-day Flint occupation of 1936-37 should be Labor’s 4th of July, every worker and young person should know of it and celebrate it.
If the Journal report is correct and there appears to be the beginnings of an opposition in the UAW that is taking an offensive stand and that is prepared to reach out beyond this industry and this contract, it is a very positive development and a long tome coming. I believe that a successful opposition could emerge within organized Labor if it is clearly distinguishable from the bureaucracy, in other words, that it opposes the Team Concept and the concessions that go with it as well as fighting for jobs, through a shorter workweek and other immediate goals as well as building links nationally and internationally. In every unionized Industry, the new hires-----often the youth-----have been sacrificed at the altar of concessions by the Union hierarchy. These fresher workers often hate the Union for not fighting for them. They will watch closely any opposition movement and will want to know “what are you going to do differently?”. That is why concrete demands and a direct action strategy to win them as opposed to union democracy or reform in the abstract is what will appeal to them although obviously we support Union democracy.
If the report is anything near the truth it is a good sign that these rumblings from below are occurring. It is hard to say as I have written before whether it will be possible to save the UAW at all and that when the explosion comes in this industry it may well be at the new plants and from the new hires. A few years ago there was a similar situation at the Chrysler local in Kokomo Indiana when the membership rejected their leadership’s concessionary contract. At a Union meeting in Kokomo representatives from the UAW international were booed and jeered. When it comes to shoving employer friendly agreements down their members’ throats though the Labor hierarchy and its army of full time staff can go to work.
The bosses have blamed the bankruptcy and subsequent bailout of the auto industry on auto workers. They have successfully emaciated a once proud Union and undermined that section of the US working class that was a benchmark we could aspire to for decent jobs with benefits and pensions that provided a somewhat secure existence. They are now blaming us public sector workers for the bankruptcy of American society. But the US auto industry’s woes were not to do with wages and benefits but the private ownership of what amounts to the transportation industry; workers produce more value than our wages can buy back in whatever form and as the productive forces become ever more efficient and mechanized, we can buy back even less. The industry, like all major industries, had too much capacity. There are too many auto plants in the world and already the Chinese auto industry is facing the same problem. It is a problem of the system itself.
The policies of the present Union leadership that collaborate with the employers and isolate every struggle will take us further down the road to oblivion. The UAW was built through great occupations and strikes that took place during the thirties. Mass pickets, linking every dispute to issues that effect other workers and our communities is what will begin to turn the tide. The great 44-day Flint occupation of 1936-37 should be Labor’s 4th of July, every worker and young person should know of it and celebrate it.
If the Journal report is correct and there appears to be the beginnings of an opposition in the UAW that is taking an offensive stand and that is prepared to reach out beyond this industry and this contract, it is a very positive development and a long tome coming. I believe that a successful opposition could emerge within organized Labor if it is clearly distinguishable from the bureaucracy, in other words, that it opposes the Team Concept and the concessions that go with it as well as fighting for jobs, through a shorter workweek and other immediate goals as well as building links nationally and internationally. In every unionized Industry, the new hires-----often the youth-----have been sacrificed at the altar of concessions by the Union hierarchy. These fresher workers often hate the Union for not fighting for them. They will watch closely any opposition movement and will want to know “what are you going to do differently?”. That is why concrete demands and a direct action strategy to win them as opposed to union democracy or reform in the abstract is what will appeal to them although obviously we support Union democracy.
At the time of the Chrysler contract rejection FFWP interviewed a shop steward from the Chrysler plant as you can see from the image above. If you would like to receive that in pdf format contact us at: we_know_whats_up@yahoo.com
1 comment:
As a retired autoworker from Flint I can tell you that it would be easier to get most retirees to go to a Tea Party rally than go to a Labor day parade. They had the best this country had to offer and now they dont think they should have to pay taxes. One thing they do have in common with you folks is that they think the union is screwing them. This country is so pathetic.
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