UAW leadership pushes concessionary contract, refuses to link auto workers with OWS Movement

The clothes are a prop: the minds are joined

The trade Union hierarchy has made numerous public statements about their support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here in Oakland CA a couple of trade Unions have supplied porta potty's for the occupiers of the plaza outside city hall that they have renamed Oscar Grant plaza after the young black worker shot in the back by a transit policeman who, with other cops had him pinned to the ground.

It is a positive development that the trade Union leadership is publicly supporting the OWS movement and has turned out some numbers in a show of solidarity. Some trade Union officials have made statements commending the youth of the OWS movement for setting off the “spark” that can change the “arc of history.” But as we pointed out in a previous blog, the Union leaders say how wonderful the youth have been to take militant action but we regret to say that these very same Union leaders have crushed every militant action their own members have tried to take up to now.

There has been no real attempt to reach in to the depths of the 12 million strong ranks of organized Labor and link the rank and file with the OWS movement. In fact, we know from experience that the Union leaders are deathly afraid that their members might be influenced by the radicalism and militancy of the youth, an experience that terrified them during the Seattle events of 1999 when a whole section of Labor’s ranks were drawn to the youth that shut down the WTO meeting.

So for the public pronouncements of support from the Union officialdom to have any credibility with genuine oppositionists within the Labor movement it would be necessary to see that they are abandoning the concessionary strategies based on the disastrous Team Concept arrangement they have with the employers. We would have to see that they are opposed to the idea that workers must compete with each other in order to help the corporation make profits and win market share from their rivals. And we would have to see that there is a real effort to link the ranks of organized Labor with the OWS movement to really change the “arc of history” as the president of SEIU says.

The situation couldn’t be more favorable. As we write, Ford workers, members of the UAW, are voting on a contract. The opposition to the proposed deal has been, according to the New York Times, "surprisingly negative." With voting completed at plants that account for roughly 20% of Ford’s 41,000 UAW members the four-year tentative contract has been rejected by about 55%.

One worker is quoted as saying: "I am confident that Ford can afford to pay us more." Workers are also raising that Ford's executive chair and CEO each received $26 million in payouts last year. Postings on the union's face book page have criticized the paychecks of what are called "greedy" executives and empathized with the protests on Wall Street.

“I'm going to vote 'no,'" says one worker. "The salaried [employees] get bonuses, stock options. We didn't get anything for cost of living." WSJ 10-15-11.

Back in 2008 some Chrysler locals voted against a contract the Union hierarchy recommended throwing a spanner in the works. A rank and file shop steward from a Chrysler plant described to us the scene at his local that voted against the leadership's recommendation:,
“Oh god, excitement. People held their heads up. We had won. One woman had a big sign up with the percentages: 78% No, 72% No for 685 and 1166. We had won. There was such a mood, it was phenomenal. I remember thinking I don’t ever want this to go away. It’s hard to explain, you had to have been there. It still brings tears to my eyes. It was just great. I had been involved in the struggle at Delphi and now it was paying off. And then comes the union officials, on the offensive to reverse the vote. Going round with their propaganda trying to change people’s minds. We had won on our front, now it was up to the other plants, it was up to Belvedere. Then the bosses and the union leaders, those sneaky bastards, came up with product guarantee to divide us and to get their contract voted through.”

Things hadn’t changed up until a few weeks ago when the UAW was in negotiations with GM. (You can read more on this by going to the UAW Label) UAW head Bob King assured the auto bosses who received billions in taxpayer funds, “We are going to make sure the companies are competitive coming out of these agreements.” He didn’t want to “overburden the auto makers” he told the Wall Street Journal. He went even further announcing to Rupert Murdoch’s readers that the, “old Us vs Them mentality” is a relic and workers, “have to understand the other side,”

And as a concessionary contract that the UAW leadership is recommending to the workers who pay the dues and do the work is facing some opposition, the leadership is working overtime trying to get it passed. A Facebook claim by the union leaders tried to scare opponents of the proposed deal by saying the company could hire replacement workers. They afterwards backed away from this claim.

Union workers at OSW: time to spread this power and use it

The union leaders have been touring the country campaigning for a yes vote. They may yet end up with a yes vote but there is a lot of opposition and a lot of support for the idea espoused by the OWS

It is positive that the trade Union leaders are supporting the OWS movement but lets see them put those words in to action beyond donating some porta potty's, clothing, food and/or other necessities to the occupiers and bringing out some members in a show of solidarity as welcome as this is. Let’s hear that they have abandoned the Team Concept and their strategy of pushing concessionary contracts on their members in order to make their employers profitable and competitive. One Ford worker, a skilled worker told the WSJ that they should be cognizant of “public perception” and that “we will look bad to everyone” asking for more in a period when, “people are losing jobs and taking pay cuts.”

The reason that the bosses have been able to isolate not only auto-workers but many of us in the public sector is that our Union leaders have refused to link the struggles of Unionized workers with all workers. Why would the auto-workers in the non-Union plants want to join a Union that is handing over wages and benefits of its members that took years of heroic sacrifice to win and crushing those that oppose this strategy?

The time has never been more favorable. For the Union leaders support to be taken seriously by the rank and file Union member, their pro management strategy has to be publicly abandoned in favor of a fighting strategy that links up the Ford workers and all workers with the OWS movement and with workers and youth internationally. The demand for a six-hour day five-day workweek with no loss in pay must return to the forefront. Many workers work an exhausting three 12-hour days to give themselves a few days off with their families. Not only is this needed it is a means of creating jobs. No more overtime—hire more workers.

The disastrous policy of spending billions of Union members’ dues money over the years getting Democrats elected should be used in the efforts to mobilize Union members the unorganized, and workers in our communities in a united direct action campaign to drive back the bosses offensive. This campaign can build an independent working people’s political party that can break the monopoly that the two capitalist parties have over American political life. Today, the anti-war president Barack Obama is opening up a new front in central Africa as US municipalities face bankruptcy and millions have no work. The money is there we all know this. The OWS movement, the auto contracts, Wisconsin, and what the hell happened to the Verizon strike? Words are not enough.

My guess is that we will not hear a peep of disagreement from Mary Kay Henry of the SEIU who waxed eloquent in the Wall Street Journal about the youth lighting the spark that can change the “arc of history” about the mobilizing efforts of her colleagues atop the UAW to get the auto workers at Ford to accept a concessionary contract. One issue up to now that unites the Union hierarchy is getting their members to accept deals favorable to the boss. The OWS movement has spread to over 200 communities. The heads of organized Labor should not let another opportunity pass by.