More than 150 auto workers and supporters picketed outside the International Auto Show in Detroit January 11, protesting the strings attached to government loans to GM and Chrysler. President Bush’s loan package would wring more concessions out of a union that’s already accepted deep cuts.
The rank-and-file rally took place as union brass were at the table with the companies, hammering out details of the giveback package. Although Ford received no federal loan, UAW chiefs volunteered to make concessions there as well.
The Bush plan demands that union auto worker wages and working conditions be brought down to parity with non-union auto workers. The plan also requires that the fund covering health care for GM and Chrysler retirees be paid for with company stock.
Auto workers have been arguing that these concessions will do nothing to help the ailing Big 3, whose problems are much bigger than workers’ wages. At best, they could shave a few pennies off the dollar of operating costs. At worst, they weaken the union, drive down manufacturing wages across the board, and distract lawmakers and the public from discussion of long-term solutions for the industry.
CUT THE POWER
Days before the rally, fine print was discovered in the Bush plan: a UAW-led strike during the period of negotiations, slated to end February 17, would nullify the loan package.
The spirited crowd shouted down concessions and signed a petition to President Obama, asking him to cancel the givebacks in favor of long-term solutions for a sustainable, environment-friendly industry and jobs.
The picket was peppered with first-time rank-and-file activists like Frank Warren, a former rep at General Motors Powertrain in Warren, Michigan, with 31 years’ seniority.
“In the last contract, we gave away several items we fought for years to keep,” said Warren. “All the while, I watched our CEOs knock down millions in income and stock incomes.”
MORE AGITATION TO COME
The retired and active UAW members in the ad hoc committee that planned the rally said they would continue to agitate against the demonization of auto workers.
Organizers are collecting more signatures on the petition to Obama, and they are circulating an open letter to non-union auto workers in the South, aimed at finding common ground between auto workers in and out of the UAW.
Rank and filers will also be ready to scrutinize the concessions that will be announced by the UAW in February and brought to a membership vote. Stacey Kemp, a rally organizer and retiree from UAW Local 467 in Saginaw, Michigan, said, “We’ll need to get information out to members about what exactly the concessions will be and what impact they will have so they can make the right choice.”
Check out video of the rally here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjpKQyNcvx8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMB73ILJ2lQ
Find out about future rank-and-file organizing in the auto industry.
