https://socialistaction.org/2019/11/10/courageous-uaw-strike-ends-with-few-gains/
Courageous UAW strike ends with few gains
Socialist Action / 22 hours ago
By DAVID JONES
Some 47,897 United Automobile Workers (UAW) ended their six-week strike
against U.S. auto manufacturing giant General Motors on October 31.
Fifty UAW-organized plants were closed across the country with the union
demanding increased job security, a gateway for temporary workers to
become permanent, better pay and to retain healthcare benefits. The
contract was approved by a vote of 57 percent, more an indication that
workers believed that the result was “the best that they could get,”
rather than what they had fought for.
Noting that the central focus of the strikers was “equality,” that is,
the abolition of the hated multiple-tier wage and classification system,
long-term Labor Notes staff writer Jane Slaughter summed up the
essentials: “The same tiers that existed in the old contract will exist
in the new one. Some of today’s temps will be hired into the second
tier—but new ones will be hired to take their place, at lower wages than
before.”
Slaughter continued, “But this is the auto industry. Layoffs happen. I
met workers who’d been laid off multiple times over the years, as
temps—and each time, they would start over again at the hire-in wage of
less than $16 an hour. The new proposal changes that—temps will no
longer get any pay hikes at all. They will make the same $16.67 wage the
entire time they remain in that status.” Slaughter continues with a sad
listing of at least ten tiers in the new contract, each designed by GM,
with UAW officials’ complicity, to extract ever new profits out of the
hides of workers.
She concludes: “The tier system has left thousands of auto workers
performing the same jobs union members did in the past for far less pay
and with fewer, if any, benefits.”
Standing near a burn barrel outside Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly
Wednesday, Bruno, a worker who declined to state his name, said he would
vote yes because “we’re not going to get any more out of them. It’s
unfortunate we had to go out to get the same thing we got before.”
Another Hamtramck worker, Worley, worried about the union’s future.
“They say ‘we’ll get ’em next time,’” he said, “but there may not be a
next time. We lost 30,000 jobs in the last 10 years.” The UAW now has
just under 400,000 members, down from 1.5 million in 1979, and 540,000
in 2006. The decline in union membership at GM is matched by the same
decline across the entire trade union movement, with today’s percentage
of organized workers the lowest in more than a century. The statistics
for the number of major strikes over the same period are similarly
revealing.
From 1947 to 1981, strikes of all kinds involving at least 1,000
workers were all in the triple digits. From 1982 to 2019, no strikes of
over 1,000 occurred, and during most of those years the total strikes of
any duration was under 30, and only 5 in 2009 and 7 in 2017. The total
number of workers involved was in the millions until 1980, sinking to
12,500 in 2009 and 25,300 in 2017, coinciding almost exactly with the
beginning of the U.S. employers’ relentless offensive against organized
labor.
At the same time, “foreign” automakers, such as Nissan, Volkswagen,
Mercedes Benz, all with new billion-dollar manufacturing plants,
generally employing in excess of 1,000 workers, (4,000 at the Vance,
Alabama Mercedes Benz plant) flourish largely in the American South,
where average hourly wages in non-union plants run between $23 and $25
an hour, according to the Center for Automotive Research (CAR). With the
new contract today, organized UAW plants are increasingly “competitive”
with non-union manufacturing, a boon to all employers and yet another
monstrous concession by UAW tops who, on their knees, make the one
percent ever richer to maintain union jobs.
Failed UAW strategy repeated
On day one of the strike, the UAW bureaucrats began with the failed
strategy pioneered more than a half century ago by then-top UAW official
Walter Reuther, who suggested that striking GM only, as opposed to
striking simultaneously the Big Three automakers, would exert maximum
pressure on a singe corporation. This “one-at-a-time strategy” might
have been good for the Union Army in the Civil War, but in the modern
automotive industry the Big Three or their modern-day auto titan
corporations are well-prepared, if not grateful to the UAW. The
non-struck corporations simply agree on private pacts with the “target
company” that include “mutual financial aid” as a part of their
unbreakable united front against the union. The unstruck corporations,
who obviously sell more cars than expected, agree to share their
otherwise unexpected boon with the struck company. No doubt they found a
way to make their “contributions” qualify as tax deductible to boot!
After sufficiently extracting its pound of flesh from the UAW
negotiators, GM sweetened its final offer with an $11,000 “signing
bonus” for selected categories of workers. No doubt, this too is fully
tax deductible—by GM, not by their employees.
The deadly routinism practiced during the strike by the UAW misleaders
is captured well by a Labor Notes reporter. “Yes, production was shut
down tight, with scabbing negligible, although at the Tech Center police
escorted scab janitors through the lines with no hassle from picketers.
Bank of America estimated that GM lost $2 billion in the strike’s first
four weeks—though the strike was begun when dealers’ lots were full, and
customers did not feel the impact. So timing was, shall we say, not well
considered.”
Labor Notes continues: “UAW members’ role was confined to picketing and
to volunteering for duties such as snack delivery. Before the strike,
officials made no attempt to involve members in a contract campaign. Not
a button was distributed in the plants. There was no survey of the
membership, no contract action teams, no bargaining bulletins to keep
members in the loop. No ‘practice picketing,’ no turn-down of
overtime—some plants building popular models worked scads of overtime
right up till the bell—no outreach to the public, no open bargaining.
Members knew only what they read in the media. Although union statements
referred to GM’s $35 billion in profits over the last three years,
[following its unprecedented government bailout –Ed.] there was no
attempt to rally the public against what could have been this year’s
poster child for corporate greed. It almost seemed as if UAW officials
didn’t want to be too rude to the counterparts with whom their usual
relationship is ‘partnership.’”
The watchword of the UAW workers at the strike’s outset was “equality.”
They struck to return their union to a single wage scale applicable to
all GM workers and an end to the heinous multiple-tier system aimed at
dividing workers in ever-increasing and humiliating ways. In the end,
the lower-tier workers voted against the contract, while the more
relatively secure higher-tier ranks, skeptical that more could be won,
reluctantly voted approval.
UAW leadership corruption
Here we can only add to our critique of the failed class
collaborationist “strategies” of the UAW misleaders their outright
corruption. In August, IRS and FBI agents raided the home of Gary Jones,
newly elected UAW president and just one of several targets in a
multi-state raid. Although Jones has not been charged with any crime,
twelve people have been charged in the corruption investigation,
including Edward Robinson, a union official with ties to Jones. Jones
has taken a leave of absence, apparently on the advice of the union’s
executive board. Rory Gamble, UAW Vice President for Ford Motor Co., has
been designated “Acting President.”
Former UAW official Joseph Ashton, who “retired” from the UAW in 2014,
has been accused by federal prosecutors of demanding and accepting
hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks and improperly using his
position to illegally benefit himself and others. An alleged scheme
identified by federal prosecutors involved a nearly $4 million contract
with the joint UAW-GM Center for Human Resources training facility for
commemorative watches. According to the filing, Ashton demanded $250,000
from the vendor, which he had instructed to create a new company to
produce the watches, which were never distributed to members.
Today, the $4 million order remains packed away in a warehouse near the
Detroit River. Still, federal investigators say, the deal accomplished
what it was intended to do. The UAW official who arranged it collected a
$250,000 kickback. Two others split $95,000 disguised as payments for
“furniture.” That still left well over $1 million in profit for the
vendor — a Philadelphia chiropractor who got into the watch business
solely to recoup a bad loan he had made to a friend of one of the union
officials, according to Automotive News (August 18, 2019).
Edward Robinson, a union official with ties to Jones, has been accused
of conspiring with union leaders to “embezzle, steal, and unlawfully and
willfully abstract” more than $1.5 million from the union for personal
gain, according to a criminal filing.
And there’s more to come. In the dinosaur days of the American labor
movement, union leaders used to be busted for accumulating guns, bombs
and other devices they felt would be useful for defense against scabs,
thugs and cops. Now it’s commemorative watches. No doubt giant
corporations like GM have little or no objections to corrupt union
officials. In fact, the elite one percent literally write the laws that
make their daily theft and extraction of wealth via a myriad of devices,
“legal.” With regard to corrupt union officials, the boss class, with
government spy agency assistance, is more than skilled at blackmailing
union crooks in return for their “cooperation” at the bargaining table.
What union activists across the country witnessed for six long weeks was
some 50,000 proud and courageous GM workers taking the field of action
at a time when the employer offensive against the broad working class
has reached fever pitch. A decisive victory for the GM strikes, and
especially a victory based on workers uniting in a fight for equal pay
and working conditions for all, would have represented an inspiring
example. While workers fully demonstrated their capacity to endure great
hardships toward this end, their sacrifice was fundamentally undermined
by a hardened bureaucratic misleadership whose sole outlook is to
maintain its “partnership” with the bosses and thus preserve, if not
expand, corporate profits regardless of the cost to the ranks. The
forging of a class struggle alternative leadership to these sellout
bureaucrats will stand high on the agenda of serious union fighters in
the period ahead.
Share:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
November 10, 2019 in Uncategorized.
Related posts
Solidarity with the GM strike!
UAW ranks approve concession-filled contracts
UAW members approve concession-filled contracts
Post navigation
← Chicago teachers divided over strike settlement
Get Involved!
Donate to help support our work
Get email updates
Join Socialist Action
Search for articles
Search
Subscribe to Our Newspaper
Newspaper Archives
Newspaper Archives Select Month November 2019 (5) October 2019 (7)
September 2019 (12) August 2019 (14) July 2019 (10) June 2019 (14)
May 2019 (12) April 2019 (12) March 2019 (13) February 2019 (10)
January 2019 (16) December 2018 (12) November 2018 (15) October 2018
(10) September 2018 (8) August 2018 (12) July 2018 (13) June 2018
(11) May 2018 (19) April 2018 (15) March 2018 (17) February 2018
(14) January 2018 (13) December 2017 (13) November 2017 (13) October
2017 (16) September 2017 (15) August 2017 (16) July 2017 (17) June
2017 (16) May 2017 (17) April 2017 (14) March 2017 (13) February
2017 (19) January 2017 (13) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (19)
October 2016 (12) September 2016 (10) August 2016 (10) July 2016
(14) June 2016 (14) May 2016 (9) April 2016 (12) March 2016 (14)
February 2016 (8) January 2016 (11) December 2015 (11) November 2015
(9) October 2015 (8) September 2015 (10) August 2015 (7) July 2015
(13) June 2015 (9) May 2015 (10) April 2015 (12) March 2015 (9)
February 2015 (11) January 2015 (10) December 2014 (12) November
2014 (11) October 2014 (9) September 2014 (6) August 2014 (10) July
2014 (11) June 2014 (10) May 2014 (11) April 2014 (10) March 2014
(9) February 2014 (11) January 2014 (11) December 2013 (10) November
2013 (11) October 2013 (17) September 2013 (13) August 2013 (10)
July 2013 (11) June 2013 (15) May 2013 (14) April 2013 (14) March
2013 (12) February 2013 (10) January 2013 (17) December 2012 (7)
November 2012 (8) October 2012 (19) September 2012 (2) August 2012
(27) July 2012 (18) June 2012 (3) May 2012 (19) April 2012 (14)
March 2012 (17) February 2012 (19) January 2012 (17) December 2011
(3) November 2011 (33) October 2011 (14) September 2011 (13) August
2011 (34) July 2011 (24) June 2011 (19) May 2011 (19) April 2011
(15) March 2011 (15) February 2011 (15) January 2011 (15) December
2010 (17) November 2010 (1) October 2010 (6) September 2010 (3)
August 2010 (8) July 2010 (7) June 2010 (2) May 2010 (10) April 2010
(3) March 2010 (8) February 2010 (3) January 2010 (9) December 2009
(6) November 2009 (5) October 2009 (16) September 2009 (3) August
2009 (2) July 2009 (5) June 2009 (2) May 2009 (7) April 2009 (6)
March 2009 (16) February 2009 (9) January 2009 (10) December 2008
(11) November 2008 (8) October 2008 (16) September 2008 (14) August
2008 (18) July 2008 (12) June 2008 (3) May 2008 (2) April 2008 (3)
March 2008 (14) February 2008 (11) January 2008 (11) December 2007
(8) November 2007 (1) July 2007 (1) June 2007 (1) April 2007 (1)
March 2007 (1) February 2007 (3) December 2006 (11) November 2006
(11) October 2006 (13) September 2006 (15) August 2006 (11) July 2006
(18) June 2006 (7) May 2006 (14) April 2006 (6) March 2006 (14)
February 2006 (5) January 2006 (2) December 2005 (9) November 2005
(8) October 2005 (13) September 2005 (12) August 2005 (9) July 2005
(16) June 2005 (16) May 2005 (16) April 2005 (12) March 2005 (14)
February 2005 (19) January 2005 (15) December 2004 (14) November 2002
(17) October 2002 (19) September 2002 (22) August 2002 (21) July
2002 (15) May 2002 (21) April 2002 (21) February 2002 (15) January
2002 (15) December 2001 (17) October 2001 (24) September 2001 (18)
July 2001 (19) June 2001 (18) October 2000 (17) September 2000 (21)
August 2000 (19) July 2000 (16) June 2000 (26) May 2000 (21) April
2000 (22) March 2000 (28) February 2000 (18) January 2000 (20)
December 1999 (20) November 1999 (26) October 1999 (25) September
1999 (18) August 1999 (40) July 1999 (38) June 1999 (24) May 1999
(27) April 1999 (25) March 1999 (26) February 1999 (29) January 1999
(24) July 1998 (12)
Social Media
View socialistactionusa’s profile on Facebook
View SocialistActUS’s profile on Twitter
Upcoming Events
No upcoming events
View Calendar
Follow
--
---
David Hume
“ In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees
of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral
evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. ”
― David Hume,
