VIDEO: Autoworkers Protest Detroit Auto Show About Working Conditions, International Solidarity, Right To Work, and Need for Bolder Environmental Action

Jorge Parra, Fired GM Worker from Columbia in 55th Day of Hunger Strike, at 2013 Detroit Auto Show

  

 

Interviews: Autoworker Protest at 2013 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan 

 

Letter of Solidarity from GM Workers in Germany, Brazil, Spain, and Columbia | 2013 NAIAS 

 

Connecting U.S. Environmental, Housing, and Labor Policies at 2013 Detroit Auto Show Protest 

More: 

http://autoworkercaravan.com 

http://asotrecol.com/ 

http://beatbackrtw.org/

Media Advisory: Autoworkers to Target Worsening Working Conditions as Auto Profits Soar at Detroit Auto Show Protests

Contact: Frank Hammer
AUTOWORKER CARAVAN
313-863-3219

WHO: Autoworker Caravan
WHAT: Informational Picket Lines
WHEN: Sunday, January 13th and Monday, January 14th, 1:30-3 PM
WHERE: Cobo Center, 1 Washington Blvd,, Detroit 48226

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WHY: As the successful turnaround of GM and Chrysler (and Ford’s ongoing success) continue to be touted in the main stream media, the story of the continued sacrifices of the workers who are making it possible continues to be ignored. As a result, the public is left with the impression that autoworkers are sharing in the new-found prosperity, which is decidedly not the case.

Autoworkers Fight Back! Demonstrate at the 2013 North American Auto Show

via Autoworker Caravan

 

Save the union; Save Detroit; Save the planet!

Demonstrate Sunday, January 13 & Monday, January 14, 1:30-3pm across from Cobo Center in Downtown Detroit at the 2013 North American Auto Show

With all the talk about the successful turnaround of the Big Three, the spotlight needs to be turned on to the deteriorating working conditions autoworkers are facing. We were forced by the White House Auto Task Force to “sacrifice” during the bailout at GM and Chrysler. Concessions were incorporated into the current contracts with the Detroit Three. These included the elimination of COLA, time-and-a half only after 40 hours, loss of break time and holidays, expansion of two-tier and at GM of break time and holidays, expansion of two-tier and at GM The pacts sent a signal to workers: don't complain, just “be happy you have a job.”

Remembering "The Occupy That Won the Union"

Click the kitty to read Autoworker Caravan activist Martha Grevatt's great piece for Workers World commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Flint Sit-Down Strike and the establishment of the UAW.

LEAFLET: Solidarity Rally for the 99% and the Planet at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WHAT: Solidarity Rally at the 2012 Auto Show —Fight for the 99% and the Planet

WHO: Autoworker Caravan, an advocacy group for rank and file autoworkers (www.autoworkercaravan.org)

WHERE: Across from Cobo Hall, Downtown Detroit

WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 8, 2011, 1:30-3:00 PM

CONTACT: Nick Waun 810-728-1717, Stacey Kemp 810-814-3738

This year autoworkers, along with labor and community supporters, celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Flint Sit-Down Strike. The 44-day occupation that ended Feb. 11, 1937 when General Motors recognized the UAW was part of a movement that brought economic justice, dignity and respect. Today, the Occupy movement of the “99%” seeks the same.

Auto executives—part of the 1%—are crowing about their return to profitability at this year’s auto show. Their recovery comes at autoworkers’ expense: the deteriorating working conditions on the shop floor including less break time, overloading of jobs and draconian absentee policies.

The issues that the Flint Sit-downers were fighting for are issues that autoworkers today are still struggling to win:

* Good jobs for all
* Equal pay for equal work; bring wages and benefits up, not down
* A shorter work week.

Now, with the crisis of global warming facing us, at the same time as the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, we also must demand that the closed plants be reopened and retooled for green jobs.

The 2011 contracts kept workers’ total compensation down to an annual 1% increase—if that. The claim of new jobs overlooks the 150,000+ auto jobs cut since the Wall Street financial crisis. And some “new” jobs are paying poverty wages.

We maintain that workers need good jobs, not more work to perform in less time, with more management monitoring and control. The 1% -- not workers -- are profiting from the rise in worker productivity.

We want meaningful work—jobs that will help us build a better future. That means prioritizing mass transit and constructing alternatives to fossil fuel. We call for the rapid conversion of closed plants for the manufacture of renewable energy components, electric vehicles, and public transit vehicles. Though politicians promised to create “green” jobs, little has been done. The Detroit Woodward Light Rail, a promising alternative to reliance on the automobile and boon to local development, has been derailed, due to a lack of funds.

We see the 1% making the most outrageous demands. Chrysler/Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne is threatening to pull out of Canada and Italy if workers resist his demands for more concessions. He has attempted to co-opt the demand for equal pay to bring all wages and benefits down.

In addition, here in Michigan Governor-appointed Emergency Managers are dictators: shredding contracts, laying-off workers and contracting out essential public services. Foreclosures in Michigan remain third highest in the nation. Autoworkers stand with public sector workers in demanding decent working conditions. We also need the public services that are deteriorating in this period of austerity.

As tough as times are, it’s possible to make gains. The Flint Sit-Down strikers in 1937 showed us how to win. We as workers will stand together in solidarity. We are the 99%! We demand a future! Come speak to rank and file workers and community supporters about how we feel about the so-called recovery.

Join us January 8 at Cobo!

-xxx-

Video from last year's "Rally for Jobs & the Environment" at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show:

VIDEO: Flint Sit-Down Strike

Flint Sit-Down Strike (Part 1)

Flint Sit-Down Strike (Part 2)

Autoworker Caravan News Release: Statement on the Chrysler Ratification From Two Tradespeople at Chrysler Warren Stamping

Contact: Martha Grevatt, 216-534-6435; Alex Wassell, 734-629-7226 (skilled trades workers at Chrysler Warren Stamping)

Who: Rank and file autoworker advocacy group, Autoworker Caravan (www.autoworkercaravan.org)

What: Statement on the Chrysler ratification despite skilled trades’ rejection, from two tradespeople at Chrysler Warren Stamping

When: For immediate release, October 27, 2011

Statement:

The contract between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers is being imposed on the entire membership by the International Executive Board of the UAW. A majority of skilled trades workers and a substantial minority of production workers voted against this agreement. Skilled trades workers on the shop floor have been denied a voice in this decision, made less than 24 hours after the last vote was cast at Warren Truck. Trades workers had been adamant in their opposition to the brutal restructuring of their work, misnamed skilled trades “rationalization”. The skilled workforce at Chrysler has seen their numbers cut from 12,000 to 5000 since reductions began under the 2003-2007 agreement. If our union would have opposed this program, skilled trades workers would have applauded their efforts.

We now wonder how many skilled workers will be left in the plants at the end of this contract. Over thirty skill sets will be reduced to five; there will be three working groups where it is up to trades workers to give each other on the job training. Under the expanded “autonomous maintenance” program, production workers are forced to take over many of our daily tasks. Outsourcing will continue. Building maintenance will now be done exclusively by outside contractors. Tradespeople whose classifications are being eliminated will have to transfer to a “related trade” where they will be at the bottom of the seniority list for three years. Brick masons, carpenters, painters and other building tradespeople will have to exit skilled trades or find their way back through another apprenticeship.

Eventually there will be too few of us to keep up with the variety of unfamiliar tasks we will be asked to perform, and safety will suffer.

The company and our union leadership are refusing to address our legitimate concerns, with the rationale being that our biggest complaints were just about “economics.” This is not true. As skilled trades workers we are extremely concerned about the integrity of our respective trades, work rules, safety, training, maintaining lines of demarcation, and prohibiting the outsourcing of our work.

While we have our particulat complaints, UAW-represented Skilled Trades Workers at Chrysler do stand in solidarity with the production workers on the shop floor. We share their hopes and aspirations for fair and equal compensation for our labor. We hope that by rejecting this agreement we can further the fight for a more equitable society.

This imposed “ratification” by the UAW leadership is yet another example of the union’s failure to confront the greed of Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. We feel that the massive propaganda effort to win ratification through the fear of arbitration by the administration was wrong and the implied threat to move new work to locals that approved the contract was unconscionable. Without this fear factor, we are sure the contract would have been shot down by the entire membership.

We call on President King and Vice President Holiefield to reopen the contract provisions pertaining to skilled trades. We are betting that when Chrysler releases its third quarter results Friday you will have further proof that the company can well afford to treat its workers fairly.

AUTOWORKERS CARAVAN PRESS RELEASE: Autoworkers Caravan Dismayed With Leadership Threats During Ford Voting Process

Press Release

WHEN: Thursday Oct. 13, 2011

CONTACT: Wendy Thompson, h. 313-892-7974, c. 313-215-7672

Autoworkers Caravan Dismayed With Leadership Threats During Ford Voting Process

We note that the UAW has retreated from its October 12 Facebook post stating that Ford would hire scabs if members reject the proposed four-year UAW-Ford contract. However we continue to be dismayed that UAW officers responsible for negotiating the tentative agreement would, in the midst of voting, state that they would immediately call a strike if a no vote prevailed. With absolutely no preparation for a strike, officials raising the idea are attempting to tip the voting scales by terrorizing the membership.

If a no vote prevails, the mandate would be to send the officials back to the negotiating table. In fact, the October 13 Detroit News quotes President Bob King as saying “If the union doesn’t ratify and we had to go back to the table….”

To further frighten members King goes on to say that subsequent negotiations might be conducted in a worse economic situation. Yet Ford is making huge profits and has a nest egg of $33.5 billion. Just this March it awarded CEO Alan Mulhally and Chair of the Board Bill Ford, Jr. $98 million in stock. That is more money than a 4% wage increase for every Ford wage worker!

If a no vote prevails, it will be because workers do not want to institutionalize two tier wages and benefits at Ford. If a no vote prevails, it will be because workers have not seen a wage increase in six years and with the loss of a cost-of-living allowance (COLA), they see their frozen wages being eaten up by inflation. If a no vote prevails, it will be because speed up is taking its toll on their bodies. If a no vote prevails, it is because each job and each plant must be saved. We oppose the closing of the Walton Hills, Ohio stamping plant and we stand with our sisters and brothers who are holding “Occupy the Gate” to stop Twin Cities Assembly from closing.

FORD "Vote No" FLYER: The “21st Century UAW” - Not the People who brought us the weekend

LEAFLET: "What UAW/Big 3 Are Saying About New Contract Doesn't Add Up to What Rank-n-File Need" by Gary Walkowicz

More at AutoWorkerCaravan.org & SoldiersOfSolidarity.com

LEAFLET: Autoworker Caravan Statement on UAW-Detroit 3 Negotiations on the Occasion of Labor Day, 2011

More at www.AutoworkerCaravan.org