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Shotwell & Tucker on the New UAW Contracts...



Last night on Labor Express Radio, I focused on analysis of the new contract between the UAW and GM, the tentative agreement between the UAW and Chrysler, and the contract negotiations between the UAW and Ford. I aired an interview conducted on Oct. 11th with Greg Shotwell and another recorded on Oct. 13th with Jerry Tucker. The audio of those interviews can be found below.

Greg Shotwell is a GM worker, a member of Local 1753 of the UAW, and a leader in the Soldiers of Solidarity (SOS) organization within the UAW. SOS opposes the cooperative relationship between the UAW leadership & the auto industry management that has developed in the past few decades, blaming this cozy relationship for concessionary contract after concessionary contract in which workers wages, working conditions and benefits have continually declined. They argue that a militant fight back strategy against the boss is essential if the industrial working class in this country is not going to be reduced to 19th century like conditions. In this interview, I talk with Shotwell about the 2007 contracts between the UAW, GM, Ford & Chrysler. The version I aired on the Oct. 14th episode of Labor Express Radio was heavily edited. Here is the full version. I start the conversation by asking Shotwell if he was surprised that 66% of the UAW membership at GM voted in favor of the contract (because this was a phone interview, the audio quality is not perfect)…

http://www.archive.org/details/GreggShotwellUawContracts07

Jerry Tucker is a former director of Region 5 of the United Auto Workers union (UAW), former International Executive Board member, and was one of the leaders of the New Directions reform movement in the UAW. He is the co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal. In this interview, I talk with Tucker about the 2007 contract negotiations between the UAW, GM, Chrysler & Ford. Tucker is very critical of the concessionary contracts negotiated by the current UAW leadership. The interview starts with Tucker talking about the Center for Labor Renewal (this is another phone interview, but with slightly better sound quality)...

http://www.archive.org/details/JerryTuckerOnUawContracts07

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