Hey fellow UAW members, did you hear our fearless leader on the Rachel Maddow show tonight. What the hell!!! He spent most of the interview defending the criminal management of the big three! And than he goes on to describe the current products of the U.S. auto industry as if they represented the green technology of the future! WHAT!!! My god, no wonder our union is in such trouble. Compare Mr. Gettelfinger’s lame defense of the bosses with Michael Moore’s righteous indignation which I discussed in my last post. Come on man! Don’t you see by now that sucking up to management is not going to save the U.S. auto worker. You should be demanding that the Congress pass a bailout that includes those guys complete removal. Hell, you should be asking for the plants to be turned over to the workers, but I am not holding my breath on that one. Come on, get a freaking backbone for once. First you lay-down and let management walk all over the union in the last round on contract negotiations, than y...

OK, I realize those are harsh words, but I can’t help feeling real sadness today as I read reports of what the UAW agreed to in its settlement with GM. As I am sure you have all heard already, the strike was ended today (after just two days), with the announcement by Gettelfinger that a tentative agreement had been reached. The exact details of the agreement won’t be known till at least late this week, when the members vote to ratify (or not) the contract. You can listen to audio of Gettelfinger’s announcement here… http://www.uaw.org/ Now I am not saying we should relish the idea of a long strike. Strikes are always much harder on the individual worker than they are on their corporate bosses. No one wants a long drawn out strike that leads to workers losing their homes, pulling kids out of college, sinking deeper into debt, etc., etc., etc. Let me say right of the bat, even though I have been a labor activist for 15 years, I have never myself had to endure the pain of a strike. But I ...

After years of concessions and job cuts, GM, despite it’s enormous profits (and don’t be fooled – they are enormous) still wants to extract more wealth from the sweat and tears of its workers. IT IS TIME TO SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! No more concessions to multi-billon dollar multi-national corporations. Stop this race to the bottom. Defend the hard won gains of manufacturing workers in the United States and around the world. Its corporate mis-management that is the ultimate source of U.S. automakers woes, so why do the workers always pay the price, while the bosses are offered golden parachutes. Its time the bosses got a lead boot in the ass instead! As a proud member myself of UAW Local 1980 – the National Writers Union, I call on all working people to aid and assist in whatever ways possible our brothers and sisters at GM. Here is audio of UAW president Ron Gettelfinger, explaining the reasons for the strike at a Press conference on Monday (the original audio and a transcript can be foun...