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...

36% of GM workers voted “No” 45% of Chrysler workers voted “No” Ford workers can vote it down! The “No” vote at Chrysler was the biggest ever “No” vote against any contract that was ratified at the Big 3. And since then, many Chrysler workers who voted “Yes” have been quoted as saying that they would have voted “No” if they knew about the layoffs that were kept secret until after the contract was ratified. They want to sell us a contract based on false promises of “job security”. They want us to forget that this contract has concessions that will lead to a devastating drop in the standard of living for current autoworkers, future autoworkers, retirees, and workers across the country... TO READ MORE CLICK HERE... http://www.xpdnc.com/files/relatednewsandreports07/zpfile000zpfile001.pdf Ford 2007 Contract Info... http://www.xpdnc.com/files/relatednewsandreports07/SOS-FordContractInfo.htm Chrysler 2007 Contract Info... http://www.xpdnc.com/files/relatednewsandreports07/SOS-ChryslerContrac...

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 ce...

As goes GM, so goes the U.S. auto industry – On the heels of a 66% in favor contract ratification vote of UAW members at GM, it looks like the UAW is pushing another concessionary contract at Chrysler, with Ford negotiations next on the agenda…. Chrysler Workers Wary of New Contract By DEE-ANN DURBIN and TOM KRISHER – DETROIT (AP) — As they assembled cars Thursday, workers at Chrysler's Sterling Heights assembly plant were talking about their new labor contract, wondering if Wednesday's six-hour strike was enough to get a good deal from the company. Even as they waited to hear the details, industry analysts were predicting crosstown rival Ford will try to get more concessions than Chrysler. Some workers were skeptical about job security promises, one worker said. "A lot of people are sort of surprised that we only stayed out that long," said Brett Ward, a forklift operator at the Sterling Heights plant and a member of a group that's often critical of the union. ...

Perhaps I am spending too much time on this story, but it is likely that the outcome of this contract fight will have an impact on the working class movement, far beyond the 73,000 workers at GM or the 640,000 members of the UAW. Just as the UAW plant occupations of the 30's were a key element of the working class fight back that gained so much for the class in those years - so too the concessions of the past couple decades have played a significant role in the declining power and living standards of the industrial working class in the United States. And perhaps as a member of UAW Local 1981 (the National Writers Union), I feel a special obligation to covering this story. In any case, here is an excellent summary of the tentative contract from Labor Notes. It is actually worse than what I said in my R.I.P UAW entry. Only 3,000 temporary workers will be made full time employees (I know I read 6-7,000 somewhere earlier, but I can't remember where at this point). And rather than s...

Here is a really good article from journalist David Moberg about GM, the UAW, and the health care crisis in the United States. I think his comments on the VEBA, prove once again, that it is a big mistake. But of course the bigger mistake is that we still don't have a mass movement mobilized behind single payer national health care. It is the number one domestic issue in this election cycle, but all the "top tier" democratic candidates are offering mickey mouse proposals that seek to save the asses of the HMOs rather than establish real universal coverage, where the profit motive is removed. Even the labor movement is partly to blame for this, as over the years they have avioded supporting specific single payer legislation. That is changing. The NNOC (National Nurses Organizing Committee) has launched a serious campaign behind HR 676, the Conyers Bill, in conjunction with Michael Moore's film Sicko... http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_labor_lessons_gm_nev...

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...