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LABOR WATCH - From the rally and picket line in Ontario, CA.
Today as the UAW strike expanded, to more parts and assembly plants around the country, and more than 38,000 workers are out on strike, the UAW representing 150 workers, at a parts plant in Ontario, CA. held a spirited rally of several hundred.
Focusing on their demands, of a fair contract with substantial wage increases, removing 2 tier wage scales which have been in effect for decades, (dividing the union membership and creating intra-union hostilities) and winning back some of the many concessions that they have made since they were asked to do so in 2008 to “save the auto industry.” As speakers told the crowd---it is time that we got our wages restored.
At a time when the bosses have made super profits, and were bailed out, with millions of U.S. tax dollars, workers have continuously fallen behind, as inflation has eaten up, their salaries.
This reporter, who used to work the assembly line at the Jeep plant in Toledo, OH which is now on strike, was particularly sympathetic to the demands to end 2 tier, which he was under for years never reaching pay equal to more senior workers who had been working in the plant for five years or more.
This, workers told this reporter, is one of the most horrendous aspects of the decades long concessionary contracts negotiated in the past 20 years. That divides the working class and pits newer workers against higher seniority workers. This was one of the key demands by the Teamsters that won an end of two tier without having to go out on strike a month ago thru massive pre-strike nation-wide picketing. They also won a $10 hour wage increase, and 7,800 part-time jobs became fulltime.
Several hundred workers rallied at the parts plant and heard messages of solidarity, from Teamsters, Service Employees International Union, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Machinists, Sierra Club, Electrical Workers Union, Writers Guild of America, IATSE, Painters, Carpenters and others in a show of solidarity, that has become all too common this hot labor summer.
Ricardo Cisneros from the Inland Empire AFL-CIO told the crowd “We’re tired, sick and tired, we want justice for our workers. We want all of our politicians, instead of just talking we need some action; we need some action from our politicians to come out to support us to make sure they do everything they can to force this company to give us everything we gave up during the bankruptcies; all the concessions we made so this company would survive we want it back.”
Lindsay Dougherty, International VP of the Teamsters and also Local 399 who worked in auto plants in Detroit, told the supportive crowd “I'm here to tell you that we are going to support you no matter what. We have 1.3 million teamsters and 5,000 work side by side with you in Detroit and Toledo. But I tell you right now, Teamsters don't cross picket lines. Not only did the UAW take confessions for those big 3 companies, but they raped our cities, destroyed Flint, they send the work elsewhere, they asked for confessions and then they left anyway and they left those cities destitute.”
“My name is Frankie Butler I am a proud WGA Union member. It took us 146 days of picketing and pain and uncertainty, mainly uncertainty about how many days in a row can I wear the same T-shirt without laughing. But we stood together and we got a fair contract. We had solidarity every time they tried to break us down, they only made us stronger and that's what it's going to be like for you because you are f****ing unbreakable what we did we could not have done without the extraordinary support of other Unions.”
Mike Miller, UAW Western states director, region 6 said “We're out here today because these companies made record profits over the last 10 years they made a quarter of a trillion dollars. We need a change and not just for the greedy corporations right here or the greedy movie studios, or greedy logistics corporations or arrogant university administrations or anyone in the billionaire class who's taking money from the workers and keeping it for themselves. So, we're also out here to send a clear and unmistakable message to our elected leaders in Sacramento and Washington.”
A representative of the Sierra club spoke explaining that “labor is not just workers’ rights, but community members too and the fight is not just in the workplace but how we improve the countries that we live in. We are in a climate catastrophe, a biodiversity crisis that are going to have a very real impact on our supply chains and our food systems and water quality. We know the only way we are going to solve these problems is working together and we know that auto workers want to be part of the clean green economy. We want to build zero emission cars to get off fossil fuels but we can only do that if we are treated fairly and with respect and we're brought in as collaborators, partners in that clean energy transformation.”
The past few months has seen a real uptick, in labor strikes and organizing and successful battles to make up for the years of concession contracts, taking advantage of the end of the pandemic and the realization that the bosses all made billions while our real wages have plummeted.
Although the rally was announced in short notice at the LA Federation of Labor meeting the night before, the turnout was impressive.
Last night's LA Federation of Labor meeting, heard about ongoing labor battles, among hotel workers, Cal State professors and tenants’ union organizers. This is not the old labor federation that existed for decades, conservative, compromising and not organizing solidarity—it is infused with new union militants that are inspiring others.
They also passed an important resolution, protesting the US blockade of Cuba, and demanding that Washington end the blockade and remove Cuba from their so-called list of terrorist nations. This is the largest labor federation in the country, of some 300 union locals totaling 800,000 members to now take a stand with other unions and city councils, NYC amongst them, demanding that the Biden administration respect the sovereignty of Cuba.
(Mark Friedman, Associate member, International Association of Machinists. Labor/Health/Environment/Science/Education reporter at Random Lengths News.)
