General Motors' car manufacturing operations are being shut down all over the US and Canada in a strike against job insecurity. The strike began on June 5 with a walkout by 3,400 workers in a factory in Flint, Michigan, in America's mid-west. This was a response to the company defaulting on its promise to invest in aging factories in America and demanding concessions from the UAW, while investing billions of dollars setting up factories in developing countries. They were joined by 5800 workers at the Delphi parts factory in the same town.
Flint has a history as a union town. In 1937 Flint workers put down their tools and occupied the GM factories for 44 days. Their action led to the first union recognition agreement in the US car industry and sparked the mass unionisation of industrial workers throughout North America.
Flint has experienced years of job losses.
This outcome and aftermath of this strike will have far reaching implications not just for car workers and the people of Flint, though. GM is losing $75 million each day the strike lasts, and is taking an increasingly tough stance.
It is threatening legal action to have the Flint strike declared illegal and brought to a halt, and to block payment of unemployment benefits to laid off workers. This looks set to be a convoluted process with the first round resulting in a stalemate. Such tactics are part of a political preparation for the longer-range offensive of capital against labour, which is sure to follow this strike. The enthusiastic support for the A PERICAMANCE strikers of 200,000 UAW members employed by GM, and that of local motorists, reflects an understanding that the steady disappearance of "good jobs" in the car industry and elsewhere means that all many of the children of working people can look forward to is poorly paid Mcjobs, or none at all. Until recently, even unionised workers have been forced to Both the U.S. press and the international press reported that Puerto Rico was paralysed on July 7 and 8. On July 11, 108 representatives of unions and organisations from C.A.O.S. met to plan for the future. José Juan Hernández, president of the Independent Union of Telephone Workers, said there will be a meeting of delegates from all 60 unions to discuss the possibility of another general strike, possibly in August.
The 12 regional committees of C.A.O.S. plan a series of local activities to continue supporting the telephone workers.
In eastern Puerto Rico, one pri-. articles: now buy I international Viewpoint offers special at best maintained their own wages and pension rights by selling off the rights of new and future workers. The victory of the United Parcels Service (UPS) strike by Teamsters members last year brought about a shift in worker consciousness, demonstrating that strikes can be won when the workers are mobilised to block any attempt to get scabs through picket lines. Attempts to hire "replacement workers" were defeated by mass resistance. Further, the strike was clearly a fight for "good-paying full-time jobs" rather than casualisation.
The UAW strike against GM is convincing evidence that the promise of a revitalisation of American labour set off by the Teamster victory over GM has not been smashed.
Both strikes suggest that long-suffering American workers are reaching the limit of their patience. Enough is enough, to quote the slogan of the Tameside care workers here in Britain.
Like the Teamsters' triumph last year, a UAW victory would go down in history as a step towards the ultimate victory of all workers everywhere!
(Adapted from articles by Mark Harris and Nat Weinstein in Socialist Action, USA.)
vatised regional hospital and three health clinics closed down over the weekend. when the private company that operates them declared bankruptcy. Privatisation mur has opened the way to the plunder of public assets by private corporations which then close operations. The regional committee of C.A.O.S held a demonstration on July 16 demanding that the hospital return to government The Unión Nacional de Trabajadores de la Salud which organises the workers there will join the strike. The phone workers have become an example for other workers facing the ravages of neoliberal privatisations.
Governor Rosselló has stated categorically that the privatisation of the Telephone Company will go ahead. However, it is negotiating with Spanish multinational telecommunications corporation TISA, who are apparently offering no redundancies and a better price.
Workers speculating whether this represents a way of saving face in the context of a withdrawal of GTE, or whether it is a ruse. In any case, the offer by TISA is likely to delay the sale for another 6 months: