the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Oct 14, 2024
In the 2023 auto contract, Stellantis promised to reopen its closed plant in Belvidere, Illinois, in 2027. The company recently said that it plans to delay that opening until 2028, justifying it by citing agreed-upon contract language about “changed market conditions.”
The UAW leadership challenged the company’s right to break its promise on Belvidere. They filed grievances and are now talking about possible strikes at some Stellantis plants. It remains to be seen whether the union leadership follows through on this strike threat, or if they reach some kind of agreement with the company.
While this was going on, many Stellantis workers were facing an immediate crisis as the company began to lay off several thousand workers at a number of different plants. The remaining workers at Stellantis were faced with the company’s plans to speed them up. So far, the UAW leadership has not challenged those layoffs and speedup.
The UAW has organized several rallies concerning Belvidere, calling on Stellantis to “Keep the Promise.” Some Stellantis workers facing layoffs went to those rallies, hoping to hear the union leaders propose to fight the layoffs. The union leaders asked Stellantis workers to support a strike vote over Belvidere, but nothing was said about fighting the layoffs.
Delaying Belvidere in the future and laying people off today are all part of the same attack on auto workers. Workers have the power to fight both. Just because the UAW leaders are not proposing to fight the layoffs and speedup today, it doesn’t mean the auto workers have to accept that.