The Spark

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

Move—Or Lose Your Job

Jul 23, 2007

The UAW International cut a deal with GM aimed at getting rid of layoff protection. Skilled trade workers in Flint and Lansing who have been in the Job Bank because GM closed so many plants there formally were given a choice: take a buy-out, shift to another trade or go on the line in Flint or Lansing if there’s an opening–or move to another plant hundreds of miles away. In reality, their only choice, if they want to keep their job, is to uproot their family and to lose their home. That’s because there are no jobs in Flint and Lansing and the UAW leadership agreed to lift restrictions preventing GM from requiring laid-off workers to take jobs more than driving distance away from their home.

What kind of union leadership gives up a major benefit–without a vote of the workers affected and without a fight?! The same kind that will try to push similar concessions in the 2007 contract.