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
Aug 31, 2009
The UAW’s National Ford Council of local presidents and bargaining chairs recently met in Detroit. Some local officers spoke to say that they could not agree to any more concessions, even if it meant breaking the “pattern” at GM and Chrysler. Most of them said they wouldn’t be re-elected if they were forced to try to push through more take-aways. The one thing that none of them did was to make their opposition public.
But there are others who have been publicly denouncing the push for concessions, step by step. One of those is a bargaining committeeman at Ford’s Dearborn Michigan Truck Plant, Gary Walkowicz.
He issued the following statement after the meeting, which was circulated in several Ford plants, and posted on the website for Soldiers of Solidarity (www.soldiersofsolidarity.com). He can be contacted at GWALK@peoplepc.com.
Alan Mulally and other Ford executives have been saying they want more concessions from Ford workers. On August 5th, at a meeting of the UAW Ford National Council, many local union leaders told President Ron Gettelfinger and Vice President Bob King–if they come back for more concessions, it is not going to pass; the membership is going to vote it down.
I agree 100%. I think people are still angry about the last concessions, rightfully so. There was a strong “No” vote against concessions last time and I think Ford workers are ready to vote down any more concessions.
They realize it, too. I believe that’s why they have backed off, for a minute. At the end of the Council meeting, Bob King said that he will continue to have discussions with Ford about further concessions. I believe they will be back for more, they just want to figure out what kind of concessions they could get to pass.
The idea that Ford is even talking about more concessions is beyond outrageous. Ford is bragging about how they are doing better than the other auto companies. Ford reported a 2.3 billion dollar profit last quarter, but they want to take even more away from us???!!!
It just goes to show you that once you start giving concessions, the companies will never stop coming back for more and more and more and more. There is no end to their greed.
That’s why I believe that if they come back for ANY kind of concession, we have to say “NO”.
No matter if the concessions seem small, or not affecting us directly, we have to say “NO MORE”.
If we give up anything, it leaves the door open for them to keep coming back.
We can do what it takes to put an end to concessions.