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

Whipsaw Hits Canada’s CAW

Sep 3, 2012

The CAW (Canadian Auto Workers) is in contract negotiations with GM, Ford, and Chrysler. The companies are crying that Canada is their highest labor cost in the world.

Remember that in 2011, they claimed that U.S. labor costs were the highest in the world, and they compared the U.S. with “lower cost” Canada. The UAW used that pretext to give away concessions like more two-tier second-class wages, shorter break times, skeleton medical coverage, skeleton pensions.

Now the companies are not satisfied with Canada. They are whipsawing us against each other again. They want all the concessions that U.S. workers gave–plus more. They want to take back 30-and-out retirement.

It would be completely in our interest if the Canadian workers find the way to fight back, to fight to maintain their standard of living.

We need to find all possible ways to join with them if they fight–a common fight against whipsawing, a much stronger fight.