8/4/2019 Ford Workers Should Reject the Sellout
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Ford UAW workers should reject the sell-out deal struck by "the
leaders whose own bestinterests are put ahead of their members"
further accelerating the destruction the middleclass.
After weeks of secretive negotiations, behind the backs of rank
and file workers, Bob King,
Jimmy Settles and their cronies, have reached an agreement with
Ford designed to bribeworkers with cash paymentsreportedly up to
$6000into selling their jobs throughvoluntary redundancies and
enabling the company to reach its quota of 2nd tier poverty.By
doing so, the unions hope to suffocate all resistance by it's
members.
If the unions succeed in pushing through this agreement, it will
be a blow to all middleclass communities.
They say it's in our best interest. In reality, they have not
only accepted the dismantling ofconditions but also the overall
destruction of jobs.
Ford, along with it's corporatist company union, intends to
restructure our entire way of lifeby cutting shifts, overtime and
manning levels to reduce wages by up to 40 percent. As areward for
devising these plans, Ford's top executives received bonuses of
more than $96million this year. In response, the union leadership
has helped carry the axe!
The only purpose of the past weeks of backroom talks and
industrial collusion sessionsbetween the company and union
representatives has been to figure out ways to meet thecompanys
demands without triggering mass opposition from the rank and
file
In every instancethe union bureaucrats have opposed any fight to
defend all jobs andconditions and blocked any unified struggle by
working people.
This is part of an international onslaught. All across Europe
and the United States, workingpeople are confronting job and wage
cuts, as well as measures, in order to bail out thebanks and
corporate elites that are responsible for the deepening global
financial crisis thatbegan in 2008. Cuts of up to 30 percent have
been imposed on living standards in Greece,setting a new
international benchmark, while corporate profits and executive
bonuses havesoared to new heights. Everywhere, workers have been
muzzled by the trade unions.designed to protect them..
The UAWled by Bob Kinghas sought to divert the anger of it's
members in a divisivenationalist direction, blaming not capitalism
or even the company for the sackings, but
Chinese and other foreign workers for producing cheap cars and
other imports. In fact.Ford Motor Company itself employs thousands
of workers in sweatshop conditions inMalaysia, Singapore, Hong
Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Taiwan China and 60other
countries. American workers need to be united with foreign workers
in a commonstruggle. The UAW, however, is hostile to working-class
international unity. They are thenew corporate apparatus that
defend corporate interests and have direct incentives to
slashworkers conditions everywhere in order to generate profits for
the huge superfunds andother investments they control.
8/4/2019 Ford Workers Should Reject the Sellout
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UAW workers need to make a sober assessment of the situation
they face. Bob King hasinsisted that the abuses must be accepted as
a transition to a more productive,flexible and competitive economy.
The union claims that nothing can be done. In plainlanguage, this
means accepting forced pay cuts, low-wage jobs, the dismantling of
workingconditions and the breakup of skilled trades.
New leadership is needed. Rank and file need to make a stand at
Ford the focus for acounter-offensive against the agenda of the
ruling elite at Solidarity House.
The UAW must be harnessed for the interests of it's workers, not
a handful of banks andmajor corporations.
