This is an edited version of a talk given at the PSL Chicago branch meeting on May 16.
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But even in a crisis, the capitalists continue their pursuit of profits; to remain capitalists they have to preserve and if possible expand their capital. So how do they do it? By an all-out attack on the very ones who created their fortunes in the first place: the workers.
Last year, over 2 million Americans were thrown out of work. The assault on workers’ unions has led to cuts in pay and benefits. And trillions in tax dollars have flowed into the pockets of the plunderers while public schools crumble, people lose their homes by the millions and cops continue to shoot down kids in the street.
General Motors and Chrysler, two of the biggest automakers in the United States, are currently doing everything they can to put a stranglehold on the rank-and-file of the United Auto Workers. Both companies have experienced record drops in stock value and are using that as a pretext to force the union to accept “restructuring” deals.
GM, working with the government, has imposed a June 1 deadline for the UAW to surrender to the company’s demands. GM and the Obama administration say that if the union does not agree to massive plant closings, layoffs and devastating cuts in wages and benefits, GM will be forced into filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, in which the situation will supposedly be much worse for everyone. GM will also cut its Pontiac line and plans on shuttering 13 plants for as much as three months over the summer season. As a result, tens of thousands of union autoworkers will be left hung out to dry.
All of this pressure put on the union by GM to force concessions out of the workers comes despite the fact that GM has received almost $13.5 billion in federal bailout money. And while GM and the government demand that workers tighten their belts, top GM executives sell off hundreds of thousands of stock shares accumulated as part of their “compensation” and spend millions to lobby against the Employee Free Choice Act. Clearly, the bailout of the auto industry means only the bailout of its top executives and shareholders—the workers who make the autos are being left to sink.
Workers stabbed in the back with broken promises
On April 29, the UAW signed a concessionary agreement with Chrysler that cut health care benefits, made stricter attendance rules, merged job classifications and, worst of all, stripped the union of its right to strike against Chrysler until 2015. All this in exchange for the promise of keeping U.S. Chrysler plants open.
However, less than 24 hours later, with the Treasury Department’s approval, Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection in a deal that would merge Chrysler with Italian automaker Fiat. In the process, Chrysler was able to slip in plans to close eight North American plants. This swift and blatant breach of contract has sparked the anger of UAW members who feel nothing but betrayal. All of Chrysler’s 23 North American plants will be closed down for the duration of the bankruptcy process.
These cutbacks are not only limited to plant workers. Both GM and Chrysler have announced this week that they will be closing down a combined 3,000 dealerships in the United States. Forty-four of the dealerships targeted for closure are here in Illinois, with almost half of them in the Chicago area. The loss of jobs from these dealership closures will not be just white collar, car-sales positions. Mechanics, car parts delivery drivers, janitors and others stand to be out of work as well. The estimated job losses expected from these closures will number 200,000.
The right wing has been up in arms about how the automakers’ restructuring plans include part ownership of these companies by a UAW-managed fund. Under GM’s plan, the union will receive 39 percent stock ownership, and in the agreement with Chrysler, 55 percent. The Obama administration made sure these provisions were included to give the appearance that the workers’ interests were accounted for in these negotiations.
The stock shares will be held by the UAW’s Voluntary Employee Benefits Association, a company-funded “pension trust” that is intended to pay for the health care costs of the 65,000 UAW retirees. Chrysler has decided to give VEBA the 55 percent stock share mainly to get out of paying the nearly $11 billion that the company promised them.
But there are two glaring problems; First, Chrysler is essentially bankrupt and its stock shares are hardly worth the paper they are printed on. Second, the union will have no power over what the capitalists decide to do.
The Treasury Department’s proposal would include the creation of a new nine-member board of directors. Three of the members will be from Fiat, one will be from the Canadian government, four will be appointed by the Treasury Department, and one—only one—member will be from the UAW. And the UAW member will have no voting rights!
The government, working in the direct interests of these giant corporations, has forced the workers to endure layoffs, pay cuts, slashing of benefits and cuts in social services. Not only that, it has also forced workers to take on the financial risks of having a majority share in the car company without getting any real authority.
Fighting back
But Chrysler and GM workers have not been sitting quietly while they watch their union get worked over. On May 11, the UAW Local 122 union hall in Twinsburg, Ohio, was packed with hundreds of angry workers who were looking toward the union to demand that Chrysler hold up its end of the deal. Twinsburg is home to one of the Chrysler plants slated for closure after management promised that it would stay open.
Local 122 workers complained that the plant closing was in violation of their contract and that Chrysler was “not above the law.” One worker received cheers—stating that CEOs need to be held accountable “for the lies they’ve been telling.”
“We were outraged by Chrysler’s announcement [that it was closing our plant] not even 24 hours after ratification of a concessionary agreement intended to keep our plants open,” another worker added. Members of UAW Local 72 have planned a May 18 rally in Kenosha, Wis., and are expecting a large number of community members to show up in support. A plant closure in Kenosha would force 800 people out of work.
The UAW’s role in the workers’ struggle is nothing short of historic. The recognition of the UAW was won by the 1937 Flint, Mich., sit-down strike, when workers occupied a GM plant for 44 days to win union negotiation rights with the company.
On Dec. 30, 1937, with word floating around that the company was planning on shutting down the plant, the workers proceeded to take control of the factory. After battling it out with the police and the Michigan National Guard, the workers finally won their right to a union.
At the time, GM controlled nearly half of the U.S. auto market and nearly 40 percent of the world market. Workers were underpaid and at constant risk of being laid off. Today, as the UAW and its workers are under fire again, it is important to remember the power that the workers hold when they come together to fight for their common interests.
Wall Street and their puppets in government, through the process of saving or restructuring or possibly winding down GM and Chrysler, share a common goal: the complete domination of capitalist interests and the retaining of their ruling position in the midst of the crisis they themselves have created.
Capitalism is the real culprit
The struggle of workers in the auto industry reveals a larger, fundamental truth: capitalists and workers have opposite and irreconcilable class interests. Corporations cannot survive without exploiting the working class to the fullest of their abilities. The workers cannot survive unless they can get a living wage, health care, a roof over their head, food on their table and other necessities. In a system based on private property, the capitalists—the owners of the means of production—will readily sacrifice the needs of workers for the maximization of their profits.
We know that there is an alternative to the exploitation and oppression. The working class must build its own movement and organizations independent of forces tied to the ruling class.
The aim of a revolutionary party, the kind that members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation seek to build, is to do away with capitalism altogether. We must replace capitalist rule with a workers’ state and an economy where production is not based on the private accumulation of wealth for a tiny minority, but instead is based on meeting the needs of every single member of society.
We heartily extend our full support to the UAW in their battle with GM and Chrysler and continue to fight for the advancement of working-class interests. Let’s go toe-to-toe and push back the big money interests. Let’s fight for the full liberation of the workers from under the boot of capitalism!
