S.O.S. BULLETIN
Issue No. 3: 1-29-2010
Say NO to GM!
Kokomo, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, Rochester, and Lockport. In 2009, GM bought back these 5 Delphi plants and put them in a holding pen under GM Components Holding and Nexteer. GM couldn't live without them. Now GM wants to cut wages, split them up, and sell them off like scrap. But there is one little hitch. These workers are still under a master agreement. In other words “We have a contract.”
The Delphi-UAW 2007 agreement is legally binding until July 2011, and Document 91 contains the successor clause. “Any sale of an operation as an ongoing business would require the buyer to assume the 2007 Delphi-UAW Collective Bargaining Agreement.”
GM now demands that workers give up their contract protection. GM demands a wage freeze for production, and a $3 pay cut for skilled trades. GM demands work rule changes and anything else GM claims that is needed to be “competitive.”
And what happens if workers do get “competitive” with low wages and harder work? They will be slapped on the chopping block and sold like pork bellies.
No, the Delphi workers' best interests are to stay “competitive” with the rest of GM, and go up from there.
Don't Get Fooled By Porkchoppers
According to our UAW Constitution, Local unions must approve negotiations BEFORE officers are allowed to negotiate terms. Article 19, Section 3: “No Local Union Officer, International Officer or International Representative shall have the authority to negotiate the terms of a contract or any supplement thereof with any employer without first obtaining the approval of the Local Union.”
Do they think we can't read?
When they bring us concessions without our authorization, then “NO” is our only possible answer.
GM Recognizes the $5.4 Billion Value of Parts Division
Bill Visnic, senior editor of the Auto Observer reported: “In a press release earlier this month announcing its intention to sell the Nexteer business, the company said, ‘GM recognizes the value of the global steering and driveline operations and seeks to realign Nexteer as a wholly independent entity, thus better positioning its business for growth among a wide range of global OEM customers.’"
Visnic concluded that the intent of further concessions was to make the Nexteer plant more attractive to prospective buyers, namely GM’s corporate partners in China.
SOS says: “Better positioning its business for growth among a wide range of global OEM customers” is the same line GM used to spin Delphi into the ditch of American Dreams. If GM wants somebody in the ditch then let it be the overpaid Board of Drunkdrivers. We'd rather pursue happiness on a paved highway like the executive class. But we don't need limos.
Concession Contracts Attract Slumlords
The important point to remember is G.M. can't drop Delphi like they do brands. It's impossible to replace all those Delphi parts at their volume and quality. GM's threat to sell the unit is no different than their goal when they spun off Delphi in 1999 – they'll spend a billion dollars to lower their labor costs a nickel. A fellow brother had it figured out right. When ex-CEO Wagoner took a pay cut, the brother stated that Wagner would get the loss back sooner rather than later – and unlike us, Wagoner wouldn't have to strike to get his pay reinstated. Sure enough they gave Wagoner $23 million to leave quietly.
GM Has Plenty Of (Our) Money!
GM got taxpayer money to the tune of fifty-two BILLION dollars. They leveraged their taxpayer-provided “social safety net” so that now the CEO says they will pay back $5.7 billion by this June. In other words they are perfectly “good where they're at” to quote a man from Ford.
GM is so “good where they're at” that they recently restored merit pay increases for salaried workers.
GM parts workers are good where we are at too, and we'll keep our raises, thank you.
Delphi will open new Kokomo plant – NON UNION –and the UAW does Nothing
From the Kokomo Perspective newspaper: “When Delphi Electronics and Safety unveiled its plan to turn an $89.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy into a new manufacturing facility in Kokomo, a sizable group of company officials and politicians gathered to herald the arrival of jobs to Kokomo. What the celebrants didn’t announce was that the new Delphi plant will be non union. When asked after the event what the arrival of new jobs would mean to Local 292, the union leaders made it clear that they had been left out in the cold.” Which proves what SOS has said all along.
Concessions don't save jobs. Concessions kill unions!
Practice Workplace Control
Nothing happens on its own. FDR stated "You've convinced me. Now go out and make me do it." Obama has confirmed the need to go out and make me do it. Ford workers DID IT by voting down concessions. There are ways to get work place justice but you must make them do it.
Remember Corporations have a responsibility to the share holders not the workers. Workers have to make change happen by strikes, by Work to Rule, by organizing a gang and practicing “protected concerted activities.” Some of these practices make workers uncomfortable at first. Thanks to years of concessions we are rusty at fighting back. But the more you practice the better you get.
It is the worker who creates the wealth on the job and controls production. If you want workplace justice and some dignity then MAKE THEM DO IT!
Don't Feed the Wolf!
When the wolf comes for your lunch, you don't have to unwrap it for him, heat it up, put it in a clean bowl, and spoon feed him with a smile. If you feed the wolf (concessions) he will be back for more tomorrow and every day thereafter. Don't feed the wolf!
from KANSAS CITY, UAW 249, FORD SUV ASSEMBLY LINE
Dennis Gallie:
"It has been really rough in the plant. It’s the worst speedup I’ve ever been through. It’s enforced with discipline and workers are resisting it. You can’t just make an idle threat. We’ve got to get serious right now."
Please send your comments and your on-the-job, on-the-scene reports to: soldiersofsolidarity@yahoo.com
