Ford River Rouge Plant 1999

UAW Local 600 Elections

Local-wide Elections, 6 am - 6 pm, Mar. 24-25, Local 600--VOTE FOR:

Judy Wraight 313-272-0307, JsWraight@aol.com

Ron Lare 313-345-8097, RonLare@aol.com

We want a Local-wide movement, not just a couple of candidates. Thousands of

unsung heroes, not just famous leaders, founded the UAW. The two of us have

some controversial positions. But we’ll run with candidates who support union

democracy, strike preparation and international labor solidarity, and oppose

racism & sexism. Candidates would need to decide who should run for which

Local 600 or Unit office. 2-29-99

[Here there is a large cartoon of workers at the Trumark joint venture

described below, in McDonald's hats, complaining about wages.]

Ford’s “Joint Ventures”: UAW’s McJobs for the 21st Century?

If We Sell Out Our Children, They Won’t Defend Our Pensions

On Lynch Road, in a Detroit “Renaissance Zone,” with city and state tax

breaks, Ford is part of the TruMack motorhome joint venture to: “...assemble a

complete chassis--frame, suspension, motor, transmission and wheels and

tires--from components supplied by Ford and other companies.” (Dec. 1998 Ford

World) Ford also plans other Detroit joint ventures.

Ford Cashes in on Concessions

According to 1996 UAW-Ford Letters of Understanding, joint venture wages will

be at least the “prevailing average wage for the top one-fifth of companies in

the relevant industry segment”. But this might be less than half of UAW-Ford

wages. And Ford can count 3 joint venture GEN jobs as 2 regular jobs,

anywhere. In 1996, Ford St. Paul Assembly past President Tom Laney said:

“Allowing the company to pay geographic and prevailing wage is a violation of

the UAW Constitution, which mandates a system of uniform wages and working

conditions.” (Detroit Metro Times)

Joint Venture in Ohio

Joint ventures are not supposed to compete with UAW-Ford-Agreement workers.

But at lower pay, joint venture products can price other products out of the

market. Consider transmissions: a Ford joint venture with a German company

“...opened the door for [Ford] to make the first use of an unusual provision

in all of the Big Three’s labor contracts since 1996...lower wages in any new

auto parts businesses that they enter through joint ventures. Mr. [Jacques]

Nasser said that all current employees at the company’s transmission factory

in Batavia, Ohio, would remain Ford employees. But any future hires would be

employees of the new joint venture, and Ford would eventually like to have a

separate labor agreement at the factory....” (2-14-98 NY Times) We are told

this joint venture will have a “mirror image” of the UAW-Ford contract, but

for how long? ZF Industries recently defeated a UAW organizing drive in

Alabama.

$10/hr joint venture new-hires will never catch up to UAW-Ford members. How

will this affect unity?

D.F.P. Joint Venture?

Last Sept., DFP Pres. Jimmie Williams wrote to request more Frame Plant work.

Management replied: “There is potential to obtain the next generation Ranger

frame, with the understanding that a joint agreement must be reached with an

outside supplier on design of the frame, as the frame supplier will also have

design responsibility. There may be some sharing of stamping and assembly

manufacturing required to make this joint venture work.” We’re concerned

about what “joint venture” means here. T&D Pres. (then V.P.) John Perniciaro

wrote Solidarity House demanding a fight for Frame jobs, calling this a

strikeable issue. Solidarity House replied with a thinly-veiled scolding for

not making enough concessions, and denying that the issue is strikeable. Ford

and Solidarity House are really saying, “Make more concessions.”

Visteon & Other Schemes

No wonder Ford’s Jacques Nasser said: “We’re very eager to do co-operative

ventures in components” (1-8-99 Wall Street Journal). But Ford has even more

ways to break up the UAW: the article says Nasser “...is pushing for Visteon,

Ford’s auto-parts unit, to build up to $2 billion in new business as the

parent prepares to spin it off as a separate publicly traded company.” Milan

Plastics and Dearborn Glass are Visteon. Is a separate Visteon contract next?

Even final-assembly can be outsourced. Volkswagen-Latin American outside

suppliers bring pre-assembled “modules” into assembly plants and install them.

And the 12-22-98 Windsor Star said: “A triad of [three different] companies

will build the majority of the next Ford Thunderbird--each concentrating on a

particular area.”

Dave Yettaw, a UAW-New Directions (NDM) leader, Flint GM 599 past Pres.,

and top vote-getter for 1998 UAW Convention, wrote: “...the assembly of parts

for the trucks, cars and SUV’s, etc., is something our members do every day,

and have since the beginning. This work is ours!!! Had we won the right to

strike over outsourcing as advocated by NDM since its inception, we would have

saved hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

Mexico and Jobs

The Detroit motorhome joint venture chassis “...had been made by Industries

Metalicas Monterrey, Mexico.” (Ford World) The jobs are being moved to

Detroit for closer sourcing and “opportunities related to participation in the

Renaissance Zone”...i.e., union jobs at union-busting wages. And maybe Ford

feared those Mexican chassis workers would learn something from Han Young

workers in Tijuana, who are fighting to get their own union.

Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer said: “This is a testament to the city of

Detroit because it is a case of jobs moving from Mexico to Detroit...”

(1-6-99 Michigan Chronicle) But this shows how Ford can get U.S. jobs at

Mexican wages. Step One: Move the jobs from the U.S. to Mexico. Step Two:

Move jobs back, to a joint venture in the U.S. at half pay, with tax breaks,

and get praised for “hiring minority youth.”

TruMack is supposedly “minority-led,” but Ford will really control it. And

does paying minority youth less for the same work fight racism?

How can we stop Ford from pitting U.S. and Mexican workers against each other?

When GM-Mexico workers were brought to a Flint GM plant for training, UAW

members insisted the Mexican workers be paid the same as U.S. GM workers (1998

New Directions Conference report). This built unity, protected U.S. wages, and

promoted Mexican wages. The UAW could demand in 1999 bargaining, “The unions

of workers’ choice must be recognized at all Ford facilities, subsidiaries,

suppliers and partners, in all countries.” (...including the U.S. South!) UAW

and Mexican workers could have joint contract demands and strike action.

[Here there is a Gary Huck cartoon showing an animal with two heads,

Republican elephant and Democrat donkey.]

Join the Labor Party The bosses have two

parties, the Republicans and Democrats. Working people

now have a new Labor Party, supported by 9 major unions

and dozens of union locals. The Labor Party campaigns

for defense of the union movement and social gains,

repealing the anti-labor laws, etc. Detroit area Labor

Party meetings are held at UAW and U.N.I.T.E. Local

Union Halls. Come to meetings and judge the Labor Party for

yourself. Last fall, a Labor Party forum at Local 600

featured speakers including past and current UAW Local

600 and UAW 417 officers.

Safety Budget & Rouge Explosion

Here’s a transcript of Ron Lare’s 2-2-99 response to the Rouge Power House

explosion, all of which was aired by TV-2, but not all at once, causing some

controversy: “I think they ought to be looking at preventive maintenance. My

heart goes out to my fellow workers who were injured or killed. But William

Clay Ford is being somehow made into a hero on this, and I think that

preventive maintenance has been drastically cut over the last two, three, four

years. They’re saving billions and billions of dollars--which you guys have

been reporting a lot. Well, how do you think they saved this money? It

wasn’t on paper clips. They’ve cut preventive maintenance and staffing and

jobs to the bone and now the bones are starting to show.”

For Production & Trades, and Black & White Unity Against Concessions:

More Apprentice-ships for Local 600 Members

Responding to the Oct. 1997 Rouge Viability Agreement, 25 workers, production

and trades, from 6 Units & 7 buildings, signed a Rouge-wide Vote No leaflet.

However, the vote showed divisions between production and trades, and, to some

extent, between black and white. By looking at what is divisive, maybe we can

figure out how to unite. We need more apprenticeships for Local 600

production workers.

WHY PRODUCTION SHOULD

SUPPORT TRADES

New, high-tech skilled jobs can be outsourced, OR they can become UAW

apprenticeships, for production workers or their children. So production

workers need skilled trades strong enough to defeat outsourcing and create

apprenticeships.

WHY TRADES SHOULD SUPPORT PRODUCTION

Trades have self interest in eliminating discrimination in apprenticeships,

because as long as trades are overwhelmingly white, there will be divisions

for Ford to exploit against all of us.

APPRENTICESHIPS & UNITY

Production workers can’t be expected to defend trades’ seniority rights, if

trades don’t support production seniority rights.

There is too much emphasis on tests for apprenticeships. A possible

compromise: either pass a test or pass a class, to get on a list from which

apprentices are taken by seniority. Then the proportion of black and white in

trades would come to reflect the proportions in the Local, and we’d all be

more united against concessions. The same applies to unity of women and men.

Martin Luther King was assassinated while supporting a strike over two

black sanitation workers’ deaths in a job accident in Memphis. King did not

“play it safe”--Local 600 should lead on controversial issues. This includes

hiring and defense of Latino and Arab Americans.

The modern lynching of James Byrd Jr. in Texas shows racism and fascism

are burning issues. Local 600 once led against fascists in S.E. Michigan, such

as a Nazi bookstore on Vernor in 1978.

Jesse Jackson made a prison visit to Mumia Abu-Jamal, a black journalist,

who we think was framed on a charge of killing a white policeman. Though

needing publicity, Mumia refused a death row interview to avoid scabbing on

locked-out ABC news workers. There is a demonstration for a new trial in

Philadelphia on April 24. Local 600 could hold a forum on this case.

Ford now claims to oppose sexual orientation discrimination, but we think

that’s because of Ford’s market surveys, not Ford defense of lesbian & gay

rights. The union must take leadership.

A step forward might be full-time, elected Civil Rights Committee

Chairpersons for Units and Locals.

Unions and Socialists

In Local 600 elections, thousands have voted for Judy Wraight and Ron

Lare. Some sympathize with our socialist ideas. But most vote for us because

of what we say about basic union issues. Some are attracted to UAW New

Directions as an alternative to the Administration Caucus. Some are

attracted to the Labor Party as an alternative to the Democrats. But we also

have views that are not held by either of those organizations. So we remind

voters why we are socialists-- to be honest, and to invite discussion.

From the 1930’s into the 1970’s, the UAW proposed ending unemployment by

sharing the work--reduce the number of hours worked, but not reduce the pay.

This was expressed in the slogan “30 for 40”--30 hours work for 40 hours pay.

We believe "30 for 40" points toward socialism: increase workers' free

time and material well-being, rather than work some to death, leave others

unemployed, and force concessions on all working people.

Unions should make the bosses pay for “30 for 40”, but more is needed.

Production could be increased by workers' control, management, and ownership

of large industry. But workers could not play by the bosses’ rules--the

Detroit newspaper strikers could not win by obeying the injunction against

mass picketing. Workers would need to nationalize oil, energy, utilities, and

failing corporations, without compensation to the wealthy owners, and to run

the economy and government democratically ...a workers’ government to replace

the bosses’ government. In effect, everyone would be a more highly-paid

skilled trades worker, with real job security, much more paid time off, and

jobs like that for their children. Even leaders would work for a living.

But the truly wealthy, benefiting from “corporate welfare,” would rather

fight than really work for a living, or give workers the power of full

employment! Wealthy owners would violently oppose democracy in the economy or

in the government. The threat of ruling-class violence makes many workers in

the U.S. doubt the possibility of socialism.

Workers also doubt socialism in reaction to the Soviet Union: years of

lack of workers' democracy, high but insufficient productivity, and now the

disastrous process of capitalist restoration. But the degeneration of the

Soviet Union does not prove socialism is impossible. Rather, the Soviet Union

could not become truly socialist unless workers also took power in advanced

capitalist countries like Germany and the U.S., and unless the Soviet Union

returned to the workers’ democracy of its early years.

The alternative to socialism for the younger generation, for retired

people, and for all workers, is barbaric lives amid ruin caused by capitalist

crises. This barbarism is already seen internationally, but also in the U.S.

Is there hope? Yes. Workers abroad are getting fed up, even in advanced

capitalist countries, let alone Indonesia or India. In France, two

Trotskyist parties are jointly running candidates for the European Parliament.

In Italy, too, real socialists are on the move again. Socialist influence is

growing, in workers’ struggles and in elections, in India, Italy, France,

Germany, Denmark, Britain, Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, Kurdistan, and

other nations.

Powerful people around the world cheered the “End of Communism” in 1989.

Some in the Local 600 bureaucracy joined the cheering, writing that Judy

Wraight is “the Last Living Communist in the Free World”, because we opposed

the Rouge Viability Agreement! Some officers and executives may think they

live in a “Free World,” but workers, facing concessions and unemployed

children, are not “free.”

What do YOU think? Do YOU think capitalism can solve unemployment, racism

and war? If the international coverage on the TV news sometimes looks like

the “Beginning of the End of Capitalism”, what should replace it?

Today more than ever, workers need international cooperation. The bosses

pit one nation’s workers against the other’s, just as they whipsaw UAW Locals

against each other. Judy Wraight and Ron Lare campaign for solidarity with

Mexican Ford workers. “Workers of the World Unite” is a slogan often

ridiculed or denounced, but now it’s necessary even to unions’ survival.

As internationalists, we also made a motion during the 1991 Gulf War: "The

T&D Unit rejects Owen Bieber's position on the war and recommends Local 600

establish an official committee against U.S. intervention in the Middle East."

The motion failed, but we were also among ten Local 600-wide activists signing

a statement including: "This is the rich man's war. The rich who demand

concessions from us and close plants here tell us that our enemy is in Iraq.

Our enemy is here at home. Our enemy is the same business interests who

started this war. Our enemy is the rich people who attack working people right

here. There are wars to fight here at home. We need to rebuild U.S. cities and

address the need for training for real, good-paying jobs...Labor could play

the leading role in stopping this war, through demonstrations and strikes."