(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Ontario Bureau

At PV press time, Ford workers in the US were voting on a tentative agreement between the UAW and Ford, the only one of the Detroit Three not to go into bankruptcy last spring.

     Ford was able to secure sufficient credit to avoid bankruptcy. But the company is demanding the same deep concessions the union gave to Chrysler and General Motors, arguing that without them, it will be at a cost disadvantage.

     In the US, the UAW leadership bought the argument, and UAW members are being asked to accept two-tier wages. That would pit older and younger workers against one another as they do the same work on the same lines in the same plants, for vastly different pay. They are also being asked to accept a six year no-strike deal, which means the company will be able to dictate the terms of the next collective agreement three years down the line.

     Ford workers in the US have reacted angrily about these concessions and others recommended by the union leadership. Some say they will vote down the agreement, asking what they need a union for if this is the best they can get.

     In Canada, CAW leader Ken Lewenza has said the union is prepared to negotiate concessions in exchange for guarantees that the company's production "footprint" here will not be further reduced. This would secure future jobs in Canadian plants, as Lewenza sees it.

     To date Ford has not changed its plans to close the St. Thomas plant in 2011. The plant produces vehicles sold for fleet use to police and taxi companies. Ford is also publicly mulling about closing its operations in Oakville.

     But some in the union point to GM's promises to keep open its Oshawa plant (the most productive in North America) in exchange for concessions. Just three weeks later, GM announced it would close the plant, sparking huge protests and a plant occupation that lasted until GM signed a severance agreement that provided payouts to all its unionized and non-unionized employees.

     In fact the CAW has been extremely busy over the past two years negotiating severance packages for its own members, and others in non-union plants, but has been unsuccessful so far in stopping a closure, though it has negotiated delays.

     What's the price of a job? In a unionized auto plant, it can be $100,000 plus a car. But when it's gone, it's gone for good, as happened in Oshawa and countless other Ontario cities and plants.

     People like retired CAW staffer Herman Rosenfeld are calling on Ford workers in Canada to reject concessions and set a new pattern for bargaining in auto, one that can reverse the concessions imposed by GM and Chrysler Canada in the 2012 negotiations.

     It's a good call, but to be successful workers will need the full support of the labour movement, especially if Ford workers in the US ratify the agreement this week.

     The CAW needs to get back into the Ontario Federation of Labour and participate in building a fightback plan for the whole labour movement, situating its own fight with Ford, GM and Chrysler within that big picture. And the OFL needs to lay down the welcome mat to help the CAW come back in. The OFL and its affiliates need the CAW just as much as the CAW needs the broad labour movement. The struggle against corporate greed and the economic and social impact of the global economic crisis requires a united struggle, and a political struggle. No concessions! An injury to one is an injury to all! Unity, Solidarity and Struggle! These slogans say it best.  

     On the political front, without the Auto Pact, the only way to secure jobs and plants is to start building a publicly owned and democratically controlled Canadian auto industry, producing a Canadian car that's small, affordable, fuel-efficient, and environmentally sustainable, and developing a public transportation industry that builds rolling stock for mass rapid transit and inter-urban rail service across Canada, and for export.

     Nationalization of the Canadian operations of the Detroit Three last spring, in exchange for assuming legacy costs of workers' pensions and benefits in Canada, would have set the stage for the development of a Canadian car, and retooling plants to build public transit and inter-city rail rolling stock.

     That's the only way to guarantee auto and manufacturing jobs for Canadian workers and an automobile and transportation industry for Canada in the long haul. These are the demands over which the union and the Detroit Three will surely part ways, but that may open new channels for unity and solidarity with Canadian workers and their unions, as well as US workers and their unions. And that can't come too soon.

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Ontario Bureau

At PV press time, Ford workers in the US were voting on a tentative agreement between the UAW and Ford, the only one of the Detroit Three not to go into bankruptcy last spring.

     Ford was able to secure sufficient credit to avoid bankruptcy. But the company is demanding the same deep concessions the union gave to Chrysler and General Motors, arguing that without them, it will be at a cost disadvantage.

     In the US, the UAW leadership bought the argument, and UAW members are being asked to accept two-tier wages. That would pit older and younger workers against one another as they do the same work on the same lines in the same plants, for vastly different pay. They are also being asked to accept a six year no-strike deal, which means the company will be able to dictate the terms of the next collective agreement three years down the line.

     Ford workers in the US have reacted angrily about these concessions and others recommended by the union leadership. Some say they will vote down the agreement, asking what they need a union for if this is the best they can get.

     In Canada, CAW leader Ken Lewenza has said the union is prepared to negotiate concessions in exchange for guarantees that the company's production "footprint" here will not be further reduced. This would secure future jobs in Canadian plants, as Lewenza sees it.

     To date Ford has not changed its plans to close the St. Thomas plant in 2011. The plant produces vehicles sold for fleet use to police and taxi companies. Ford is also publicly mulling about closing its operations in Oakville.

     But some in the union point to GM's promises to keep open its Oshawa plant (the most productive in North America) in exchange for concessions. Just three weeks later, GM announced it would close the plant, sparking huge protests and a plant occupation that lasted until GM signed a severance agreement that provided payouts to all its unionized and non-unionized employees.

     In fact the CAW has been extremely busy over the past two years negotiating severance packages for its own members, and others in non-union plants, but has been unsuccessful so far in stopping a closure, though it has negotiated delays.

     What's the price of a job? In a unionized auto plant, it can be $100,000 plus a car. But when it's gone, it's gone for good, as happened in Oshawa and countless other Ontario cities and plants.

     People like retired CAW staffer Herman Rosenfeld are calling on Ford workers in Canada to reject concessions and set a new pattern for bargaining in auto, one that can reverse the concessions imposed by GM and Chrysler Canada in the 2012 negotiations.

     It's a good call, but to be successful workers will need the full support of the labour movement, especially if Ford workers in the US ratify the agreement this week.

     The CAW needs to get back into the Ontario Federation of Labour and participate in building a fightback plan for the whole labour movement, situating its own fight with Ford, GM and Chrysler within that big picture. And the OFL needs to lay down the welcome mat to help the CAW come back in. The OFL and its affiliates need the CAW just as much as the CAW needs the broad labour movement. The struggle against corporate greed and the economic and social impact of the global economic crisis requires a united struggle, and a political struggle. No concessions! An injury to one is an injury to all! Unity, Solidarity and Struggle! These slogans say it best.  

     On the political front, without the Auto Pact, the only way to secure jobs and plants is to start building a publicly owned and democratically controlled Canadian auto industry, producing a Canadian car that's small, affordable, fuel-efficient, and environmentally sustainable, and developing a public transportation industry that builds rolling stock for mass rapid transit and inter-urban rail service across Canada, and for export.

     Nationalization of the Canadian operations of the Detroit Three last spring, in exchange for assuming legacy costs of workers' pensions and benefits in Canada, would have set the stage for the development of a Canadian car, and retooling plants to build public transit and inter-city rail rolling stock.

     That's the only way to guarantee auto and manufacturing jobs for Canadian workers and an automobile and transportation industry for Canada in the long haul. These are the demands over which the union and the Detroit Three will surely part ways, but that may open new channels for unity and solidarity with Canadian workers and their unions, as well as US workers and their unions. And that can't come too soon.

(The following article is from the November 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Ontario Bureau

At PV press time, Ford workers in the US were voting on a tentative agreement between the UAW and Ford, the only one of the Detroit Three not to go into bankruptcy last spring.

     Ford was able to secure sufficient credit to avoid bankruptcy. But the company is demanding the same deep concessions the union gave to Chrysler and General Motors, arguing that without them, it will be at a cost disadvantage.

     In the US, the UAW leadership bought the argument, and UAW members are being asked to accept two-tier wages. That would pit older and younger workers against one another as they do the same work on the same lines in the same plants, for vastly different pay. They are also being asked to accept a six year no-strike deal, which means the company will be able to dictate the terms of the next collective agreement three years down the line.

     Ford workers in the US have reacted angrily about these concessions and others recommended by the union leadership. Some say they will vote down the agreement, asking what they need a union for if this is the best they can get.

     In Canada, CAW leader Ken Lewenza has said the union is prepared to negotiate concessions in exchange for guarantees that the company's production "footprint" here will not be further reduced. This would secure future jobs in Canadian plants, as Lewenza sees it.

     To date Ford has not changed its plans to close the St. Thomas plant in 2011. The plant produces vehicles sold for fleet use to police and taxi companies. Ford is also publicly mulling about closing its operations in Oakville.

     But some in the union point to GM's promises to keep open its Oshawa plant (the most productive in North America) in exchange for concessions. Just three weeks later, GM announced it would close the plant, sparking huge protests and a plant occupation that lasted until GM signed a severance agreement that provided payouts to all its unionized and non-unionized employees.

     In fact the CAW has been extremely busy over the past two years negotiating severance packages for its own members, and others in non-union plants, but has been unsuccessful so far in stopping a closure, though it has negotiated delays.

     What's the price of a job? In a unionized auto plant, it can be $100,000 plus a car. But when it's gone, it's gone for good, as happened in Oshawa and countless other Ontario cities and plants.

     People like retired CAW staffer Herman Rosenfeld are calling on Ford workers in Canada to reject concessions and set a new pattern for bargaining in auto, one that can reverse the concessions imposed by GM and Chrysler Canada in the 2012 negotiations.

     It's a good call, but to be successful workers will need the full support of the labour movement, especially if Ford workers in the US ratify the agreement this week.

     The CAW needs to get back into the Ontario Federation of Labour and participate in building a fightback plan for the whole labour movement, situating its own fight with Ford, GM and Chrysler within that big picture. And the OFL needs to lay down the welcome mat to help the CAW come back in. The OFL and its affiliates need the CAW just as much as the CAW needs the broad labour movement. The struggle against corporate greed and the economic and social impact of the global economic crisis requires a united struggle, and a political struggle. No concessions! An injury to one is an injury to all! Unity, Solidarity and Struggle! These slogans say it best.  

     On the political front, without the Auto Pact, the only way to secure jobs and plants is to start building a publicly owned and democratically controlled Canadian auto industry, producing a Canadian car that's small, affordable, fuel-efficient, and environmentally sustainable, and developing a public transportation industry that builds rolling stock for mass rapid transit and inter-urban rail service across Canada, and for export.

     Nationalization of the Canadian operations of the Detroit Three last spring, in exchange for assuming legacy costs of workers' pensions and benefits in Canada, would have set the stage for the development of a Canadian car, and retooling plants to build public transit and inter-city rail rolling stock.

     That's the only way to guarantee auto and manufacturing jobs for Canadian workers and an automobile and transportation industry for Canada in the long haul. These are the demands over which the union and the Detroit Three will surely part ways, but that may open new channels for unity and solidarity with Canadian workers and their unions, as well as US workers and their unions. And that can't come too soon.