March 13, 2013
by Dianne Feeley
Autoworker
Caravan held two demonstrations outside of the 2013 North American Auto Show.
The opening of the annual auto show attracts national and international press
as well as media from the Detroit area. We have demonstrated for several years
as the press comes into town in order to tell the story of how workers are
faring under the supposedly revitalized industry. This year we focused on how
working conditions continue to deteriorate as the difference in wages and
benefits between workers creates disunity among workers and extra profits for
the 1%. Stiff absentee policies and the expansions of alternative work
schedules create an ever more repressive work environment.
Given that
Michigan’s lame duck legislature passed, and Governor Rick Snyder signed, a
right-to-work-for-less bill, we demonstrated our opposition and called for
developing a strategy to turn that around. We need an educational campaign
against this right-wing attack empowering us to move from that self-education
and self-organization to street action.
Another
aspect of our action this year was the presence of Jorge Parra, who represents
the injured and fired GM workers in Bogota, Columbia. In speaking to the press,
we pointed out how management attacks on us often are “tried out” in other
countries and then brought here. While autoworkers, whether injured on the job
or not, find that when returning to work the once easier jobs that facilitated
the transition back no longer exist. They have been outsourced. Now if you can’t
do the job you held you are told there is “no work available.” But down the
road from this petty harassment is the reality that already exisits in the GM
Colmores plant, where autoworkers who have been injured on the job are then
fired. Standing in solidarity with the Columbian GM workers, we explained to
the press, is not only a human response, but a realization of what will happen
if corporations are not stopped in their tracks.
On both days
we were joined by community activists, particularly the Detroit chapter of the
National Action Network and Good Jobs Now. It was great to have their energy
and enthusiasm. In fact, several of us had worked with them around the Walmart
Black Friday action!
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| Autoworker Caravan members demonstrate against deteriorating working conditions and Michigan's so called Right To Work Legislation. |
