Archive for 2014
At the UAW Constitutional Convention, June, 2014 – A TOOL FOR ELIMINATING TWO-TIER
At the UAW Constitutional Convention, June, 2014 –
A TOOL FOR ELIMINATING TWO-TIER
First
and second tier workers at the Big 3 and beyond have been put in a box which
they can climb out of. UAW Skilled
Trades workers were in that box years ago, and they climbed out of it, sort
of.
The
problem: skilled trades in the auto
plants were always in the minority – even more so in assembly plants, less so in
machining or stamping operations – but always in the minority. Come contract time and a tentative
settlement, the membership then has to vote.
That settlement features agreements that apply to everybody, and then there
are specialized agreements that pertain to just skilled trades – like tool
allowances and the like. Say the skilled
trades vote no because the tool allowance is too small, but the majority of the
facility is satisfied with all the general features of the agreement and votes
yes. Skilled trades under these rules
don’t have a chance.
"SEPARATE RATIFICATION"
Somewhere
along the way (which is another story) the Constitution was amended to change
the way contracts were ratified. The
Constitution was amended to include the right of “separate ratification.” In the example above where the members
approve a contract overall, but trades rejects, the right of separate ratification
kicks in. Management is informed that
the contract ratification is incomplete.
The UAW bargainers get to work, compile a list of the items in the
skilled trades portion of the agreement that were the cause for the skilled
trades “no” vote, and return to the negotiating table to see about correcting
those rejected, specifically skilled trades agreements. Once
corrected, depending on who you talk to, there’s another ratification vote, or
it’s considered “ratified” outright. If
the skilled trades portion of the agreement is ratified, then the whole agreement
is considered ratified. [This is not the
way it went down during the ratification vote on the 2011 UAW-Chrysler National
Agreement, which is a shameful story that will be the subject of a future
blogpost].
UAW CONSTITUTION REFLECT CURRENT REALITY?
The
Constitution actually protects the right of separate ratification not only for
the Skilled Trades minority, but for Office Workers, Engineers and Technicians
as well. See Article 19: http://uaw.org/page/uaw-constitution-contracts-and-negotiations-0 The
theory is the same: specialized agreements involving sub-groups. When the UAW and various companies including
the Detroit 3 negotiated new terms and special agreements for a sub-group of
workers who are considered second tier, they created new candidates for the
right of separate ratification. While
these tiered agreements have been around for a decade or more, the UAW
International Executive Board hasn’t sought to update the Constitution to
incorporate this new reality.
So
it’s going to have to be up to local union leadership and/or rank and file
workers to work to change the way contracts are ratified. It happened for skilled trades, now it must
happen for separate groups that used to make up the one group: “production.” UAW members will have to (1) run for Convention
Delegate, and (2) submit their resolutions to a vote at their local membership meeting
– by mid-April, when the resolutions are due downtown.
HASTENING THE END OF 2-TIER
There
are some who've reacted to the proposal by saying they don’t want to put
anything in the Constitution that would make 2nd tier a permanent
feature of factory life (at least until all the “traditional” workers
retired). Yet, what better way to give 2nd
tier workers the power to hold the negotiators accountable to them, than by
separate ratification? This way the
second (or minority tier) won’t have a “2nd tier” contract imposed
on them, and the tier 1 workers won’t be in the box of approving an agreement they
like while involuntarily imposing an inferior agreement on their 2nd
tier brothers and sisters (or sons and daughters). Inserting it
into the Constitution – a formidable but worthwhile task at the upcoming
convention – will hasten the day when the UAW can rid itself of “two tiers.” Passing a resolution like the one featured
here – which has already been a subject of conversation and debate among
autoworkers in and out of the Autoworker Caravan – may be the best way to
prepare for contract negotiations in 2015.
Frank
Hammer
March
7, 2014
Amendment: Article
19 Section 3 & 4
Strengthen and
Expand the Right of Separate Ratification
· Whereas, the UAW membership
exercises its democratic will by voting by secret ballot on the ratification of
tentative collective bargaining agreements,
· Whereas, Article 19, Section 3 of the UAW
Constitution protects groups for which distinct bargaining agreements are
negotiated which apply only to those specific groups, such as skilled trades or
office workers, by establishing for those groups the Right of Separate
Ratification,
· Whereas, the Right of Separate Ratification has been an important tool
historically to increase the union’s leverage at the bargaining table,
· Whereas, the Right to Separate Ratification was violated and thereby severely
weakened during the 2011 national Chrysler contract ratification when the
International Executive Board (IEB) over-ruled the “no” vote by the Chrysler
skilled trades membership and declared the contract, “ratified” over their
objections,
· Whereas, the UAW in recent years has negotiated to create new groups such as
“entry level” or “2nd tier” workers with distinct bargaining
agreements pertaining only to those groups,
Whereas, the UAW’s efforts to eradicate
two-tier and multi-tier pay and benefits in favor of equal pay for equal work
will be strengthened by instituting the Right of Separate Ratification for
lower tier workers,
Be It Resolved that, Article 19, Section 3 of the UAW
Constitution be strengthened and expanded by amending it as follows:
Upon application to and approval of the International Executive Board, a
ratification procedure shall be adopted wherein apprenticeble skilled trades and
related workers, office workers, production groups identified as “entry
level,” “traditional,” or “tier 1,” tier 2,” etc., and any other similar
production subgroup where applicable, engineers, and technicians would vote
separately on contractual matters common to all and, in the same vote on
separate ballots, vote on those
matters which relate exclusively to their group.
Be It Resolved That, Article 19, Section 4 of the UAW
Constitution be amended to read as follows:
National agreements and supplements thereof shall be ratified by the
Local Unions involved. In the event a majority in a group(s) as
described in Article 19 Section 3 vote to reject tentative contractual
provisions pertaining specifically to their group(s), a special meeting(s) of
the members of the group(s) will be held to identify those specific provisions
and to inform the bargaining representatives of the reason(s) for their
rejection.
Negotiated
changes to those identified provisions will be put to a secret ballot vote by
the group(s) affected. If the members of the group vote to ratify, the
tentative collective bargaining agreement of which those provisions are a part,
if otherwise supported by the membership, shall be considered ratified.
Finally, be it resolved,
That the Local Union transmit this resolution to all UAW Locals and
Retiree Chapters in our Region and Sub-council urging its adoption.
Auto Workers Demand An Economic ‘People’s Recovery’
Auto Workers Demand An Economic ‘People’s Recovery’ Outside Detroit Auto Show
Photos and text by James Fassinger for MintPress News
Detroit–As automakers prepared to trumpet record profits and reveal new car models at the 25th annual North American International Auto Show at the Cobo Center in Detroit, dozens of union members, supporters and concerned citizens turned up to demonstrate for a ‘People’s Recovery’ outside the venue on Jan.12.
Union members and supporters protest outside the North American International Auto Show.
Organized by Autoworker Caravan and joined by other groups such as Moratorium Now, National Action Network and Jobs for Justice, they chose the day before Press Preview Week opens in hopes of capturing the attention of more than 5,000 journalists from around the world who are expected to cover the event.
Members of Moratorium Now turned out in support of public and private workers and to demand the banks forgive Detroit’s loan debt.
“We see this as a golden opportunity to get past the Detroit corporate media censorship and tell our side of the story: that the 1 percent are making out like bandits while autoworkers are living with concessionary contracts and city workers are getting thrown under the bus,” organizers said.
Protesters march outside Cobo Center where the 2014 North American International Auto Show is being held.
Autoworker Caravan was founded in 2008 to give voice to rank and file auto workers after the financial crisis and bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler. Now in its fifth year protesting outside the NAIAS, organizers assert that Detroit, currently in bankruptcy, is at the forefront of a nationwide assault against workers and their unions in both the public and private sector. They demand an end to multi-tier workplaces and the “alternative work schedules” automakers have instituted, as well as the overturning of Michigan’s controversial Right to Work legislation and a moratorium on cuts to retiree pensions and benefits.
Renla Session, UAW local 600 assembly worker walks the picket line outside Cobo Center during the protest. “We are out here for all workers,” she says.
“Massive job losses and home foreclosures have left the city starved for revenues. Instead of creating an emergency jobs program and declaring a moratorium on home foreclosures, Governor Snyder and Wall Street are exploiting Detroit’s crisis for their own gains,” the group writes in an announcement for the action. “Using an Emergency Dictator, they forced Detroit into bankruptcy so they can – without interference – break union contracts, threaten city retirees’ negotiated pensions and benefits, reward the banks for fraudulent loans and sell off city assets to predatory corporations.”
Megan Minton (center) UAW local 12 member, started working at the Toledo, Ohio Chrysler Jeep assembly plant in August 2013. She came out to show her support for her fellow UAW workers and speak out against the two-tier system. Hired in at the lowest tier last August, she just started receiving her healthcare benefits this month.
Marching with her sign ‘Stop Outsourcing,’ Megan Minton, UAW local 12 member, said she came to support her union brothers and sisters. Minton works the line at the Toledo Chrysler Jeep Assembly Plant, about an hour south of Detroit. In August 2013, she was hired in at the lowest tier at the facility but only started receiving her health care benefits this month, with no dental or vision plan yet in place.
Don and Stacey Kemp of Flint, yell and chant during the rally. Don, a UAW local 598 member and autoworker at the Flint Truck and Bus facility has been with GM for 29 years. He and Stacey came out to protest against what they see as the social injustice happening with the implementation of the 2 and 3-tear wage system his company has introduced.
Minton says she doesn’t mind her fellow workers in the upper tier earning more money, because they have been working there longer, but with the new system, she will never be able to reach their hourly pay scale no matter how long she works at the plant.
Melvin Thompson, former president of UAW local 140, and Warren Truck Assembly Plant worker of 19 years, rallies the crowd at the demonstration.
Melvin Thompson, former president of UAW local 140, has worked at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant for 19 years. Also an Autoworker Caravan member, he sees the two-tier system instituted in manufacturing today as a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy used by the automakers to create inequality in the workplace.
With the GM Renaissance Center the background, dozens demonstrate for an economic ‘People’s Recovery’, against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement and against unfair labor practices like the multi-tier wage systems now in place within the manufacturing industry.
“How can we be union brothers if you are right next to me making two-thirds of what I’m making and we’re doing the same job? Then, when new contracts come up, you’ll have a section to vote on and I’ll have a section to vote on, and they’ll try to divide and conquer us by giving one something and taking something away from the others. So, we have to eliminate this two-tier system and get back to true solidarity.
Mark Farris worked for Ford for 30 years. He turned out to voice his opposition to what is happening in society and with workers. He says, “The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.”
“The recovery is clearly happening because we are selling vehicles, not because we are paying people less. You could pay all of us $40 an hour more than we’re making right now and they’d still make a killin’. [But] nobody’s going to do the math and print that in the paper,” Thompson said.
Dozens turned up to demonstrate for a ‘People’s Recovery’ outside Cobo Center in Detroit, ahead of Press Preview Week at the North American International Auto Show.
The organizers believe that the Big Three work in tandem with the fossil fuel industry and ignore climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, maintaining that Detroit could be a leader in public transit and renewable energy components.
Frank Hammer, retired UAW Local 909 President and Autoworker Caravan co-founder says that automakers could help workers and the current economy by converting old, unused production facilities for green manufacturing to produce rail cars for public transportation, as well as products like solar panels and wind turbines.
Frank Hammer, retired UAW Local 909 president and Autoworker Caravan co-founder, says that automakers could help workers and the current economy by converting old, unused production facilities for green manufacturing to produce rail cars for public transportation, as well as products like solar panels and wind turbines. In doing so, automakers would not only provide thousands of manufacturing jobs, but help fight global climate change and cut carbon emissions.
Autoworker Caravan supporters pose and chant after the rally for a German camera crew in town to cover the NAIAS.
JANUARY 12TH: DEMONSTRATE FOR A PEOPLE'S RECOVERY!
Dear Autoworker Caravan supporters,
We are holding our fifth annual demonstration this Sunday, January 12th in front of COBO Center in downtown Detroit, site of the 2014 North American International Auto Show, and we would like YOU to join us!
We choose the day before "media week" because reporters are here from around the world, and don't start reporting on the auto show until Monday, 1/13. Many are looking for a story about the auto industry and Detroit, and in past years have come out to interview us on our picket line. This year that's especially true what with the take-over of Detroit and the city entering into bankruptcy, the sale of the remaining government shares in GM, FIAT taking over 100% ownership of Chrysler, etc.
We see this as a golden opportunity to get past the Detroit corporate media censorship and tell our side of the story: that the 1% are making out like bandits while autoworkers are living with concessionary contracts and city workers are getting thrown under the bus. This is a time to make NOISE! The world is watching to see what autoworkers, and the working class and people of Detroit and all of Michigan are doing in response to the assaults on our livelihoods and democratic rights. This is the time to develop our own agenda that will help bring us together to fight as part of one common cause.
We are gathering from 1-2:30 pm in front of COBO. We will then walk to the nearby Anchor Bar to warm up,socialize, and strategize. The bar is located at 450 W Fort St, Detroit, MI 48226.
The good news is that weather forecasters are predicting a balmy high of 38 degrees.
Attached you'll find a jpg version of the Autoworker Caravan leaflet. We hope you'll read it for all the issues we are hoping to address, get some copies made so that you can share them with family and friends, post them at work or put up on your facebook.
You can find out more on facebook at
Looking forward to coming together and making noise that they cannot ignore!
