Sitting down and standing up

There is no question that auto workers all over the world are under attack. This is particularly true in the parts industry. The auto companies demand cheaper and cheaper prices for parts and the parts company bosses take it from the workers—all too often with the help of bankruptcy courts.

No wonder, then, that parts workers from Canada to Australia to Spain are beginning to revolt.

As previously reported, last month workers at the Collins and Aikman plant in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, held a two-day sit-down strike, winning back negotiated severance payments that the company had reneged on. Now, halfway around the globe, 49 workers in Geelong, Australia, are occupying a Coghlan-Russell Engineering plant, again over denial of benefits. Represented by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU), the workers supply Ford and the Australian car company, Holden.

AMWU spokesperson Steve Dargavel does not expect immediate resolution of the sit-down, which began April 13. “These are working class people that live from week to week. They get a weekly income. By the end of the next week they are waiting on the next payment to buy basic commodities,” he stated. Like the Collins and Aikman workers, the AMWU is holding the major car manufacturers accountable for the crisis facing parts workers.

Meanwhile Delphi, the spun-off GM parts division, is facing a massive upsurge following its announcement that it would close a plant in Cádiz, Spain. After engaging in a sit-down, the unions representing the 1,600 workers facing job loss held a march of 80,000 workers and their supporters on April 13. Their lead banner read “Por el Empleo, Delphi No Se Cierra, Huelga General 18 Abril 2007” (For Employment, Delphi Isn’t Closing, General Strike April 18). They accused Delphi of “industrial terrorism.”

These heroic strikers are setting a tremendous example for workers desperate to save their jobs, pensions and healthcare.