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Another important battle: American Axle strike
By
Bryan G. Pfeifer
Published May 31, 2008 9:15 AM
During the week of May 18 under massive pressure from the UAW International and
the American Axle Manufacturing bosses, workers at American Axle plants in
Michigan and New York ended their courageous three-month strike, voting to
accept a concessionary contract. Five days later, UAW President Gettelfinger
and AAM signed the contract. Plants are now in the process of resuming
production.
Many workers came out to support the
UAW strikers, center above is Abayomi Azikiwe,
Editor, Pan-African News Wire, below is WW reporter Bryan G.
Pfeifer,
WW photos: Alan Pollock
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The contract is rife with concessions and givebacks, many of which the rank and
file members are only now learning about. As more onerous details emerge, they
hold the potential to spark many battles within the plants and beyond.
Despite all odds, the workers at American Axle led the way by fighting back
against a profitable company, which had the full backing of GM and other Wall
Street vultures, and a media blitz that hammered constantly with the lie that
concessions were necessary to save the company. Many workers rejected the
pressure and fought to the end for a decent contract. The vote totals showed
almost 25 percent of workers at UAW Local 235 rejected the contract, as did
about 10-20 percent of workers at the other locals.
The workers of AAM and allies with their fighting spirit will apply the
numerous critical lessons of the strike to regroup for inevitable class battles
every day on the shop floor.
A most critical lesson of the strike was the leadership displayed by the Black
workers, women and men. The picket lines were strong during the winter-long,
three-month strike. Unity with white workers and members from other locals and
communities and progressive organizations was solid. Food and money poured in
to aid the workers and their families who were trying to make it on a paltry
$200 a week strike pay. Meanwhile the Gettelfinger leadership was sitting on
hundreds of millions of dollars in the strike fund.
Strike weapon needs sharpening
The workers’ action at AAM showed the power of the strike weapon. Over
the duration of the strike, 30 GM plants were idled and the corporation lost at
least $2 billion in idled plant production and lost sales. AAM lost millions
and both companies suffered big-time stock market losses.
To be effective, the strike weapon today needs to incorporate and broaden a
political strategy that raises class consciousness and the understanding that
conditions under capitalism are the result not only of downsizing,
restructuring and offshoring. They are also being driven relentlessly by
competition. There is no economic struggle that doesn’t become political.
Competition is global, based on the scientific technological revolution, which
has revolutionized the means of production.
Under present-day capitalism/imperialism, competition is deeply embedded in the
drive for profits and investment to increase production and lower labor costs.
Expand or die is their motto. This is the very nature of capitalist
competition. And increasingly workers in capitalist countries are being pitted
globally against workers in the developing countries in a race to the
bottom.
The courageous workers at AAM were led to a concessionary contract by a UAW
International leadership that sees only one way to respond: adjusting and
conciliating, instead of fighting back on an internationalist basis together
with unions and their allies worldwide.
Within the AAM strike the auto barons whipsawed the workers both in the U.S.
and elsewhere where the company has operations, which led to the concessionary
contract. Without the knowledge of how to deal with this crisis, the workers
were forced between a rock and a hard place. So the workers, being practical,
voted for the contract but a significant number wanted to keep fighting.
Despite the horrendous, precedent-setting UAW-AAM contract, hope can be found
in this epic struggle in the heroism of the workers and their valiant fight,
which drew strong support from labor-community-student allies internationally
[See previous AAM coverage at www.workers.org].
AAM and other Wall Street vultures are continuing their onslaught within the
auto industry and beyond to gut contracts and smash wages for union and
nonunion workers even as inflation and the cost of living skyrockets.
But as the AAM strike and history show clearly, union leadership that has a
“market-competitive” labor-management ideology will never be able
to fight the barons of industry and their bankers effectively, much less lead
the workers to victory. Time and again this kind of opportunistic business
union, top-down “leadership” has sold out the workers and dampened
or co-opted the class struggle. Lacking is the necessary class-consciousness
and the ability to restructure and democratize the international unions and use
this qualitative advance for the kind of action that this historical period
calls for.
More than at any time in history this is a life and death question. To be
victorious, the change has to come from below, from the multinational workers,
organized and unorganized. True leadership must be thoroughly independent,
politically anti-capitalist, militant, internationalist and ready to struggle.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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