UAW must fight back with general strike, class struggle

As the Big Three auto companies continue to descend into the ashes—of abandoned factories, laid-off workers, destroyed communities—autoworkers must recognize this as a crisis of the bosses, of the ruling class and their system of capitalism. Capitalism is a system that goes from one economic crisis to the next. Driven by the need for profits, the bosses will do anything to maximize the bottom line.

Workers, the working class, need something else. They are not driven by profit. They want and need decent-paying jobs, job security, health care and pensions they can live on. The crisis in auto cannot be solved until autoworkers and community representatives take control of the giant auto corporations to redirect them to produce for need, not profit.

But even if the workers and the broader public were to become educated to this possibility and begin to accept it as a necessity for survival, how can it be done?

For autoworkers an answer lies in Article 50, Section 8 of the UAW Constitution. This is another one of those provisions that must have been put into the earliest founding documents of the UAW. It still rings with the ardor and vision of the class fighters from an earlier age. And it is still on the books.

Article 50, Section 8 lays out how the UAW can declare a general strike: “In cases of great emergency, when the existence of the International Union is involved, together with the economic and social standing of our membership, the International President and the International Executive Board shall have authority to declare a general strike within the industry by a two-thirds vote of the International Executive Board, whenever in their good judgment it shall be deemed proper for the purpose of preserving and perpetuating the rights and living standards of the general membership of our International Union, provided, under no circumstances shall it call such a strike until approved by a referendum vote of the membership.”

The UAW has never invoked Article 50, Section 8. But conditions facing autoworkers have never been grimmer. Certainly the “rights and living standards of the general membership” are threatened as never before.

What is most interesting, and of great importance, is the provision requiring a referendum vote of the entire UAW membership. This is critical because even if the leadership of the International UAW were interested in calling such a general strike, it doesn’t necessarily follow that all members would understand or support such a move. More to the point, though, is that referendum votes can be held by individual local union memberships, initiated by rank-and-file action at union meetings. This could start a national discussion of a possible general strike and begin to press the top leaders for action.

But even a general strike by the UAW alone is not a cure-all. Such a step must draw in the other unions, community organizations and all poor and oppressed people. Serious discussion of this tactic and, even more important, popularizing a program of demands must patiently be carried out for a period of time.

The program for the autoworkers must include labor-community control over the auto industry. Other layers of the population must be inspired to support a general strike through demands for national health care, 100-percent guarantee of pensions, jobs, housing, education and so forth.

There would be no hurry toward setting a date. A step-by-step, serious plan of education and preparation would have an electrifying effect on tens of millions of people who have been looking for some way to fight back.

Such a procedure would also be what the ruling class fears most: class education of the entire working class in the U.S. The rich and powerful would be infuriated, but also tremendously afraid. Every concrete step taken in furtherance of Article 50, Section 8 and a broader participation would enrage the ruling class and their paid media lapdogs.

There is no indication that the current leaders of the UAW International Executive Board are willing or able to look in this direction. On the contrary, they are already committed to backing the Big Three executives’ campaign for a government bailout/loan package that will include more concessions from the union members.

It will be up to the union membership— awakened to the growing danger to their jobs, wages, benefits and pensions—to begin thinking and looking for a new way out. Class solidarity and class struggle offer that way.

Sole worked for GM Fleetwood from 1971 until the plant closed in 1987. He is currently president of UAW Local 2334 in Detroit.