Indianapolis workers denounce GM-UAW threats

[IndianaGreen]

Indianapolis workers denounce GM-UAW threats

By Andre Damon
18 August 2010

Following an explosive union meeting Sunday in Indianapolis—in which workers shouted down officials from the United Auto Workers union and drove them from the meeting—all the forces of the establishment have united to intimidate the workers at the General Motors stamping plant into taking wage and benefit cuts.

GM announced Tuesday that it plans to stop production at the Indianapolis stamping plant in June 2011, in a move that auto workers condemned as a naked effort to blackmail them into accepting concessions.

“The plan is to have all the dies out by June; they’re moving up the closing date. It’s just another one of the ways they’re trying to scare us,” said Mark, a skilled tradesman with 18 years at the plant.

On Sunday, workers at UAW Local 23 rejected a UAW-proposed contract, which calls for a 50 percent reduction in workers’ wages and benefits as part of the plant’s sale to JD Norman, a former Wall Street speculator.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/aug2010/inds-a18.shtml