Reject UAW sellout at Ford! Mobilize autoworkers to defend jobs and living standards!

[dcsmart]

i am not a member of the The Socialist Equality Party, but as a Socialist, Democratic Socialists of America, i like the article.

Auto workers across the US are voting on proposed changes to 2007 UAW-Ford contract, which attacks the jobs, wages and benefits of 42,000 current workers and 186,000 retirees and dependents. The ratification process is scheduled to be completed by March 9.


Ford workers should reject the sellout agreement negotiated by the United Auto Workers union and fight to mobilize the strength of all autoworkers against the attack on jobs, living standards and working conditions.

The deal signed by the UAW, coming on the heels of the 2007 concessions, will destroy the achievements of decades of struggle.

The agreement will eliminate cost-of-living raises and the lump sum bonuses the union said would offset the wage freeze it accepted in the last contract.

The UAW also agreed to eliminate overtime payments after eight hours, reduce break time and cut two paid holidays. The Jobs Bank will end and supplemental unemployment benefits will be capped at one year, just as the auto companies embark on an unprecedented wave of plant closings and mass layoffs.

By allowing Ford to fund half of its retiree health care obligations with virtually worthless stock, the deal ensures that 186,000 retirees and their dependents will see their health benefits slashed and their premiums and co-pays raised by thousands of dollars.

Autoworkers are not responsible for the crisis in the auto industry. They had no power over the decisions of the corporate executives and Wall Street investors who sacrificed the long-term health of the industry in order to boost share values and amass staggering levels of personal wealth.

The working class is not responsible for the breakdown of the capitalist system, which has created the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s.
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Once again the UAW bureaucracy is claiming that massive concessions are needed to "save jobs." UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says that without the concessions, "Ford cannot survive on a long-term basis." But none of the "job-saving" contracts signed by the UAW has stopped plant closings and mass layoffs. Since 1978 nearly three-quarters of a million autoworkers have lost their jobs. At Ford, the hourly workforce has shrunk from 174,000 to 42,000.
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All the talk about "shared sacrifices" by the auto executives is a fraud. Ford CEO Alan Mulally is to take a cut in his base salary that will leave him with the "modest" figure of $1.4 million—some 28 times the pay of Ford workers. In 2007, Mulally's total compensation package, mostly from bonuses, stock and stock options, came to $21.6 million.
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FULL ARTICLE

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/ford-f26.shtml