Stories of Struggle from the Shop Floor: Highlights from our Launch Event
UAWD leaders share their experiences organizing with their coworkers to grow our class struggle movement. Watch them describe how they are building rank-and-file militancy, collectively fighting boss intimidation, and deepening cross-border solidarity to realize our internationalist vision.
On October 19th, Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) launched Daily Struggle, our new publication written by and for UAW members, to put forward a class struggle vision for our union. Read more about the publication and our reasons for launching it here.
At the Launch Event for Daily Struggle, several speakers from the UAWD Steering Committee and the DS Editorial Board shared their experiences organizing amongst rank-and-file coworkers and gave a practical vision of what it means to fight for class struggle within the UAW. Check out highlights from the Launch Event below and find the full video of the event here!
Jean Duchemin: Developing Strategy to Build Rank-and-file Militancy
“If our union leadership isn’t doing their job, then they’re just like [management]. They wanna get complacent, they wanna do their own thing? Then they become the enemy.”
Jean Duchemin is vice president of UAW Local 1753 and a Trustee on the UAWD Steering Committee. At our Launch Event, Jean laid out how organized workers at his GM plant in Lansing, Michigan, have used their power to keep both management and idle union leadership in check. He advocates for workers using a variety of strategies to protect themselves in the workplace, giving an example of how the militant use of grievances has led to the firing of 27 managers in his plant.
Rob Lett: Fighting the Boss’s Intimidation from the Bottom Up
“[Management is] trying to instill fear into people. This is ways of them trying to make people think that if you step out of line, or if you’re not a company man, so to speak, then there are going to be consequences.”
Rob Lett is a member of the Volunteer Organizing Committee (VOC) for UAW Local 112’s unionization campaign at Mercedes in Vance, Alabama, and he is on the Editorial Board of Daily Struggle. At our Launch Event, he detailed the strategies Mercedes has used to intimidate workers as they begin to rebuild their campaign, and how the VOC has to combat complacency and build a fighting spirit amongst the rank-and-file that must continue past the authorization of their union.
Julian G: Deepening Solidarity to Build an Internationalist Union
“It should be a rank-and-file-led international movement where the rank-and-file can interact with each other and create these links and this empathy, which is needed to actually fight against this common enemy, the capitalist class.”
Julian G is a graduate student-worker from Mexico working at UCLA, a member of UAW Local 4811, and on the the Editorial Board of Daily Struggle. At our Launch Event, he gave an impassioned call for a concrete practice of internationalism within the UAW. He highlights the lower wages and worse working conditions of Mexican autoworkers and explains that for internationalism to have a real material impact in workers’ lives, the UAW must go beyond statements and commit to educating workers on their common struggle and to coordinating our movement across borders.
Sophia Elena Gurulé: Building Sectoral Power to Fight for Palestine and Immigrant Rights
“When workers come together, when we listen to one another, when we actually engage in real democracy with one another, we have the capacity to change not only our own working conditions, but the working conditions for people world-wide.”
Sophia Elena Gurulé is a public defender representing incarcerated people facing deportation and a member of UAW Local 2325. At our Launch Event, Sophia outlined her Local’s commitment to democracy and internationalism, underlining her Local’s role in pushing the UAW to struggle against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and how they used rank-and-file power to fight the pressure they faced from local power-brokers in New York for their stance. She also highlighted the necessity for organizers to build bridges across Locals and sectors to build a movement which can win power for all workers and oppressed people.
