The voice of UAWD, from the frontlines of the class struggle, by and for UAW members
It’s time for the labor movement to stop glorifying the grievance procedure and start understanding its role in pacifying the rank and file. Union members need to take grievances out of the office and onto the shop floor, using them as just one tactic in a larger strategy for workers to exert more control on the shop floor.
The recent large-scale layoffs across General Motors plants and beyond are raising questions for workers everywhere. We can accept the boom-and-bust corporate logic of the auto industry, or workers can fight to win real layoff protections and control over how reductions in work are carried out, by collectively deciding how we share remaining work.
As the rural working class is being exploited for profit through predatory tactics that decimate rural communities, some rural workers have built rank-and-file power to mount militant strikes that span rural facilities across the country. A class struggle vision would move beyond simply organizing new shops and narrowly fighting for bread-and-butter issues, expanding demands to fight whipsawing and address brutal workplace conditions by giving workers more control over the shop floor.
UAWD leaders share their experiences organizing collectively 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.
Lear Roscommon workers at Local 1819 recount their shopfloor education campaign and contract negotiations that led to a ratified agreement with substantial wage increases, and points to the need for a bigger unified UAW strategy in the IPS sector.
The success of sectoral bargaining and strikes across UAW locals in legal services in New York City shows what workers stand to gain from sector-wide coordination and rank-and-file militancy.
A shorter work week with no cut in pay: an idea whose time has come. With everyone working fewer hours, there would be more jobs.
It’s us vs. them! To face the threats to the working class and build a better world, UAWD believes a vision of class struggle for the UAW is essential. We must advance from individual examples of militancy, cohering a movement that can combat the entire global system of exploitation.
