John Melton, Shop Chairman acting in his capacity as UAW Local 31 Bargaining Chairman, issued the 12-hour strike notice last night after the talks with GM Fairfax Plant management fell apart. The workers have lost faith in their national UAW leadership and are fighting back against the fallout of the deal made last fall. Taking matters into their own hands at plant level, the workers are pressing their demands under the name of 'local issues bargaining'. The representation must cede authority to the rank-an-file, or loose control of the membership.

GM has been trying to out-manoeuver the UAW, so as to avoid a face-to-face showdown over GM's determination to impoverish the AAM workers. Back channel rank-and-file communications indicate that the solidarity between the different GM and AAM workers is spurring the defeatist UAW leadership to reluctantly respond. Should GM / AAM / Delphi workers join in a North American work stoppage without the UAW leadership at the helm, the automaker will act. GM would seek out shop floor leaders to bargain with in an effort to cobble together a settlement, that seems to elude the UAW panel. The AAM strikers, who have been on the picket lines each and every day since February 26, 2008, are inspiring autoworkers across North America to defend themselves against the never ending onslaught of attacks by automakers. It doesn't appear to be that the UAW brass is orchestrating a concerted effort at these auto plants, but rather that the rank-and-file fightback spirit is growing by leaps and bounds. The union leadership needs to go along or be pushed aside.

Has the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) leadership been increasingly losing control of it's rank-and-file autoworker membership over the last while? Last fall, after the UAW leaders gave back 30 years of gains , the CAW leaders seemingly collapsed their resolve and gave up the right to strike, and shop floor democracy at Magna. The Canadian Autoworker rank-and-file has mustered in defiance. The co-ordinated fightback grew exponentially over the winter months. As it became clear that the UAW was unable to secure a deal for the AAM strikers, the CAW rank-and-file began their vigorous agitations and displays of defiance directed at the concessionary CAW establishment. Not only did they lash out against the Magna deal, they also made it clear that a US style two-tier contract offer would lead to a long, and bitter strike. After what seemed like hunkering in their bunker forever, the CAW leadership scampered to the surface, echoing this refrain. Five full months before the September, 2008 contract termination the CAW brass had an announcement. Possibly in an effort to stave off the rank-and-file rebellion, a secret deal was entered into with the Ford of Canada. Questions arose as to whether this deal was to be used to attempt to mollify the pending insurrection.

The CAW leaders claimed to have been meeting with the company without the knowledge of the workers. There was no strike vote taken. There was no autoworker council meeting, a tradition which brings the CAW teams at GM, Ford and Chrysler together. They hadn't considered any proposals from the floor of any bargaining units. These divisive developments culminated in a most dramatic climax on Sunday afternoon, in Hamilton, Ontario were the Oakville workers were set to vote on that secretly negotiated tentative agreement. The leadership was booed and denounced as they rose in their place and tried to present their case for ratification. The Oakville rank-and-file were angry and voiced their defiant opposition to the opaque deal, its secrecy and its concessionary content. In a never before seen display of rank-and-file solidarity and bare-faced defiance, the Oakville workforce rejected the deal by a margin of 2 to 1. Due to composite voting rules, the overall count of all voters on the tentative deal ended with a 2 to 1 margin in favor of the deal. Many of the Oakville plant level representation now deny any direct involvement in the secret deal, preferring to deflect the angst of the rank-and-file further up the CAW - Ford food chain. The summer heat rises, as does the rage. The ability of the Oakville membership to determine their own future is being called into question by their leadership. Th vote NO membership is now being denounced and belittled by their plant level leaders. In retribution for this arrogance and complicity with company management, the shop floor is ripe for wildcatting and milling about. Sticking together, they could quickly pass control of their destiny from the elected CAW officials to rank-and-filer activist cadre.

After settling the tentative deal at Ford, the CAW GM leadership team now meets with GM management to try and secure the same deal for GM workers in Canada. The fightback by the rank-and-file at the GM facilities is growing ever more solid as they have been pounded with the heaviest lay-offs and reductions. There could be strike action at GM Canada this year.
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May 5, 2008
G.M. Workers Strike Malibu Plant in Kansas
By NICK BUNKLEY
DETROIT — General Motors workers who build Chevrolet Malibu, one of G.M.’s most popular and important new vehicles, went on strike Monday at a plant in Kansas after they were unable to reach an agreement on local work rules.

It is the second strike by a United Automobile Workers local against G.M. this spring after a decade without any single-plant work stoppages. Workers at a G.M. plant that builds fast-selling crossover vehicles near Lansing, Mich., have been on strike for nearly three weeks. Together, the plants employ about 4,500 people.

The two walkouts are in addition to a long strike at one of G.M.’s parts suppliers, American Axle and Manufacturing, which forced G.M. to close many of its truck and sport-utility vehicle factories in March and April.

Though U.A.W. officials deny it, some labor experts think that the union is singling out critical G.M. plants for strikes in the hopes that G.M. will prod American Axle to reach a deal with its workers. Gary N. Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., noted that several other G.M. plants that are less important to the automaker’s turnaround efforts threatened to strike weeks ago but have continued negotiations without picketing.

“It’s very rare that you get strikes on issues like this,” Professor Chaison said. “They’re trying all ways possible to put pressure on American Axle having found themselves at a disadvantageous position in that strike. They’re still showing that they’re a party that must be reckoned with, that they still have some influence and leverage in negotiations.”

A message posted on the Web site of U.A.W. Local 31 in Kansas City, Kan., said workers at the G.M. plant in nearby Fairfax walked out because of at least nine unresolved issues, including concerns about management at the plant, job security and seniority rights. Wages and benefits are set by the national agreement that the U.A.W. signed with G.M. last fall.

“General Motors left us with NO alternative after ALL weekend meetings and NO progress to speak of — the choices were none,” the Web site said. “This local union has worked very hard in the last 20 years negotiating these important issues and can NOT step backwards by giving into these management concerns.”

Fairfax is one of two plants where G.M. builds the Malibu, which was overhauled for the 2008 model year. G.M. will be able to continue making the sedan in Orion Township, Mich., but even with both plants running it was having trouble keeping up with demand.

Sales of the Malibu were up 43 percent in April, even though G.M.’s overall daily selling rate was down 23 percent. On average, G.M. says buyers are paying about $4,000 more for the new version of the Malibu than the old one, which was sold in large numbers to rental-car companies and other fleet operators. Reviews of the car have been overwhelmingly positive, and G.M. hopes the car will finally challenge Honda and Toyota at the top of the intensely competitive midsize car segment.

G.M. has only about one month’s supply of the Malibu in inventory, compared with two to three months for most other cars and four or five months for many slow-selling trucks. So a decline in production caused by the strike could quickly result in dealers not being able to find a car with the options that a customer wants.

“G.M. is disappointed that U.A.W. local 31 took strike action at Fairfax assembly,” said a G.M. spokesman, Dan Flores. “We remain focused on reaching an agreement as soon as possible.”

About 3,650 workers at American Axle factories in Michigan and New York went on strike Feb. 26, saying the company’s demands that wages be cut nearly in half were too harsh. The company says it cannot afford to continue paying its workers about $28 an hour while rivals like the Dana Corporation, which also has a U.A.W.-represented work force, pay about $14 for similar work.

Progress has been reported in the negotiations recently, but the sides remain in a tense standoff. American Axle recently warned the striking workers that if the union does not agree to reduce wages and benefits, the company “will be forced to plan for the potential closure of some, or all, of these uncompetitive facilities.”

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

G.M. Workers Strike Malibu Plant in Kansas
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As of Monday, May 5, 2008
UAW Local 31 is on Strike.

THE DECISION HAS BEEN MADE

General Motors left us with NO alternative after ALL weekend meetings and NO progress to speak of – the choices were none.

* Job Selection – Management Concerns

* Inter-Department Transfers

* Management Placement without regards to Seniority

* Shift Preference – Management Concern -Openings to be filled by shift not by Seniority

* Final Process/Augmentation - These jobs to be filled by Management discretion

* Material Presentation/Salvage rework and UAW negotiated work - This work to be done by vendors Onsite and Offsite

* Lack of in-plant Medical Coverage – would jeopardize the health and safety of our members

* General Maintenance / Construction and elimination of crafts

* Engineers/Contractors will maintain/repair equipment inside facility

This limited list is some of the issues that still separate the parties from reaching an agreement.

This local union has worked very hard in the last 20 years negotiating these important issues and can NOT step backwards by giving into these management concerns.

OUR seniority rights and OUR negotiated work and work rules that we have negotiated are very important to us and Your Shop Committee has tried every way to reach some type of understanding with Management to maintain these rights but to no avail.

Your Shop Committee appreciates your support and continued support as we get through these turbulent times.

UAW Local 31 is on Strike

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Oakville workers reject deal
Torstar News Service
05 May 2008 08:20

Employees at Ford’s assembly plant in Oakville have become the first union local to reject a tentative contract at the Big Three in the history of the Canadian Auto Workers.

The union confirmed yesterday that CAW Local 707 voted 1,108 to 863 or 56 per cent against a three-year deal at Ford Motor Co. of Canada after a raucous ratification meeting on Sunday.

Workers at other plants, in Windsor, St. Thomas and Brampton, voted overwhelmingly in favour of the contract, which contains a wage freeze, a temporary suspension of a cost of living allowance and loss of a week of vacation pay every year.

The rejection in Oakville pulled down overall support to 67 per cent.

CAW president Buzz Hargrove said no one spoke positively at the meeting of Oakville workers after earlier distribution of leaflets at the plant that were filled with “mistruths and distortions.”

Local 707 president Gary Beck said workers at the busy plant, which will move to three shifts later this year, didn’t understand the industry’s overall problems.

Oakville workers reject deal"
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Thank you,
John Martyn