Solidarity with Strikers at American Axle and Manufacturing AAM

Bad situation for GM. I see a situation like that of 2004. GM Europe is facing some factories with others.

by the way, Fritz, could I publish an article of the EEF in your party newsletter critizing the politics of your stalinist party? Would be interested to know. Why are people like you trying to blame everytime others for "censorship" if you are one of the last who are willing to stick to free communication?? What's about your political ideology? Do you stick to free speech and free communication?? You are trying to fool everybody, unfortunately. I do not have a problem with "leftist" thinking, "leftist" ideology but the lackmus test for a party like yours which is worshipping the dictatorship in the former soviet union under STalin is their relationship to freedom and democracy. What's about a worker who do not share your view, does not have the "real view" like you?? I am not interested to spend my time discussing things like that with you the whole day. Our focus is General Motors and how to deal with that challenges and all of us do not have all the time in the world. That's it. Sorry<.

No, Wolfgang, there is no censorship in this blog. Exept of my contributions that never appear, since I am one of those dangerous leftist people. I think John Martyn will be able to decide himself what kind of peple he wants to speakt to. Don't try to fool everybody by telling there is no censorship.
Fritz

John, sorry for the mistake. The first sentence was the following: "...should you think that the gmworkersblog does use censorship regarding comments from Bochum,.." ;)

John, should you think that the gmworkersblog does not use censorship regarding comments from Bochum, but I can tell you the following. Take care what kind of blog you contribute to. In GErmany we have a union hostile organization, the AUB. It was founded by the Management of Siemens and its former leader has been involved in the Siemens corruption scandal. In Rüsselsheim and Bochum also exists some members of them, in Rüsselsheim they have two seats in the works Council. That's a very diffeent group as the shop steward committee in Bochum. They use the so-called "Opel Mitarbeiterforum" and their main goal is it to attack any union or works council. This is clearly not a leftist group and they never critized Management. Usually in other countries you know that kind of organization as "yello unions". Then we have the so-called Stalinist group MLPD which has some members amongst the shop stewards in Bochum and in Eisenach. Politically, any development since the dead of STalin in 1953 is for them a kind of revisionism. That's one of the reason why IG Metall too. Beside that small groups the bigger problem is the situation and involvement of the GErman GM workers. Do not think that they contribute significantly to other blogs. Mostly one and the same person does post comments in these blogs under several names. The problem is that the unions and the majority of the workers at least within GM do not write much comments and articles in the internet. They are not used to it (and we should help to change that).Some are not so familiar with the technique and a big challenge is the language. Not many German GM workers can speak English for example. Furthermore, Bochum is a special case. On the one hand the unionists and works council members are deeply divided which does not build really trust from the point of a view of the workers and therefore they are not as strong as they could be in dealing with GM Managemen. Many workers haven "given up" and do not have too much hope. You can read this in a new study which is unfortunately only available in German. This study says a lot about the situation in Bochum since 2004 and also the mindset of many of the workers and unionists since 2000. wMy impression is that on the one hand this plant got broke his neck and the majority is doing what GM wants them to do (Quote: "We cannot do anything")and on the other hand the international solidarity approach has never been really implemented. You could get a lot of solidarity notes but it is even more difficult to get a real participation on a solidarity strategy to fight back. So do not set too much hope on the Bochum VK. The real options are very limited. Regarding the blog we have to understand and to deal with the following contradiction. The amount of writers (articles and comments) could be more but the amount of readers is incredible. No 1 is Belgium (they are very used to it), no. 2 is the US (which is a good development), no 3 is Germany and then it follows UK and Spain and Brazil. So we have still some work to do but nevertheless the gmworkersblog is unique and a success for the workers and unions of GM. We should try to include more the suppliers like American Axle, Delphi, JOhnson Controls, Caterpillar (in Europe) and to encourage unionists and workers to contribute. Thanks for all your efforts and your support. Solidaridad!

Wolfgang,

Yes, unions and workers are adopting new tools for their fight.

On other blogs, Bochum workers express their views freely, they express their views openly, and they express their views on a daily basis.

Curiously, on the gmworkersblog.com, there does not seem to be any participation by Bochum workers or their floor level leadership with regards to the American Axle strike. I have tried to coax the floor level leadership of the Bochum workers over here to speak here on the gmworkersblog.com. There are no postings from them here. So, I will relate to them at the other blogs about the AAM strikers and their efforts to get a status quo deal from American Axle.

As you know, American Axle was spun off from GM during the early 1990's and is regarded by some as GM business unit still. So it is even more curious to me, that other than my postings about the American Axle strikers, there are no other discussions anywhere on the gmworkersblog.com in support of the American Axle strikers. The American Axle strike has idled 30 GM plants and 40,000 workers in North America. The GM stock is at a 52-week low. The parties are stalemated at the negotiation table. But not a sound from the Bochum workers or their floor level leadership !?!

Now, even the mainstream media is carrying many articles each in the online news each day, and different voices appear with something to say about the stupendous affair, for example, here are 3 snippets:


1. Some from the picket lines, who have endured three snowstorms, feel that if they are denied a chance to make money, so should American Axle be denied:

'American Axle workers are dug in for long strike'
By David Bailey - Reurers
Mar 19, 2008

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1960525620080319

'If American Axle closes or if I'm making $14 an hour, I'll lose my house. So I'm here walking.'
'If I have to stand out here until I'm in Bermuda shorts and sandals, I'll do it.'


2. Some from the left wing are asking for consolidation of the fightback:

'Mobilize auto workers behind the American Axle strike'
Statement of the World Socialist Web Site editorial board
20 March 2008

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/axle-m20_prn.shtml

'The attack on auto workers is international. In recent days, BMW has announced the elimination of 8,000 jobs in Germany, and GM Europe said it would cut 5,000 jobs in Belgium, France, Spain and Germany. A genuine fight in defense of jobs is possible only by uniting auto workers on an international scale based on a socialist program.'


3. Some from the centre are taking a peaceful, concilliatory steps to deal with the strike impact:

'Workers share pain'
By Sun Media
March 20, 2008

http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/News/385705.html

'Workers at a St. Thomas automotive parts plant have voted to reduce their work week, rather than see 200 workers go out the door.'

Thank you,
John Martyn

Just one remark, John: The key issue of every strike is at the one hand the objective and on the other hand the ability to win. To enter a strike with no good outlook or as we call it in Europe "a place where you can land" does not help anybody with the exemption of GM. The current situation within the globalized automotive industry is characerized by a flexibility of production which we never knew with such a opportunities for Management. Take again the example of the Bochum strike. 2004 bochum was able to stop after a 4 day strike production nearly all over Europe. Nowadays this opportunity has been gone. It has gone not because of co-management or something else, but because of a smart manufacturing footprint strategy by GM and their "lessons learned" but also by an immense increase of technical changes. The key issue today is how can battles with GM (or other manufactures be won? How can we bring unions and workers together for joint strategies beyond the borders, but I am talking about strategies where the objective is clear as well as the necessary steps to be successful. And to be frank, the idealistic concept of strike in a globalized company is very limited. Unions and workers have to adopt new tools for their fight and by the way tools like the blog is one of such a new tool. It has to be improved and to be extended. When did it happen before that GM workers worldwide could get so much information on GM's global strategy and how it affects the struggle of the unions and workers in different countrie? I am well aware that we have to deal with language problems, but hopefully the more writers and readers we are get the more we will be able to get translations. Since we have more articles in Spanish and Portugues you can see how the amount of readers from the Spanish-Portuguese speaking GM world have started to read the blog. That's a start. Modern unions should learn to use the opportunities of the internet to fight back. It's up to us to make the difference. Solidaridad

Wolfgang,

Yes, I did not intend to any lay blame.
Yes, I apologise if you have read any blame intentions into my post.
Yes, I did not intend to any mislead.
Yes, I apologise if you have read any misleading intentions into my post.

Yes, it is the sole duty and the sole obligation of the IG Metall and Works Councils to seize the moment and to move toward a settlement at their earliest opportunity.

However, in my post I did intend to abstract and distill out a specific essence of the Opel Bochum Site 2 - axle and gearbox workers fightback in 2004'. We all understand that 'there have been a number of similar strikes and situations in Germany (2004 DaimlerChrysler strike, 2004 Karstadt crisis, 2007/2008 Deutsche Bahn strike) where disagreements between the workers and their representative bodies were at the core of the conflict.

I repeat now -> 'disagreements between the workers and their representative bodies were at the core of the conflict' <- is what I am addressing here in these questions to the Bochum Vertrauensleute of October, 2004.

Since the American Axle dispute, and the Opel Bochum Site 2 dispute both involved GM axles, I am confining attention to that similarity. I will not mention these other disputes again.

At the Opel Bochum Site 2 wildcat strike, GM is the instigator and the manipulator, using the plant workers, the VK, the IG Metall and Works Councils as ragdolls on the centre stage of their sick, sorry playhouse of misery and doom. GM sets the stage, finds the hot spots, throws on the fuel, fans the flames. GM, as stage director, then the yells FIRE! (ACTION) and watches with pleasure as the plant workers, the VK, the IG Metall and Works Councils get singed, roasted, toasted and burned in the ensuing panic.

Surely, we can agree that it is this factor, the exploitation of the disagreement by GM, that is at the middle of the Opel Bochum Site 2 dispute.


I am certain that there are many defensive positions for all the labour side players to put forth. There are many facets to point to, and to lay blame on, and people may do say at their pleasure. I do not want to discuss those elements here.

The earlier parts of this thread, namely parts 1 through 4 have been following the credit crisis, and the stranglehold that this and the American Axle strike will put on GM North America. Recall that

1. the 10 largest banks are calling in their loans, not extending debt, so there is no money for GM to borrow

2. Bears Stearns, formerly the fifth largest bank has now collapsed under huge losses, and there is potential for a worldwide credit crisis

3. the 3 week old strike by 3,600 American Axle workers has forced 40,000 GM workers at 30 GM facilities to be redundant.


So, I am again asking the Bochum Vertrauensleute of October, 2004 these questions:

What can you tell the rank and file workers at American Axle today about fighting GM?

How can these AAM strikers prevent the UAW administration co-management from regaining control of the process and busting the strike?

Can you provide any other useful fightback insights for these AAM rank and file?

Thank you,
John Martyn

John, your history of the Opel Bochum strike is a little bit short-sighted. The strike was mainly started by members of the MLPD party which is a stalinist party in Germany. To blame IG Metall and works councel members they had turned down the strike together with GM is wrong and by the way too simple. The Bochum strike shows clearly that workers of a single plant cannot win against GM. During the strike in Bochum it was quite clear that with the backup of the German law and the police it would have lasted one or two days until GM would have taken out the machines and bring them to Poland. Unfortunataly, legally they would have had the law on their side. Now you can say, yeah but the workers could avoid it by fighting back. But this would not have bee a real scenario. Do you believe that the Bochum workers would have get back their machines when they were brought to Poland. Do you think the workers can easily win a fight like this against the law and a multninational like GM which has a lot of other production facilities to take over the work? Do you think that every other plant worldwide would have been stopped production for bochum? Clearly not.Today one thing is clear: a single plant can't win against GM. they diversified their production footprint. a single plant on strike is going to die more or less. We have maybe one or two plants left in Europe which could currently go on strike with a big impact: Saragossa and if the next car will sell Rüsselsheim. If you have a plant with underutilization how should a strike be successful? So things are more complicated than to blame IG Metall or Works Councils as "counterrevolutionary forces" and to tell the workers that only the VKL is the fighting organization in the German plants. That's wrong and mislead the people