|
Stand On Solidarity Rally
at UAW Region 3 Saturday
If UAW Local 23 — GM Indianapolis Stamping — is forced to break
the UAW GM master agreement and accept a concession contract
it will immediately set up unfair competition between Local 23 and
other UAW stamping plants at GM, Ford, and Chrysler.
The Indianapolis GM Stamping Plant has 2.1 million acres ready
to be filled with work outsourced from other UAW plants.
But the damage won’t be limited to Metal Fab plants.
The contract at UAW Local 23 will set the standard for all
Big 3 negotiations in 2011.
Stand with us in our demand that the UAW International stop
pressuring UAW Locals to break master agreements and
violate the UAW Constitution by undercutting
contracts at other UAW local unions.
Honor Solidarity
Honor Master Agreements
Honor Our Proud UAW Legacy
Saturday, September 25, at 3 p.m.
UAW Region 3 Headquarters
5850 Fortune Circle West
Indianapolis, Indiana 4624l
For more information call Rondo Jabbar Turner @765-278-9210
Local 23 Solidarity Committee Labor Donated:
Stand On Solidarity Rally at UAW Region 3 Saturday
“History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not
diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards
of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole
nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these
simple truths, but history remembers them.” — Martin Luther King
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, WE ARE AT A POINT IN TIME WHERE WE MUST MAKE A CHOICE TO GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS WARRIORS OR AS SPINELESS VICTIMS. We must make a choice to
raise the standard of solidarity or lower the standards of working people
everywhere. History isn’t kind to those who wait and see. We must act, now.
My grandfather, Tevell Johnson, came up from Mississippi to Indiana looking for a
job with dignity and a future for his family. He went to work at Delco-Remy in
Anderson, In. and joined United Auto Workers Local 663. In 1970 he walked the
picket line with his brothers and sisters for 67 days. The UAW won 30-and-out and
an uncapped cost-of-living. They set the benchmark for all workers and passed on a
legacy to their children and grandchildren.
The new UAW wants to set another benchmark, a shameless, spineless,
benchmark.
In 2007 the UAW abandoned the legacy our ancestors fought for. Our children and
grandchildren will not be able to labor or retire with dignity. Wages for new hires
were cut in half and their hope for retirement was terminated. Now the UAW under
the direction of President Bob King, V.P. Joe Ashton, and Region 3 Director Mo
Davison wants to lower the benchmark another notch at UAW Local 23 in
Indianapolis, In.
The outcome of this dispute at the Indianapolis GM Stamping plant will set the
standard for Big 3 negotiations in 2011. It is in the best interests of all UAW
members to join us in our struggle to defeat the forces of government, union, and
corporation that are pressuring us to break the master agreement and severe our
solidarity with other working people.
Believe me, we are not fighting this battle out of self interest. It would be easy to
roll over and cash out. But bigger things than nickels and dimes are at stake. We are
fighting for the future of the union — the union that built the middle class in
America and gunned the engine of commerce and created a market for industry
that lifted the whole nation.
We are fighting for our children and grandchildren.
GM wants to set us up as a UAW shop that undercuts the wages and benefits for all
other UAW members and sets the standard for 2011 contract negotiations. It’s
surprising that UAW leaders would promote such anti union tactics. The sell out
contract we were offered is union only in name. Every standard and compensation
is nonunion. Beware, brothers and sisters, that is where the UAW under the
direction of Bob King is headed in 2011.
When we refused to bargain a concession contract as is our right under the UAW
Constitution, the International went behind our backs, negotiated a contract riddled
with concessions, and circumvented our Local 23 Election Committee by setting up
a mail in ballot which the International controls in violation of our By-Laws.
Enough is enough. We will not be defeated.
Local 23 will be recognized as a turning point in history.
We, the working people, cannot single-handedly carry the burden of sacrifice for
this nation. We cannot simultaneously support two wars and a ruthless class of
financial predators who sabotaged the world economy with reckless speculation.
Cutting our own wages and destroying the future for our children and
grandchildren is not a fair and reasonable option. It’s double taxation without
representation.
We are not simply workers, we are parents and caretakers and educators. The world
is in our hands. Someone has to take a stand. Someone has to say the cuts stop
here. Workers cannot carry the burden of sacrifice for the leisure class any longer. If
we make less, we spend less, and the whole economy spirals deeper into despair.
What happens at UAW Local 23 will make history. The decision we make here will
be seen as a turning point. I for one do not want to dishonor my grandfather and
turn my back on my children and grandchildren. I don’t want to be destroyed by
history, I want to make history.
Join us in a Solidarity Rally at UAW Region 3 Headquarters
Saturday, September 23 at 3 p.m.
Let’s demonstrate to the UAW leadership and the world that we are determined to
take a Stand On Solidarity. We will not break the master agreement. We will not set
up our Local Union as a scab shop to undercut the wages, benefits, and standards of
our union brothers and sisters and all other working people. Solidarity isn’t an idea,
it’s an ethical standard, the proper standard for our point in history, a history we
can take pride in, a legacy we can be proud to pass on to our children and
grandchildren.
Rondo Jabbar Turner,
& The Local 23 Solidarity Committee: Labor Donated
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
