Gravedigger

A Just wage would be compensation that allows a comfortable living for a family, the ability to educate the kids and to otherwise see that they enjoy their lives.So what is relative to this?

A Just wage would be compensation that allows a comfortable living for a family, the ability to educate the kids and to otherwise see that they enjoy their lives. I am not interested in free traitor arguments about why its ok to ship our work out of our country. I've heard all that for years and do not agree with any of it. I am not interested in arguing about the economic nonsense box the uaw has us in. I am interested in connecting with good people who care about their work, families, communities and country. Who here is familiar with the Mondragon Corporation?

lol Let's start with the last 20 years.

Many plants have been closed and their production shifted to slave labor. Our plant is closing next year in St. Paul. The 2012 Ranger is being produced overseas. Our Local leaders have made mistakes over the years in competing against other Ford Locals, assisting in the vanishment of the Solidarity we all need to defend our work. I think they should apologize for that and ask for help to keep all our plants open. We should all work together to re-open closed plants and return work to the United States. The first step towards that would be a conversation about how we do that. Briefly, I believe that we must: 1. Agree that nothing works without good work. 2. Determine what a JUST wage is for all. 3. Return to the strike strategies of the original UAW. 4. Win a Solidarity Society.

Any chance here that we could discuss Solidarity action to keep all our plants open? Seems like it's a conversation long overdue.

Ford's not going to abandon the small truck market. They're going to replace the American Ranger with a slave labor Ranger. Cheaper slave labor that is.

Yes. A whole lot of people are hurting. 37 million Americans in poverty because we no longer have a Solidarity Movement that can defend the core of goodness in our country - which comes from the family, not the corporation. The modern UAW you are so keen to support, rejected the UAWs principles when it traitored against Solidarity for dog-eat-dog competitiveness and global baloney. The modern UAW should be ashamed to even claim the UAW name. There are no true UAW Heroes or Heroines who would sup[port what these selfish, point-people for dog-eat-dog, corporate sucks are doing. Our UAW Heroes and Heroines roll in their graves over these traitors. How do you think a Just Economy is going to come out of abandoning The Good Fight for our jobs, families and communities which is the basic work of a real Trade Union? How would there be a recovery for us without jobs? 37 million Americas in poverty! Is it not mind-boggling? And your leaders at Solidarity House drive by the sad evidence, the impoverished result of their dog-eat-dog work every day in Detroit. How can any virtuous, reasonable, common sense man or woman think dog-eat-dog competiveness is better than Solidarity??? But they, the modernist UAW misleaders have the audacity to lecture us on the goodness of their work in reducing wages to $14hr, obliterating the UAW Skilled Trades, eliminating the 8-hour day, slashing UNION work rules that make our work at least tolerable, stealing pensions from young workers and methodically cutting our UAW from more than a million and a half members to what- 400,00 now? This is all done in the name of saving the corporations and maximizing their profits so that somethng will trickle down to that ever-dwindling few of us who remain until the next round of sellouts. It is all just tricklle down for the fewer and fewer survivors. It's why we started referring to the sellout agreements some years ago as "Survivor Contracts". It was because the idea was no longer the UAW philosophy of good jobs for all. It was because the new philosophy is a few good jobs for a few and don't look at all the poverty we are contributing to. That is the modernist UAW program they are trying to sell and you support. Show me where this is linked in any way to the original Solidarity Soul of the late-great UAW? The true UAW was constructed out of the goodness of the family. It is why we still occasionally calle ach other brother and Sister. The true UAW brought real force to The Good Fight and set out to win good jobs for all in a Solidarity Society. They loved workers everywhere! The USW/MCC agreement is a revolution for Solidarity in that it takes us back to the family and comminity truth of real Trade Unionism. It is 180 degrees away from what the destructive path the UAW insists on leading us down. The USW/MCC agreement shows the way to craft, quality and democratic production and a friendly society for our kids. It answers every question and criticims raised in ths forum. It poses a long-term Solidarity solution to all our problems. I suggest that all who are interested in good jobs, good wages, good trades and cooperative, worker-owned production take a careful look at it so we can discuss it here, in our plants and neighborhoods, and across our country. If you read it and examine MCC carefully, I think you will see that it makes all the sense in the world.

Hi Mary! Yes, I had a delightful talk with a great Irish friend. I am looking for Bob David actually, if anyone knows him?

Exactly Tony. Did King say anything about Obama's Auto Committee?

Are you sure you're a Captain? You seem more like a 2nd Lt. I am suggesting that we return to the virtues of the original UAW. I doubt that anyone in their right mind sees the present corporate UAW as anything like the UAW of old. If we had Solidarity Councils, I'm sure the delegates would like to bring Ron and Bob in to answer a few commons sense questions like 1. How do we raise Mexican wages and stop our work from going to Mexico? 2. How do you buy anything on $14hr. 3. What is a Just Wage? 4. Why are we not at least buying parts plants by doing a USW/MCC deal? We can see that many autoworkers have never stopped trying to unite, on their jobs, and sometimes across their plants. Occasionally, across the country like they just did on this NO vote; which was really a YES vote for Solidarity. I imagine that must be very frightening to you and Bob and Ron. In the longer run, we will need a movement that can win big fights - like Polish Solidarity and like the real UAW. All this new, phony UAW does is fight its own members for the corporations. We need a fight that ends in ownership. And since the corps owe us more than they are worth, why would we settle for less?

Captain- It is S O L I D A R I T Y ! Your point as to the single NO vote at the Ford Council pretty much makes my point that we need a safe place for local union delegates to speak their minds and act like Solidarity reps. Unfortunately we lack many delegates with the integrity and courage that Gary has. Most deleagtes will tell you (off the floor) that if you stand up to the stupidity and dog-eat-dog corporate lunacy of people like King and Gettelfinger, they will screw the folks you represent. I was told by a local rep a few days before the vote that if this deal went down, the UAW would cut the wages of people making the top wage, IN HALF. So, he feared doing the right thing, the UNION thing, in fighting the $14hr. sin. Trade Unionism is not a difficult thing to understand. Most of us learn Solidarity in our families and neighborhoods long before we go to work. It was the old UAW who took what our folks taught us and built it into a way of life and fought for that way of life to be extended to the old idea of good jobs for all and THE GOOD FIGHT TO GET THERE. What could possibly be wrong with asking ourselves and our locals to organize a safe place for our reps to get together and discuss a common sense society where everyone has a good job and every kid a happy future? 37 million Americans now in poverty and the UAW waves goodbye to our jobs in the interests of corporatism. . Is that a sin? Can that be fixed? Of course it can but the UAW has proven itself to be a big part of this problem. The USW/MCC agrement is showing us the way. Only a fool would ignore it.

Maybe 50 years ago, the Steelworkers' initiative with Mondragon http://www.usw.org/media_center/releases_advisories?id=0234 might have been undertaken by the UAW. Not now with corporatists like Gettelfinger/King intent on selling the farm piece by piece. What UAW members really need today is conversation on the shop floors about what the USW has started. It is the answer for most of us but most likely will receive no publicity from the UAW's bake salers. Please do your best to pass the word on this enormous breakthrough and turnaround for Solidarity throughout your workplace. If there is no shop floor newsletter in your plant why not start one with the USW/Mondragon story featured? Your could also suggest that the locals send delegates to meet at other plants in a democratic environment to discuss what can be done to bring our locals together to fight for a better future for our kids. We could form these Solidarity Councils on our own by simply raising the idea on the shopfloor and getting the locals behind it. We really need to break out of the box the UAW has us in and talk about winning good jobs for all. I have a newsletter called Common Sense which will be covering the USW/Mondragon and other hopeful rank and file news in the upcoming issue. If you'd like a copy email me at: tlaney1776@gmail.com A shop floor newsletter can be a single page of Solidarity info not generally published by the UAW or the Locals but of great and vital interest to most members. If I can be of any help let me know. Tom Laney Ford Retiree Colfax, Wisconsin 715-962-4365 tlaney1776@gmail.com

http://www.solidarityeconomy.net/ Gettelfinger/King challenged their critics to present a better alternative to their semi-monthly bake sales of jobs, plants, wages, bennies and working conditions. Here it is: http://www.solidarityeconomy.net/ Every Ford worker should be demanding to know why the UAW is not doing the same as the USW!

The UAW will never stop making concessions because they conceded Solidarity long ago. Now it is all dog-eat-dog, the opposite of Solidarity that comes from the UAW bigshots. Let's get back to Solidarity. The answer is building a new Solidarity Movement based in the virtues of family and community and worker ownership. The answer is organizing a Solidarity Movement that can win a fight for our jobs and a Solidarity Society where EVERYONE has decent work. We can do something like Mondragon all over our country: http://www.mcc.es/ing/index.asp We are looking for a few good autoworkers to check out: The Distributist Review: http://distributism.blogspot.com/ and send comments and recommendations. Let's work towards something that works for us! Thanks, Tom Laney

Yes, it is tragic. A terrible history for a once great union which historically only needed to be asked once for help. there is much, much more to this story and the UAW's porkchoppers role which continues to damage workers everywhere. Bob King now talks about losing work to Mexico as "regrettable" according to my friends in KC who had to sit through his concessions BS yet again. Good people died in Mexico because of King and Gettelfinger and their company-suck predecessors. Good people continue to die in poverty because these fakirs continue to steal our dues and use them to deny people a decent living in both our countries. The one thing that is not tragic is your interest in this tragedy. So long as good people care about each other, we can bring back the Trade Unions that can win a fight for more and better jobs everywhere. Thanks for caring!