|
Comment on this article |
Email this Article
|
|
News :: Miscellaneous |
|
UAW Continues Assault On Membership At Accuride!! |
Current rating: 0 |
by Mike Griffin (by way of Sascha Meinrath)
Email: meinrath (nospam) urbana.indymedia.org (unverified!) |
20 Jul 2001
|
Developments in the three year lockout of more than 400 members of UAW local
2036 at Accuride Wheel in Henderson KY, have taken another twisted turn.
According to Billy Robinson, who has served as local president throughout the
length of the lockout, the UAW international union has stepped up the pace to
deny the local any hope of democracy or any chance of achieving a fair
contract. On May 12, 2001, local elections were held in Henderson for local
2036, but with a new twist. The UAW decided to control the outcome. |
UAW Continues Assault On Membership At Accuride!!
Developments in the three year lockout of more than 400 members of UAW local
2036 at Accuride Wheel in Henderson KY, have taken another twisted turn.
According to Billy Robinson, who has served as local president throughout the
length of the lockout, the UAW international union has stepped up the pace to
deny the local any hope of democracy or any chance of achieving a fair
contract. On May 12, 2001, local elections were held in Henderson for local
2036, but with a new twist. The UAW decided to control the outcome. Billy
Robinson was ruled ineligible to run for President by the UAW and to make
sure the right candidate was chosen; only one was allowed to run. To make
sure members voted the right way the international union brought in their own
ballots and four international reps to conduct the elections. According to
Billy Robinson, the membership was furious and frequently aired their views
on international staff members. Fortunately for the membership of local
2036, nearly the entire executive board was re-elected, board members who
have stayed in the fight for more than three years.
To recap this chronicle of betrayal and mayhem, Local 2036 was locked out in
early 1998 by Accuride Wheel. The UAW international union did absolutely
nothing to force a settlement; it was a local battle from day one. While the
UAW played the part of corporate partners in the destruction of the parts
divisions in the auto industry, local 2036 members were left to fend for
themselves. After 18 months and many sacrifices and after the local refused
to surrender to Accuride, the mighty UAW International Union cut off all
strike support to local 2036, including badly needed insurance benefits.
Accuride had no problem fighting local 2036; the UAW became the local\'s worst
enemy. The local responded by hand-billing other UAW facilities exposing the
flagrant betrayal by the UAW. Then President Billy Robinson took the show
on the road, speaking openly about the UAW\'s betrayal. Labor activists
around the US took up the Henderson struggle and mobilized a national picket
of Solidarity House, the UAW headquarters in Detroit Michigan in May of 2000.
UAW President Steve Yokich responded by taking local 2036 in what was termed
a \"Friendly Trusteeship\", but the efforts to control the local have been
anything but friendly.
After the embarrassing picket of \"Sold Our Dignity House\", the UAW
reinstated benefits to some of the members, but with strings attached. Ellis
Boal, a Detroit attorney associated with the Association for Union Democracy,
filed an appeal on what was believed to be an illegal trusteeship with the
Public Review Board {PRB}, a group formed to handle internal union disputes
in the UAW. That appeal has drug on for well over a year and it appears the
PRB is stalling, hoping the lockout will come to some kind of resolution
before they are forced to render a decision. That decision is not difficult
considering an admission by the UAW Regional Director that local 2036 had not
engaged in any improprieties. The admission came earlier this year in
Henderson when the Public Review Board met with local 2036 in Henderson KY,
to get firsthand knowledge of the complaint. Testimony from local members
and officers painted a different picture than one given the PRB by UAW
national officers. It is conceivable the PRB understands the politics of
bucking those who pay the bills and much the same as the NLRB and the US
Department of Labor; it is not politically advantageous to side with the rank
and file, even when it is just. As in most of the NLRB actions, unreasonable
delays appear to be a primary strategy of the PRB as opposed to bucking the
dues machine of the business union. Both are equally worthless.
The future for local 2036 depends on a number of factors. If the local
allows the \"Handpicked\" president to overrule the will of the majority of the
local executive board and the membership, the struggle is lost. From the
floor of the union hall, former local President Billy Robinson may step up
the debate, without the shackles of the constitution governing the actions of
local officers. The members, as well, will have to be more active and
forceful in demanding the will of the majority be carried out. The local
executive board, which has thus far proved themselves to be just as militant
and just minded as Billy Robinson, has the power to stop the new local
president and the International from selling the farm.
As in the case of the Caterpillar struggle, when the UAW national leadership
desperately tried to sell out more than 250 members discharged during the
five year long dispute, the rank and file refused to vote to end the dispute
without their \"Heroes\". Those memberships stopped well short of achieving a
just contract, or settle the issue of Caterpillar\'s ravenous efforts to move
production and destroy UAW jobs. Just as importantly, workers in the parts
division in the Cat struggle were drastically reduced and wages and benefits
were allowed to drop to poverty levels. So much so, many are now eligible
for public aid.
It must be kept in mind, Accuride is a parts supplier, and if you follow
UAW logic and the pattern of the automaker, the direction has been to
cannibalize the parts divisions. The spin-offs of Delphi and Visteon, were
the primary vehicle to \"Povertize\" the parts division workers. In spite of
the public strutting of UAW officials, there is no indication the Yokich
administration in the UAW did anything to counter the strategy of the
automakers. In fact, it is highly likely UAW leadership knew exactly how and
why it was being done and did more than their share to make it happen.
Therein lies the key to the fierce battle between the UAW and local 2036. It
would be severely damaging to the UAW to allow local 2036 to maintain the
wages and benefits already surrendered to the rest of the parts industry. As
a supplier of wheels to UAW organized truck manufacturers, Accuride could
have easily been forced to settle, if the UAW had not been as willing to
acquiesce to the automakers.
Is it still possible to gain a victory in this tragic three year struggle;
absolutely. The end result still lies in the hands of the members of the
local and local officers who believe in justice. Accuride is doing its best
by spitting in the face of the UAW by refusing to even allow dues check-off.
The momentum in this fight has now shifted more to the members themselves,
but victory is still possible. Support for local 2036 is still growing and
knowledge of the UAW betrayal is widespread. It is now up to the members and
local officers to accept and use that support to force Accuride to settle and
keep the UAW and their local puppets at bay.
Mike Griffin
Decatur IL
|
