Feb. 28, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
The UAW is holding its annual CAP Legislative Conference this week in Washington DC. President Obama is scheduled to speak to the conference today. Here is a recap of some of yesterday’s events:
Delegates heard from AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker who thanked the UAW for creating a path to the middle class and fighting fervently against efforts to eroded worker gains. Baker told delegates that for her and many Americans, the UAW’s progress in helping secure jobs for Americans is now and has always been an important factor. The UAW, she said, has continued Walter Reuther’s legacy of love for community and country and believing that “we truly are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers.”
Known in the political arena as “Gene the Machine” for his tireless work ethic, Gene Sperling addressed UAW delegates on America’s current economic climate. A Washington insider, Sperling is director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. Appointed by President Obama in January 2011, he formerly served as counselor to the Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, starting in 2009. He said that while the economy is making a turnaround, we had to come back from losing 1.1 million jobs to creating 800,000 jobs a month. Sperling added that while this isn’t a modest recovery, it will take time before middle-class working America begins to fully recover. “The UAW is a symbol of U.S. comeback. It is an unquestionable fact that we have a long way to go to heal from this depression we inherited. When you look at what this president did, he will be remembered as the president who took one of the swiftest, most aggressive actions to protect this country against the next great depression,” said Sperling. “The American economy was growing within six months of President Obama being elected – and a year later, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been brought back.”
UAW Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Williams brought delegates up to speed on the union’s demand that workers at transnational auto plants be given the right to decide whether they want a union. “We are at a critical time in the transnational organizing effort. The UAW made a huge commitment to organizing two years ago,” said Williams. “We are working together now like never before. We cannot continue to organize as we have in the past. We have to build alliances and coalitions like never before.” Williams said the UAW wants to make sure all workers – not just UAW members – make good wages and can live a middle-class life. He said the UAW also is focusing on bringing young activists from around the world into the movement to create global solidarity. “To achieve our goals, we have to communicate. We have reached out to workers in every [foreign-owned] facility in the United States and are holding meetings with international allies,” said Williams.
Here is an editorial letter to the Detroit Free Press from UAW President Bob King:
For most Americans, cars are a way to get around. For most of Detroit, they're a way of life. Generations of autoworkers grew up trusting that if we worked hard and played by the rules, we would be able to live the American dream. Not long ago, that way of life almost ended. I have been stunned at the recent debate about what really happened here in 2009. Choices have been scrutinized, other paths imagined, and the road we took to get to this point has been studied from every conceivable angle. That's all fair game. But rewriting facts and denying history are not.
Some say the successes we see today could have happened on their own, as if the credit markets weren't frozen solid and private financiers were banging down our door. That claim is more than just wrong; it's an insult to the men and women of the auto industry, workers and management alike. All made incredible sacrifices and worked tirelessly to keep this industry alive. It's an affront to everyone who never stopped believing that Detroit can, and will, continue to build the best vehicles in the world.
We can't let them mislead the American people about President Barack Obama's bold and decisive rescue of the auto industry, or about the sacrifices our workers made. They deserve the truth. Those trying to attack the president for political gain have ignored this reality. They claim labor got a free pass. Nothing could be further from the truth. Even before the emergency rescue loans, autoworkers made deep concessions to save their companies and keep Detroit alive. From 2005 on, we gave up pay increases, overtime pay and holidays, and agreed to reduced pay and benefits for new hires.
When Obama required more concessions from both labor and management in exchange for the emergency loans, we did the right thing. UAW agreed to freeze wages and benefits, and even agreed to waive for six years our right to strike. We were willing to share the sacrifice to help our industry and this region survive. They did more than survive. Today, the automakers are thriving. General Motors is once again the world's top carmaker. Its $7.6-billion profit in 2011 was its largest ever. The auto industry added more than 200,000 jobs in the last 2 1/2 years, and 2011 was the strongest year of job growth in our industry since 1994.
Demand for American cars is rising, so GM, Ford and Chrysler are running three production shifts a day at many plants. New shifts at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck Plant and Chrysler's Jefferson North Plant mean jobs for thousands more workers in Michigan, the Midwest and across the country. Chrysler was nearly forced to shutter its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant. Now its 2,300 workers are building the Chrysler 200, one of Detroit's hottest-selling new models. They repaid the federal loans years ahead of schedule. Michigan is recovering from the recession at the second-fastest pace in the country.
A stronger Detroit means a stronger nation. More working Michiganders mean more money in our economy, and more local restaurants and shops that thrive and create even more jobs. The president's emergency loans weren't a politically popular decision. But he refused to turn his back on us during Detroit's darkest hour. He stood up for us and more than a million American jobs that depend on the auto industry. If he hadn't, this great American industry and city would have collapsed. End of story. Our state and country would be a very different place without the auto loans. Autoworkers have good-paying American jobs that put food on the table, pay tuition bills, buy homes and keep the American dream alive. I don't have to tell you that cars made Detroit. But no matter what anyone tells you, it's thanks to President Obama that Detroit is still making cars.
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