Come to our meeting this Tuesday, October 10th from 6pm to 8pm at the Purdy Kresge Library at Wayne State University, in the Simons Room to discuss the strike, help organize people and supplies to the picket, promote the strike, and talk politics. Sign up here.
The Fight of UAW Workers Is the Fight for the Whole Working Class
The UAW auto workers’ strike is one of the most important labor battles in the last 30 years. It is of particular significance for Detroit, home of the Big Three auto companies.
Much like the wages and benefits of workers at the Big Three, Detroit has experienced hard cutbacks and concessions that have taken their toll on the working class. Instead of billions going to wages and healthcare, we see billions of public money going to the Big Three to build non-unionized EV factories.
The fight for cost of living adjustments (COLA); a 40 percent wage increase; restoration and increase of pensions; for an end to tiers and the unfair use of supplemental workers — two systems that create division within the working class — and a 32 hour work week are hugely important for the whole working class and the oppressed. A victory at UAW is a victory for Detroit and for the whole working class.
A Historic Moment For Labor
Workers across the country are standing up and fighting back. Auto workers are striking at the same time as workers at Blue Cross Blue Shield. Healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente, represented by SEIU, joined the strike wave this week, making history as the largest healthcare workers’ strike in the country. These strikes are coming off the heels of an important contract fight at UPS, the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, and a strike authorization vote at the casinos in Detroit
On the first day of the UAW auto workers strike, every major publication and news outlet featured the strike. That is proof of the strategic power the working class has as a class whose labor runs society, and therefore have the power to shut things down.
This strike has raised the working class as a key actor in national politics, even shaking up the 2024 Presidential elections.
The fact that Biden and Trump had to visit Michigan and directly engage with the strike proves the power of the working class and its most powerful weapon, the strike.
Solidarity on a Class Independent Basis
Both politicians represent the interests of the rich; Biden has given millions of dollars to Elon Musk and the Big Three to produce EV cars without guarantees those jobs would be unionized, and Trump took no action to stop plant closures or express solidarity to GM workers on strike in 2019. Further, the anti-China rhetoric on both sides are meant to convince workers that our enemies are Chinese workers. They aren’t. Our enemies are the bosses, the parties that represent them and the cops that protect them.
That is why we believe that the working class needs its own organizations and political party independent of the Democrats and Republicans.
To strengthen the power of the rank and file, the UAW should organize strike committees that would allow workers a chance to discuss and decide on the strategy and direction of the strike, ensuring that it stays united and focused on the demands of the strike.
The Importance of Active Solidarity and Militant Journalism
Left Voice is a socialist publication and organization dedicated to showcasing struggles against exploitation and oppression by the working class and oppressed.
We have followed the historic UAW Big Three auto strike since day one, highlighting the voices of workers and analyzing the effects of the strike.
We want to organize solidarity actions around this strike, like showing up at the pickets, donating material to the strikers, and getting their stories out through articles and interviews. And we want to discuss politics, too.
We want to do film screenings, discuss articles, and organize discussions around the political issues raised by the strike.
Join Our Stand Up Strike Solidarity Committee
Come to our meeting this Tuesday, October 10th from 6pm to 8pm at the Purdy Kresge Library at Wayne State University, in the Simons Room to discuss the strike, help organize people and supplies to the picket, promote the strike, and talk politics.
