Original article via World Socialist Web Site:
The decisive vote by Ford workers to reject the concessions contract worked out between the company and the United Auto Workers is a major advance not only for Ford workers, but for all auto workers and the working class as a whole, both in the US and internationally.
The rank and file have stood up to Ford, the Obama administration and the union bureaucracy. The workers have said 'it's time to take us into consideration, not just the bottom line (which at Ford is pretty healthy for the moment).' Workers standing up for their jobs and rights: What a concept!
The vote is an expression of growing resistance in the working class to soaring unemployment, wage cuts and speedup, on the one side, and government bailouts for the banks and record bonuses for Wall Street, on the other. The vote at Ford will encourage workers throughout the auto industry and in other sections of the economy to take a similar stand against attacks by the corporations, backed by the Obama administration.
The key is for someone, in this case the Ford workers, to say 'NO' to the bosses. For the past 30+ years, saying 'yes' to the bosses has been in vogue. Working with the bosses has been tried. What's happened? The automobile industry has collapsed and hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost.
The vote is a historical milestone. It is the first rejection of a national contract since 1982, and the first at Ford since 1976. In the intervening three decades, the UAW has devoted all of its energies to suppressing the resistance of auto workers. It has helped push through repeated wage and benefit concessions, while overseeing the destruction of hundreds of thousands of jobs. Some 750,000 auto jobs have been wiped out, including more than 130,000 at Ford alone.
When a union ceases to support it's workers, then it ceases to be a union. The UAW needs to get this through their heads, or they may end up out the door on their rear ends. The UAW needs to decide if it is part of Ford, or if it is the representative of the autoworkers. We've seen that it can't be both.
While the vote is an important first step, workers should be under no illusion that by rejecting the contract they have defeated the concessions demands. Ford and the UAW were taken aback by the "No" vote and the scale of the rank-and-file repudiation of the contract. They have said they will not attempt a re-vote, no doubt because they have concluded that they cannot get a reversal at this time. Pointing to the expiration of the current contract in 2011, however, UAW president Ron Gettelfinger declared, "We are not going to give up."
"We are not going to give up." Mr. Gettlefinger is not talking about the workers fighting for their jobs and livelihoods. He's talking about implementing Ford's cutback plans. Does that sound like he's supporting the Ford workers? Autoworkers need to look at Mr. Gettlefinger's statement and take it for what it means. The UAW is going to support the Big Three, not the workers. The good thing is that Ford workers haven't signed away their right to strike at the expiration of this contract. They need to start planning for the day in the not too distant future where it will be on their backs (as it is now) to fight against the Bosses, the Obama administration and the union bureaucracy.