On Friday 1,300 auto parts workers at Nexteer Automotive in Saginaw, Michigan, voted down a second sellout agreement brought back by the United Auto Workers by a margin of 73 percent. In many ways the deal was worse than the first contract brought back by the UAW in March, with an expanded grow-in period for new hires who start at the poverty wage of $19.50, and grossly inadequate wage increases and increased out of pocket health care costs for current workers.
I welcome the courageous vote by Nexteer workers and call on all UAW members to support their fight against the conspiracy between the company and the UAW bureaucracy.
What is happening at Nexteer is not unique. We have all seen these betrayals before. It is time to draw lessons. We can’t keep moving in the old way. We have to act in our interest independent without being told what we can and cannot do by the apparatus.
GM, Ford, Stellantis and Mack workers who were sold out in 2023 recognize what is happening at Nexteer and we have to give our brothers and understanding of what Fain is capable of doing to sell us out behind all the phony claims of “historic gains” and UAW “reform.” We are not going to win until we take an independent path, study the history of the past struggles of the working class and apply these lessons now. If we don’t fight now there will be nothing left to fight for.
I call on workers to join and build the Nexteer Rank and File Committee and raise the following demands:
- No contract! No work! No arbitration! No extensions. Immediate strike action to win workers demands. $1,000 a week strike pay
- Replace the current bargaining committee with a committee of trusted rank-and-file workers chosen by and accountable to the shop floor workers
- Coordinate with autoworkers across the US and internationally, including parts workers with expiring contracts, to honor Nexteer picket lines and refuse to handle scab parts.
In addition, I call for the following:
- Abolition of all tiers;
- Immediate substantial wage increases that exceed the rate of inflation, with cost-of-living adjustments;
- A livable starting wage and rapid progression to top pay;
- Full healthcare coverage for all workers and their families;
- Enforceable limits on overtime, speedup and scheduling abuse;
- Job security and anti-outsourcing protections;
- Workers’ control over safety and staffing;
- Explicit, enforceable prohibitions on the new cycle-time surveillance or the use of tracking data for discipline.
