[lbo-talk] P-9 and meatpacking deunionization (was: The raids against immigrant workers)

[Steven L. Robinson]

Does the union or  its activists have control or input into the investment decisions made by Ford or GM? Can they dictate to management to stop building SUVs and start re-tooling the assembly lines to build hybrids? Can they turn back the clock and undo decisions made by the corporate tops 10 or 40 years ago, or the decisions made by the union tops 60 years ago?

The best practical thing the union can do is to fight for the members it has in the existing plants and try to get new ones where they are unorganized.  Certainly lobbying, pressuring for single payor health care would ease some of the pressure on the Ford/GM and  help the retirees and those who have been laid off,  but would it stop the slide into oblivion of those two corporate dinosaurs? May be you prefer tarriffs to keep the imports out, but what of the transplants (That the UAW cannot seem to organize)? Face it, the prospect of the US Auto industry returning to the glory days of the 1950s ain't gonna happen. SR

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> 


> > 
> 
> So you're essentially saying that short of a revolution, there's 
> nothing that auto workers can do. I guess Michigan can always use a 
> few more convenience store clerks. Otherwise, this is contentless, 
> posturing militancy. 
> 
> Doug 
> ___________________________________ 
> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk 
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