Sweat labor !!

cars brought
from Asia...

Special to the Tribune
DETROIT — Ford, General

Motors and Chrysler are busy.

buying into auto firms in Japan
in preparation for using the
Japanese auto industry as a
front for selling their cars in
Southeast Asia. Ford for ex-
ample is preparing an “Asian”
car to sell for $750, for which
the parts will be made in Tai-
wan and South Korea at wage
rates of $2 a day and assembled
in Japan at $1 per hour rates.
It’s profitable now for GM,
Ford, Chrysler, with 35% con-
trol of Japanese auto firms, to
bring in and sell in the U-S.
cars made in Japan.

Car imports in the U.S. now
make up 20% of the ’71 car
sales, almost double that of ’69.

Meanwhile Automotive News,
“bible” of the industry, reports
that unsold new cars in hands
of dealers on July 1, numbered
1,799,078. Also they report that
new car sales plunged 12% as
July got underway.

Model-changeovers is a fake
and: is being used to lay the
workers off while the employers
hope to milk down the pile of
unsold cars. Little or no change
is evident in the 1972 cars, a
little face-lifting is all. Actually
drastic car changes will come
only every five years now. Ten
years ago U.S. car manufactur-

ers were making 8 out of every -

10 cars produced in the world,
today they make 4. With their
export of capital abroad, buy-
ing into auto companies in other
lands, establishing their own
plants in over 38 countries, even
making 4 out of every 10 cars
produced in the world will be
cut, and so will their work force.

Lobbyists in London warn against the plot to
drag Britain into the European Common Market,
which will deal further blows to workers’ living

World fight vs. US. auto mogul

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Many ABNEY

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standards and jobs. Unemployment in Britain has
reached the highest figure since the depth of the
crisis in the 1930's.

Speedup, penalties in Windsor

By WILLIAM ALLEN

WINDSOR — To make fewer
workers produce more, especial-
ly if they are young, ‘new in the
union, that’s the game of man-
agement in its constant drive
for maximum profits. The work-
ers have only one recourse to
this threat of pending unem-
ployment (working themselves
out of a job), by fighting the
proposed speedup, through job
actions.

The United Auto Workers
members in the Ford plant here
did just that. It’s important to
record this fight of the young
workers, because the UAW now
is a union where 60% of its
114 million merabers have less
than five years seniority. It’s
also important to record the as-
pects of the Windsor-Ford-UAW
young workers’ struggle, be-
cause the. 1972 new cars are

New deal for prairies
urged in Saskatchewan

Social Credit Premier Strohm
of Alberta has called a snap
provincial election for Aug. 30,
evidently to get it over before
the impact of the NDP victory
in Saskatchewan and its initial
legislation, which is expected to
be of a reform character, can
influence the vote in the foot-
hills province.

Premier Blakeney of Saskat-
chewan has called the provin-
cial legislature into special ses-
sion on July 28, where the anti-
labor law of the previous Libe-
ral administration may be re-

pealed.
In a letter to Mr. Blakeney,
provincial Communist Party

leader Fred Schofield suggests
that while such questions as a
Labor Bill of Rights, a guaran-
teed annual income, measures
to ease the monopoly squeeze
on the farmers and others, may
require more study and work-

ing out, “some problems are so
pressing and urgent they will
brook no delay — such as the
serious problem of unemploy-
ment, the lack of opportunity
for youth, and the crisis in agri-
culture.”

Noting that for the first time
two neighboring prairie provin-
ces, Manitoba and Saskatche-
wan, have elected social-democ-
ratic governments, the letter
urges co-operation “to streng-
then and give leadership to the
struggles of the working people
for progressive alternatives to
the reactionary policies now fol-
lowed by all other senior gov-
ernments in Canada.”

Mr. Schofield enclosed .the
program advanced by the Sas-
katchewan Committee of the
Communist Party and stated the
party’s readiness to discuss
their proposals with members
of the government.

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HUY

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inp

Try

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JULY 30, 1971—PAGE 6

coming down the line, no pro-
duction schedule will be set by
the companies until they are
forced to, they’ll use the old-
time excuse “we have to get
the bumps out of ’em, and we’re
just filling the showrooms, so
don’t tie us down.” Meanwhile
the ’72 models have started
shooting down the assembly
lines and “she’s a speedup
baby”, commented one worker.
Here from one of the Ford-
Windsor-UAW workers is the
story of their fight against
speédup and the obstacles they
faced.

On Thursday, June 17, a work
stoppage took place and 54
young workers left the plant.
The trigger for the walkout was
Ford’s action to cut out a man
on the hot test engine job. Ford
promises to improve some bad
working conditions were never
fulfilled.

When the stoppage occurred
the company met with Steve
Harris, the president of UAW
Local 200, and the inplant re-
presentative of plant 2 and
agreed to put the men back in
the hot test. The union was to
post a notice to this effect, in-
cluding a list of past complaints
the company agreed to rectify
immediately. But Ford would
not agree not to punish the 54.

Meanwhile the young work-
ers had set up picket lines and
stopped the second shift. They
also called a meeting for 7:30
p.m. that night with over 100
workers showing up. They de-
cided to call another meeting
the next morning at 11 am.
Meanwhile the rest of the work-
ers wouldn’t cross any picket
lines, On Sunday a meeting was
held and the young workers
agreed to return to work. The
1800 workers at the meeting
made it clear there were to be
“no executions” of the young
workers, or the entire work
force of 4,000 would be out.

In the days that followed the
Company began its attack on
the youthful militants. Each one
was interviewed in turn on why
the job action, and it resulted
in 10 being fired and 30 others
suspended, some for 21 days.

Because of the growing an-
ger of the workers inside the
plant, the company reduced the
10 firings to five, with those
other five being given the op-
portunity to “resign.” Three ac-
cepted, but two young workers
didn’t in spite of pressure by the

Officials of Ford local 200, UAW.
When they demanded at least
arbitration, the UAW negotiat-
ing committee refused.

A petition was circulated in
the plant and 700 signatures
were taken to support the de-

mand of the young workers who.

refused to resign. But the local
executive board refused to call
a -special membership meeting
as provided for in such cases in
the by-laws. They used as an
excuse, that the pensioners were
included and the petitions
needed 800° signatures. Since
4200 people work in the plant,
actually only 420 signatures are
needed for a special member-
ship meeting.

The scene now is this: the
UAW local union leaders are

leaving these young brothers to

the penalties of Ford and not
giving the rank and file 4200
members a chance through a
special membership meeting to
back them up and defeat the
company’s retaliation. It’s signi-
ficant that the job action by the
56 young workers forced Ford
to drop the speedup move.
One good thing is coming out
of this struggle.
workers are organizing them-
selves into job action type of
movements. The present local
union executive were themselves
involved, back in 1968, in a job
action against Ford, but none of
them were even called in by

the company like this time with

the young workers.

In the fight against speedup
workers need every ounce of
support and solidarity in the
struggle around the ’72 models.
The “liberal” Henry Ford _II, in-
ternational playboy, isn’t going
to let up for a second in the
drive for constantly increasing
profits.

The young

What's good
for Ford...

NEW YORK — In an inter-
view accorded the U.S. week-
ly “Business Week”, Paul Lo-
renz, president of Ford-
Europe, expressed satisfaction
at the proposed entry of Bri-
tain into the Common Mar-
ket.

“This will be a good thing”,
he said, “because the cold
breeze of competition might
make British workers less in-
clined to strike”.

Big batt
in Britalll
Europe :«

By JOHN WILLIAMS

LONDON — “Fold tg
must have their ove it
to fight Ford’s alm jg
wide rationalization # i
says a broadsheet 18Y
Communist Party © ag
tain to 40,000 rod
the big Dagenham P! 0

“Britain is the 0 ip
outside America WHE
American gian oa
Motors, Ford, hrysay
slugging it out di abe
each other. Betwee? if
dominate the Amel! or int
aim to extend futtiot
rope and Asia, 4 it]
British Leyland Mot0r M
tain, Volkswagen | in fed
Renault and Peuge? o Kee
Fiat in Italy and 1 a
Japan go to the wipre
battle for profit % 2 ot
fought at the exP’ gilt
... health, security | iit
standards of the ae
of all motor worké Fo ru

Congratulating the * sig!
ers “for their OU”) iyi
rage” in the recent} roi!
the broadsheet no!
tive gains (£4 a We gait
increase with two © pe
a week increases 1972, :
1971 and Augus
pay for women
extra holiday). ‘on Leal
comings in the ¥
this struggle |
strongest-ever
syordeaice arrogance of
gest international :
ing in Britain”. wl

The broadsheet init a
ral factual tables wt
Ford as the mos |
ploiter. Comparing . oe ,
panies in Britall. snows
ded per worker } 400 Wal
£1700, Chrysler #7 og Uae
(GM) £2300 and
When it comes railed
of pay for semi-5 are 4
the comparisons  ‘coollt
from 84 p ($2) Hg Op
£1.05 ($2.52) Ene and
81 p ($1.94) in SCO,” a
($2.30) in Englan®
6214p ($1.50). yt ttt

Indicating the % , f
tle that lies ahealtig
Europe executive “+ a
that the number iy
car manufacturers 5 tht
from 16 to eigh A
10 years. f yt

With this kind ny
ahead, great emP ct ep
strengthening dit ern gf
Ford __ plants
Over the last
have already
this direction.
workers at Dage? up?
darity action 1” 2 nhs “ily

1 Ge ny ‘Wy
Ford workers 170 7) pli
who were on Sth’ ig taj
1969 Ford strik? om ii
transt ie HES iat
was refused 1! je5 4h
German Ford faci got

ing that same Y° Wey
stewards conferen ff i ,

: eople pres
with peop Ge

tain, West
gium. In Oe
wage parity !
was expressed fro (0
UAW president | e p
ed the picket }!?

allen

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‘American supPOli