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Davis

Angela

Power to the people’

The bourgeois press seized upon my recent capture
by the Federal pigs as an occasion to inject more con-
fusion into the minds of the American public.

Focusing the bulk of its articles on my personality
and background, the press has clearly attempted to
camouflage the political issues involved in my case.

Regardless of what degrees I may have, regardless of
my external appearance and psychological make-up, the
reality of my present situation is this:

The reactionary pig forces of this country have
chosen to persecute me because I am a Communist
revolutionary, participating together with millions of
oppressed peoples throughout the world, designed to
overthrow all of the conditions that stand in the way
of our freedom.

While newspapers and magazines wasted pages upon
pages, attempting to resurrect my past, they should
have instead been cognizant of hundreds upon hundreds
of American revolutionaries who have been confronted
with a fate no different than mine.

Government agents incessantly employ the most de-
vious and barbarous means to rid the country of all
those who are challenging racism, exposing capitalist
exploitation, and working, organizing and fighting for
freedom.

Scores of members of the Black Panther party have
been mutilated and murdered, hundreds from among
their ranks have been shoved into the nation’s prisons;
and still others have been forced into exile.

And the Soledad Brothers continue to battle with the
representatives of the repressive prison apparatus, pro-
grammed to offer death by gas to anyone who. dares
to speak out against racism and propagates the idea of
freedom among captives.

Ronald Reagan and the State of California, having
first demanded my job because I am a memeber of the
Communist Party, are now demanding my life. Why?

Not because I am the dangerous criminal they por-

tray; not because I am guilty of their framed-up charge
for which there is no evidence whatsoever, but because,
in their warped vision, a revolutionary is, a priori, a
criminal.

Turning myself in to Ronald Reagan and his accom-
plices would have been equivalent to placing my-head
voluntarily on the executioner’s block.

The death of Jonathan Jackson at San Rafael was not
only a deep and crushing blow to me, his family and
friends, but a profound loss to the world revolutionary
movement.

No black man or woman can fail to understand the
unbearable pressure which led Jonathan to his death,
struck down in the midst of battle.

His courage and self-sacrifice leave us wih a legacy
which no force can eradicate. .

My flight was unsuccessful. I have been captured. To
me, this means I must strengthen my will to fight this
monstrous system. .

One more is being held captive, but more importantly,
the revolution continues to grow in vigor and verve.

Our enemies find themselves confronted with a grow-
ing awareness among the people that the concentrated
effort to maim and murder revolutionaries is just another
form of the daily genocide of police brutality, and im-
poverished living conditions of ghettos and barrios.

If masses of people will fulfill their obligation to pro-
tect the men and women who have devoted their lives
to the struggle for equality and freedom, let there be
no doubt about it—victory will soon be ours.

Long live the memory of Jonathan Jackson. —

Free Erica, Bobby, the New York Panthers, the Sole-
dad Brothers and all political prisoners.

Power to the people.

Angela Yvonne Davis

. Women’s House of Detention
New York, N.Y.
Nov. 10, 1970

U.S. General Motors strike analyzed

. Victor Perlo, renowned Marx-
St economist, estimates the
UAW-General Motors strike set-
lement in the USA:

Three big strike battles against
Monopolies have been conclud-
€d this year. The electrical
Workers strike against GE was
Concluded in January with basic
Wage gains of 74 cents over a
40-month period, equivalent to

7 cents per hour over a three-
year period.

The rubber workers’ strike
8gainst Goodyear was concluded
M June with wage gains of 82
Cents per hour over a three-year
Period, 15 cents or more than 20
Percent better than the GE set-
tlement.

The GM strike, if concluded on

’ {nounced terms, will provide

$1.33-$1.43 per hour over a

ree-year period, assuming con-
Sumer price index increases of
5 to 6 percent per year. Thus the
basic settlement. of the GM
Workers is far ahead of that of
the Goodyear workers and twice
that of the GE workers.

And, the gains were less then
those won by Teamsters, build-
Mg trades workers, newspaper
Workers and other groups.

True, a good chunk of the.
GM first year gain is catch-up
Or past cost-of-living losses, but

€ same applied with even
freater force to the GE settle-
Ment.

Before the strike, GM esti-
Mated that its offer, including
Money and fringes came to 87
Cents per hour over three years,
While the UAW demand, it esti-
Mated, came to $1.25-$1.50 per
Our. The settlement, then, came
Much closer to the UAW de-
Mand than to the GM offer.

Similarly,the first year settle-
Ment of 51 cents was much
Closer to UAW president Wood-
Cock’s 62 cents demand than to
GM’s 31 cent offer. The second
4nd third year settlements were
€xactly what the UAW demand-
€d, except for a_ significant
Shading of the cost-of-living

formula (see below).

The average GM worker has
been getting about $4 per hour.
Under the settlement the basic
average will be $4.51 an hour
this December, if work resumes
on the tentative terms that
month. Of the 51 cent initial
raise, 33 cents represent the
cost-of-living catch-up, owed to
the workers under the old con-
tract.

Publicity has been given to a
26 cent catch-up figure, but that
is on the basis of the April con-
sumer price index. Updating that
adjustment to the October in-
dex (not yet published) will re-
quire another 7 or 8 cents.

This raise to $4.33 per hour
will roughly compensate for
losses in real wages during the
Vietnam War period. The addi-
tional 18 cents per hour repre-
sents “new money.” It amounts
to a little over 4%, or just a
bit better than the 3% “annual
improvement factor” which GM
is willing to pay in allowance
for increased productivity.

Starting from that $4.51 base,
the workers will get 3% in-
creases in December, 1971, and
December, 1972, as annual im-
provement factors, a cost-of-
living escalator adjustment in
December, 1971, and quarterly
thereafter. We will assume that
the last such adjustment is in
December, 1973, when the new
contract will expire.

However, there is a serious
catch to the escalator clause. A
logical escalator clause would
provide a- certain percentage
wage increase for an equal per-
centage rise in the cost-of-living.
However, traditionally the GM
formula has allowed one cent
wage increase for every 0.4
points in the (Bureau of Labor
Statistics) consumer price in-
dex. When put into effect many
years ago, this roughly coincid-
ed with equal percentage chang-
es. But not at present levels of
the index and of ‘wages.

Today, , to provide , for. full, ;

escalator coverage, the union
demanded a one cent wage in-
crease. for. every 0.3. points. in
the BLS consumer price index.

- Then, for every 10 points in-

crease in the index, the workers
would get 33 cents per hour. This
would provide exact full cover-
age, percentage-wise.. But GM
held out for, and won, retention
of the formula of one cent for
every 0.4 points in the BLS con-
sumer price index. Thus, for
every 10 points increase in the
index, the workers will get only
25 cents per hour, or three-quar-
ters of a full adjustment.

Prospects are that this will
cost the workers as much as 22
cents per hour over the next
three years. ©

During 1971, in addition, the
workers will lose out from the
delay in the cost-of-living adjust-
ment to the end of the year. If
the consumer price index goes up
6 percent during the year, the

average loss will be 3 percent. -

Thereafter, with quarterly ad-
justments, the loss owing to de-
lay in adjustment will average
only 0.75 percent. Only monthly
adjustments would fully avoid
such losses.

Finally, it must not be forgot-
ten that the BLS index never
fully shows the increase in the
cost of living, because of em-
ployer-oriented biases in its con-
struction. Workers must be vigi-
lant lest, with the cap off the
escalator for GM and other com-
panies, increased monopoly pres-
sure results in further downward
distortions in the index.

How wages change

Here is the way average wages
will change over the next three
years, assuming 6 percent per
year increases in the consumer
price index.

Dec. 1970:

money wage
aftter-COntracte.<20 wack $4.51

real wage, in

Dec. 1970 prices ..... $4.51

Dec. 1971:
improvement factor ............. 14¢
cost of living adjustment... 20¢
MONEY WABE oon ccccscsscceescsedien $4.85
real wage, in

Dec:.-1970 prices*..- $4.58
Dec. 1972:
improvement factor ............. 14¢
sum of four

quarterly cost of

living adjustments. .......... 21¢
money wage ...... $5.20
real wage, in

Dec, 1970 prices=.....s. $4.63
Dec. 1973:
no improvement factor,

sum of four quarterly

cost of living

adjustments ......... ee 23¢
MONCYaware aa..cen $5.43
real wage, in

Dec. 1970 prices ............... $4.56

Nickel gain

In short, after three years, the
General Motors workers will end
up bargaining from a point only
a nickel an hour better in real
purchasing power than they
started out with under the new
contract. :

Meanwhile, during each year
they will be losing out owing to
delays and imperfections in ap-
plication of the escalator clause.
That is why the average real
wage, during all of 1971, expres-
sed in December 1970 prices, will
be $4.38, or 13 cents less than
the contract startup real wage.

In essence, a large part of the
“improvement factor” represent-
ing real gains for the workers
will be lost during these three
years owing to inadequacies in
the cost of living adjustment.
During this period, tax deduc-
tions will increase only in ap-
proximate proportion to money
wages, Owing to concessions in
individual income taxes in the
December 1969 tax law. How-
ever, any increases in individual
income taxes, federal or state, or
in social insurance or medicare

,deductions,, will ,result in an

even poorer real picture than
that indicated by the calcula-
tions in this article.

GM’s big price boost this fall
will more than compensate it for
the initial wage hike. Thereafter,
real wages will not increase very
much during the three years.
Meanwhile, productivity _is
bound to increase by at least the
three percent per year assumed
in the contract. Therefore, real
wages per unit of production will
decline.

Assuming that the company’s
margin of prices over materials
costs keeps pace with the con-
sumer price index, its profit
share of value added will rise
substantially, while the wage
share of value added will dim-
inish.

One should be wary of side-
line coaching. Yet, with due cre-
dit for what the UAW negotia-
tors did achieve, rank-and-file
criticism is justified on these
grounds: :

a. Failure to make a serious
fight on the decisive work-condi-
tions fronts.

b. Starting out with money de-
mands well below those advanc-
ed by rank-and-file groups.

c. Accepting a three-quarters
cost of living adjustment, while
permitting the workers to get the
impression that a full adjustment
is provided. —

d. Demanding only the old GM
formula of 3 percent plus cost-
of-living for the second and third
years of the contract. This was
always a weak formula, from
the workers viewpoint, in that
(1) it made certain that the
workers would never make any
gains in conditions at the com-
pany’s expense, while not bar-
ring company gains at the work-
ers’ expense; and (2) it implied
cooperation with company at-
tempts to speed-up workers and
to introduce labor - replacing
equipment without offsetting
compensation beyond the very
modest 3 percent factor.

Pagers "Daily World)

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, ]970-—-PAGE 2