MIKE PHILLIPS ST. THOMAS — Some 2,000 angry Ford workers from the Talbotville plant Near here blocked the MacDonald- Cartier freeway, (also known as highway 401) Jan. 8, to protest massive auto layoffs and the federal government's re- fusal to act to protest workers’ jobs and living standards. “Call it a march for jobs’, Local 1520, United Auto Workers plant chairman Ron Pellerin told the Tribune. Outside the Ford gates the workers marshalled themselves for the mile-and-a-half trek, through bitter cold weather to the high- way. The 401 is the main arterial link between Windsor and Montreal. ““We’re doing this to bring the problem of massive unemployment to the pulbic’s attention”, Pellerin said. ‘“‘We want to make the public, and the politicians _ aware that we aren’t going to quit agitat- Ing'until there are some changes made. Pellerin scored the federal government _ for its policies which he said are the main _ cause of the record-breaking jobless toll. : _ Autoworkers block high _ He noted that last year, Local 1520 members were laid off for 26 weeks by Ford. The Jan. 8 protest also marked the beginning of a three-week layoff for the 3,400 Ford workers in Talbotville. - “This year doesn’t look like it’s going to be any better,’’ the local UAW execu- tive member said. .. : Pellerin and the union want: Ottawa to set up import controls on autos and parts coming into the country, and they want federal legislation forcing off-shore auto makers, including the U.S. companies, to guarantee a significant and substantial - amount of Canadian content in the autos assembled and produced here. ‘“The economic policies of this government, with planned unemploy- ment and deliberately high interest rates ‘are just too much for working people to TRIBUNE PHOTO — MIKE PHILLIPS ____ LABOR ___ Chanting: ‘“‘We want jobs! and No concessions!”, the protestors marched through one of the coldest days of the winter almost four miles to the highway.and back to the Ford plant. bear’, Pellerin said. He’added, that the local expects another three-week layoff in March. Jobs, and the need to make the un- employed across Canada ‘‘visible’’, were the main concerns of the 2,000 auto workers as they marched to block off the highway. Despite the fact they had picked one of the coldest days of the year to make their protest, the enthusiasm was high and the mood of the predomin- antly young work force could only be described as tough and militant. They marched in the freezing cold chanting: ‘‘We want jobs! and, No con- cessions!’’, a reference to the union’s approach to forthcoming contract~ negotiations with Ford this September. On the way to the 401, the workers occupied one half of the two-lane high- way leading to the freeway. The crowd was so large and the mood was just right so that on the return hike to the Ford plant, the handful of Ontario Provincial Police officers, designated to monitor the demonstration, were unable to stop the angry autoworkers from taking over the - entire roadway. The Ford Talbotville plant opened in 1967 and the work force is still a young one: They are concerned about their jobs, but they aren’t about to let the rich U.S. multinational auto company blackmail them with their own jobs for concessions. Local 1520 was among the first auto way to protest layoffs locals to take such a strong and definite stand against give-aways at the next negotiations. Last year the local met, with 2,600-2,800 members unanimously rejecting any perspective in the coming talks that sees the workers trading off rights, wages and benefits already won for flimsy promises that their jobs will be saved. Pellerin said most workers aren’t im- pressed with the corporations’ argu- ments. ‘‘Look at the number of workers that are laid off right now’’, he said. ‘““‘When the company starts asking guys to give up benefits and conditions they've won and asks them to suffer so the companies can stay profitable, the workers tell them that’s what they're doing right now.” The protest was also a message to the leadership of the labor movement Pelle- rin said. ‘‘We’re going to continue agitat- ing on this issue, and we're going to explore all kinds of possibilities for follow-up action’, he said. ‘But we hope this will also encourage other trade union leaders across Canada to start pro- viding the vehicles to let their people, who are getting laid off, become more visible. ‘*We just can’t continue to have a situ- ation where people are getting laid off, going to their homes and their com- munities, and just not being heard from or seen again’’, he said. ‘*Let’s face it, it’s a lot of work orga- nizing these protests and putting pres- sure on governments’’, Pellerin said. ‘‘There are some trade union leaders who are content to stay put, content not to rock the boat and put in the kind of work that’s needed into these kinds of demonstrations. “It is a lot of work, but things aren’t going to change for the better as long as people just passively let things flow.” BE ae ak ee we mares Rin ena OUD _ Two reactions to the same problem The decision has been taken by United Automobile Workers (UAW), leadership in the United States to open up the General Motors and Ford collective agreements seven months before their termination. The purpose of these re-openers is not to discuss bringing the U.S. workers’ wages into line with spiralling inflation but rather to negotiate concessions to the two auto giants. This follows a pattern set first in Chrysler and now spreading to a host of U.S. industries, where leaders confronted with a crisis in the system are choosing to try to hedge its effects on their membership by stripping back their wages and working conditions. ___ Concessions are now the order of the day in the U.S. and it requires little imagination to perceive their being pie by takeaways. For the first time since the depression American workers are being faced by an across-the-board open attack on their living standards by _ State monopoly capital. To its credit the Canadian section of the UAW has ‘Tejected the auto firms’ demands for concessions and the Canadian Labor Congress (CLC) has thrown its weight behind this action. The UAW has appealed through the CLC to all its affiliates to support it in this stand. . Here we have two fundamentally different reactions to a similar situation. In the U.S., the UAW has “‘gone it alone’’ for years, on the assumption that the economic strength of the U.S. auto giants allowed them to make deals for their membership without the need for. all-in trade union solidarity behind them. Their thesis all along been, what’s good for GM is good for the UAW membership, and of course for the entire U.S. This thesis continues today. The system is in trouble, GM, Ford, Chrysler and American Motors are in trou- ble. The way out of this trouble is to be found in making ie U.S. and world automobile markets once again the Oyster’ of the U.S. automakers. In a word, the UAW leadership in the U.S. accept the terms of the existing system and are calling on their hte Labor in action William Stewart 3 membership to sacrifice their living standards so the system can ‘‘work’”’. The Reuther brothers introduced class collabora- tionist collective bargaining into the UAW with a ven- geance. It worked for them because the system seemed to work. However, class collaborationist collective bar- gaining at the present stage of the crisis in the U.S. can only produce misery and disaster for U.S. workers. Concessions can, and will, only lead to further conces- sions and take-aways. It is quite natural that the Canadian section of the UAW, having refused to follow the same course as that being pushed by the U.S. leadership, has turned to the entire labor movement for support in their struggles. They cannot win the battle against GM, Ford and Chrysler without the full backing of the entire labor movement. This is doubly so because of the course being followed by the U.S. union leadership. Nor can they win the battle by restricting themselves to fighting within the framework laid down by govern- ment policies and existing auto production in Canada. The Canadian UAW has asked the federal government to restrict the import of foreign auto production (other than U.S. covered under the auto pact) to a level commensurate with their production in Canada; that the U.S. auto pact be revised to meet the same standard; and, that government involvement bring about a high- technology Canadian parts sector and Canadian-based research, development and engineering. It calls for poli- cies designed to protect dislocated communities and workers affected in the course of building a more distinct Canadian auto industry. In a newspaper interview with the Toronto Star on December 28, Robert White, UAW director for Canada, explaining the refusal of Canadian Autoworkers to accept concessions said: ‘‘Working people have fought long and hard to better our lives inside the plants and offices. We are not about to accept the reversal of this process. If our economic system can no longer move forward, the solution isn’t to increase the sacrifices of those who already face difficulties — it’s to start asking whether the existing system is still a vehicle for progress or if it must be fundamentally changed’’. I hope Mr. White won’t mind my noting that this is exactly the point that the Communist Party has been making for some time. It lay behind our auto program which we introduced last year in which we called for a Canadian, publicly-owned and operated auto industry with a Canadian car and whatever actions necessary to protect the Canadian market and find export markets for such a project. In the critical contract negotiations coming up in Canada this year, there will be no more important area than the auto industry. The struggle of Canadian auto workers to resist concessions and lay the basis for a genuine auto industry, (an area to which they will be compelled to address themselves with more clarity), is the struggle of all working people and indeed all Cana- dians who are concerned about the future of Canada. They can only win with the fullest support of the entire labor movement. Their victory however will be more than worth the effort. If Canadian workers can resist the pressure for concessions being orchestrated by monopoly capital and spilling across the U.S. Canadian border, it will not only help set the stage for alternative solutions and policies for Canada, but will give a helping hand to U.S. auto, and other workers, who are also prepared to fight back against the monopoly-inspired crisis but are being sold down the river by their leadership. PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JAN. 22, 1982—Page 5