We are auto workers and UAW members from several cities and states, both active workers and retirees. We have joined together to organize a caravan to Washington, D.C. because we are concerned that the auto companies want to make us pay for their crisis. We have worked hard for many years for what we have. We have walked picketlines to win the wages, health care plans, and retirement benefits that we have. We do not intend to lose them without a fight. We intend to make our voices heard.
Let’s Take Our Message to Washington
We need a comprehensive plan not just for the auto corporations and not just for autoworkers, but a plan that can address the economic and environmental crisis that our nation faces. We see the crisis as an opportunity to lay the foundation for a decent life for the next generation of Americans.
- Save Auto Workers’ Jobs and Communities. The U.S. Congress and the incoming Obama administration should commit themselves to save auto workers’ jobs and communities. The auto industry still stands at the center of the American economy, directly employing over two million people and indirectly affecting the lives of millions more.
- Transform the Auto Industry. Congress needs to establish a national industrial policy that will direct, plan and finance the transformation of the auto industry's existing capacity. We need to expand our efforts to produce fuel efficient automobiles and electric cars, and branch out into green energy technologies such as wind turbines, and mass transportation such as light rail and high speed trains.
- No Investment without Representation. Its our money, so we want accountability. The U.S. government should have a say whenever financial assistance or tax abatements are provided to corporations. Just as we say “No taxation without representation,” so we should say, “No investment without representation.”
- Strengthen the Union to Help the Recovery. Unions and union contracts protect wages and benefits and therefore work against the deflationary crisis which confronts us. The union and its membership should be protected. Every study by the U.S. Labor Department or by academic researchers shows that unions raise wages, and that higher wages have contributed to a robust economy.
- Employee Free Choice Act (also known as Card Check) should be extended to any plant, subsidiary or subcontractor which benefits from Federal or other government assistance. Employee Free Choice would make it possible for non-union workers to join unions, to negotiate contracts, and to fight for hither wages to put money back in circulation.
- A National Single-Payer Health System. When pressed, the Big Three concede that a national health plan would save them billions. GM alone provides health care coverage to a million people--workers, retirees and families. The rescue of the auto industry should be linked to the creation of a national single-payer health system, like the "Medicare for All" proposal in John Conyers' HR 676.
