DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain hosted another Facebook Live update on Tuesday to share the recent union successes in Alabama, and some of the Stellantis layoffs from over the weekend.
Stellantis layoffs during second weekend of January.
“Over the weekend hundreds of supplemental employees were terminated,” according to Fain. “In our Stand Up Strike, we got the company to convert nearly 3,000 temporary workers to permanent jobs—resulting in life changing raises and benefits for thousands of families.”
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He also shared that during the Stand Up Strike which resulted in major contract negotiations with the Detroit Big Three Automakers, the UAW was able to secure what he called the end of abuse of “so called temps.”
“[These companies] are bringing the pain to the lowest paid workers, and blaming the union,” Fain said. “Stellantis can afford to do the right thing here and provide a pathway to fulltime good auto jobs, but again they’re choosing to line executive and shareholder pockets.”
“We’re going to keep fighting for our supplemental employees,” pledged Fain.
Fain criticized the Alabama Governor’s response to workers joining the UAW.
The UAW president also called attention to the fact that yesterday marked 90 days on strike for about 100 members.
Fain highlighted how non-union members, including those working for Mercedes in Vance, Alabama, signed up to join the auto union, becoming the second nonunion auto plant to hit that milestone in the last 6 weeks.
“These workers at Alabama are just like us,” Fain shared on the Facebook Live, “They work for a massively profitable auto company, they build cars for a living, they have families to support, and they want safe decent jobs, with the respect and dignity owed to working class people who generate the profits our society runs on.”
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey shares her thoughts.
Following the declaration of the 1500 Alabama non-auto workers who signed up to join the UAW, Governor Kay Ivey (R-Alabama) shared her thoughts in an opinion piece.
“Alabama has become a national leader in automotive manufacturing, and all this was achieved without a unionized workforce,” she said. “In other words, our success has been home grown — done the Alabama way.”
Alabama Governor Ivey went on to share that the “Alabama model for economic success is under attack,” calling out the UAW for “ramping up efforts to target non-union automakers throughout the United States.
“Make no mistake about it: These are out-of-state special interest groups, and their special interests do not include Alabama or the men and women earning a career in Alabama’s automotive industry,” said. Gov. Ivey in a statement.
Fain criticized Alabama Gov. Ivey for her commitment to “always stand strong for our hardworking men and women, as well as our world-class employers.”
“I say the out of state special interest group is the foreign car company that takes millions in tax-payer dollars to pay poverty wages to American workers, and I say the Governor of Alabama knows that, but keeps it quiet to keep the big dollar contributions from foreign automakers flowing into her campaign fund,” UAW Shawn Fain said on the livestream.
Fain reflects on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and likens his mission to the UAW.
UAW President Fain also took time to acknowledge the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a day after the holiday.
“The movement we seek to build is one that was born and grew up alongside Dr. King,” Fain said on the livestream, “Both the UAW and Dr. King came up in years during the Great Depression. And while our union was founded here in Detroit, just six years after Dr. King’s birth, our first sit down strike was not in Flint like many believe, but in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. King’s home.”
Fain called him one of the greatest labor leaders in U.S. history.
“He wasn’t the president of any union, and they don’t call him a labor leader in the history books,” Fain said. “But the struggle for economic justice, on and off the job, was a core part of the story and the vision of Dr. King.”
Future of the UAW strike.
Fain ended the update by calling the one true enemy the corporate elite and billionaire class, promising the UAW and allies that the auto union would continue to fight like hell for its workers, including the Stellantis temporary workers.
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