The Center For Political Innovation would like to offer its unflinching support for the United Auto-Workers Union in their fight against the 3 major auto-manufacturers, GM , Ford and Stellantis. Since the end of the second world war, good paying, unionized auto-manufacturing jobs have been the bedrock of the working class in the United States, serving as the baseline against which workers could measure

their wages. The decline of auto-manufacturing and the general de-industrialization of the US represents a disturbing trend of complete parasitism forced upon the American people as the system of imperialism develops where, more and more, we rely on our shrinking circle of colonies for our productive capacity. In spite of the decline of good jobs, rooted in the development of America’s industrial capacity, today all three of these companies have taken advantage of the shortages in electronics and the grants given by the American government for the production of electric vehicles to turn major profits, and the workers who have endured wage-stagnation, hardship and austerity have yet to see a payout.

Auto-workers who put up with a net-negative impact on their lives, who have seen plant after plant shutter their doors, but who nonetheless endured for the promise of greener pastures, have been met by a slap in the face by greedy bosses. Bosses who have socialized the suffering and austerity, but who wish to be the sole benefactors of the emerging market for electric vehicles.  GM, Ford and Stellantis owe these workers higher wages, and better benefits especially considering the ramping up of production and of skyrocketing prices. 

Furthermore auto-manufacturers owe it to the American people to continue to provide these good-paying jobs especially considering the aftermath of the 2009 financial crisis. If American tax-payers are to be expected to bail out companies like GM should they make irresponsible financial decisions because of their supposed importance to the American job market, then it is only reasonable to expect GM to provide for the very workers they held hostage. And of course, as pointed out by CPI member and UAW worker Tom Michilak on his appearance on RT, the tensions between the UAW and the bosses at the big 3 puts the onus on President Joe Biden to stand with the union members who have been steadfast allies of the democrats. Biden has not only marketed himself as “the most pro-labor president in American history,” but has used the UAW to further his own career. 

The unofficial tagline of Barack Obama’s 2012 presidential race was “Bin-Laden is dead, General Motors is alive,” referring of course to the GM bailout in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, and Joe Biden used the fact of this bailout extensively in his 2020 presidential campaign in an effort to wrestle rust-belt voters that had been crucial in 2016 away from Donald Trump. One of the only things preventing Biden from becoming a Hillary Clinton 2.0 was his ability to show that in at least one instance he refused to crush the American working class. And if he is to win another election, especially in light of what he did to the Train workers, he must stand with the UAW or be thrown out. 

In their dirty attacks on the working class, the bosses and their proxies in the news-media have been using the language of de-growth to attack the idea that UAW members should be fairly compensated for their work. Their opining at the idea that someone should be able to make a living off of an honest day’s work, as “unfair,” and their portrayal of these men and women as “lazy and entitled,” seeks to turn public sentiment against fellow workers on the basis of a lie. The lie that presupposes the entire ideology of our ruling class. That the success or prosperity of one person is necessarily at the expense of another, that our economy is a hermetically sealed vacuum in which no growth or expansion is possible without harming someone else. We say that not only are the UAW entitled to a fulfilling and prosperous life on the basis of an honest day’s work but that every man and woman, not only in the United States but around the world is entitled to such a life. It is in the interest of all of us to stand with the UAW and to oppose the de-growth and austerity pushed on us by greedy bosses looking to cling to their profits.