Thousands march for Flint strikers

By Michael Woodward

This article was reprinted from the July 25, 1998 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

FLINT, Mich. - Ron Underwood from Albany, Ga. was among the thousands who came to Flint on July 20 to support 9,200 members of the Auto Workers Union (UAW) on strike at the Flint Metal Center and the Delphi East plant of General Motors.

Underwood, president of UAW Local 2082, presented the strikers with a check for $4,022 which included donations from each of the local's 67 members. Underwood said his members will be out of work when the plant closes at the end of July.

"We've got to stop them sometime," he said, his voice nearly lost in the blare of horns from passing cars and trucks.

Underwood's determination was shared by others, some who came from major auto centers in the Midwest, others from plants in Texas, Mississippi and points east and west.

Jeff Dupruis, a laid-off pipefitter from GM's plant in Pontiac, Mich., has been doing regular picket duty since the strikes began in early June. He sees a "resurgence" of the labor movement and said if workers don't take a stand now, "our kids and grandkids won't have a future."

Bob Lagarde, a die maker apprentice at Flint Metal, told the World strikers are "overwhelmed" by the support they're getting. "We'll sit it out as long as we have to," he said. Kendall Martin shared those sentiments. "People have to stick together or they won't have any jobs," he said.

Flint native son, filmmaker Michael Moore, also spoke at the Delphi rally. Moore is best known for his movie, "Roger and Me," which exposed how GM plant closures had gutted Flint. The rallies coincided with a meeting of the UAW's GM Council whose members came to Flint for a strike update.

Vice-president Richard Shoemaker, who heads up negotiations for the union, told the 300 council members, "The longer this goes, the more and more Labor Day looks like a possibility [for the strike to continue to]."

Shoemaker called attention to the $27 billion in profits that GM has made since 1993. GM paid its top execs $22 million in 1996-97, in addition to $35 million in stock options.

"Nobody on God's green earth is worth that much money," he said, "and if they are, workers are worth a whole lot more."

UAW President Steve Yokich led the crowd at Flint Metal in chanting the slogan of the strike, "One day longer," and characterized the strike as "an all-out war" for dignity and honesty at the bargaining table. "That's what we'll get or we'll be here till Christmas."

Yokich said GM's recent financial success had emboldened management to return to the company's old ways. "They have to get their culture back to where it belongs," Yokich said. "this is 1998. They act like it was 1937." A sit-down strike forced GM to sign its first contract with the UAW on Feb. 11, 1937.

Nearly 186,000 GM workers at 26 assembly plants and over 100 parts plants have been idled by the strikes. To add to GM's woes, workers have authorized strikes at the Saturn plant in Tennessee, two brake plants in Dayton, Ohio, and a stamping plant in Indianapolis.

Strike votes are pending at Buick City in Flint and the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The strike authorization at Saturn is especially embarrassing for GM, given the company's history of showcasing the plant as a model for labor/management "cooperation" (see related story).

GM, whose losses are estimated at more than $1.2 billion and increasing by $80 million a week, is seeking a court order to end the walkouts. The company claims that the UAW is using local issues to wage a nationwide shutdown aimed at thwarting efforts to cut costs and increase productivity.

UAW leaders counter that GM has reneged on an agreement to invest $13 million to upgrade the Flint Metal Center and point to numerous grievances over local health, safety, and production issues. If the arbitrator rules that the strikes are illegal, GM could ask the court to order strikers back to work and impose financial penalties on the UAW. Analysts say that the burden of proof is on GM and give its legal maneuvers little chance of success.

The federal judge hearing the case is the son of the judge who ordered the national guard to evict the sit-down strikers in 1937. That showdown never materialized because Gov. Charles Murphy refused to order the guard to storm the factory.

While local issues were the catalyst for the strikes, the underlying concern of workers is job security. GM employment in Flint has fallen by 45,000 since 1978. Workers fear that GM's refusal to upgrade its Flint facilities and recent announcements regarding new overseas investment signals the demise of auto and truck production in Flint.

William Hairston, a product handler with 30 years at Flint Metal, told the World, "Job security is the main issue, they want to ship our jobs overseas to take advantage of cheap labor." Coworker Vel Bridges echoed Hairston. "GM wants to downsize," he said. "We're fighting to keep jobs here."