BY JOHN SARGE
FLINT, Michigan - To a cacophony of honking horns and shouts of unionists gathered outside, members of United Auto Workers Local 659 streamed out of the General Motors (GM) Metal Fabrication Center here June 5. The workers immediately established picket lines numbering in the dozens at each of the factory's three gates. One handmade sign spoke for many workers, pledging, "For as long as it takes."

This is the first strike at this facility since the last national strike against GM, in 1970. The strike was called over local health and safety issues, production standards, and subcontracting. But at the root of the walkout is the auto giant's refusal to live up to a 1996 agreement to invest in the plant and guarantee the jobs of the 3,400 local union members. Press reports indicate that GM wants to eliminate almost 200 jobs at the plant.

Auto workers in Flint, the birthplace of GM, have been a special target of the company's drive to cut its workforce and raise productivity as its market share shrinks. In the last 20 years the auto bosses have slashed almost 50,000 jobs in this city. In 1978 GM had 77,000 employees here; today it has 27,000. The Buick City assembly plant is slated to close in 1999, affecting another 2,900 union workers.

Bill Kyle, a quality technician at the plant with almost 24 years' seniority, summed up what worker after worker on the picket line had to say. "We can't give anymore," he said. "You have to do something. Every time you turn around, they're taking jobs out of here."

Spirits on the picket lines are high. Besides the red- and-white and green-and-white signs declaring "UAW on Strike" at each gate, some strikers carry handmade signs. One popular placard says, "You can't trust a thief in the night," referring to what the bosses did over the Memorial Day holiday.

That weekend the company announced a shutdown of the whole Metal Fabrication Center, even for skilled tradespeople, who usually work holidays. They then brought in contractors and removed dies and tools for forming sheet- metal panels from the factory. The dies are for GM's newest truck, scheduled to begin production this month. Two days before the strike, the bosses hired a trucking company to remove racks for the parts the dies form, but the union mobilized about 100 officials and members to block the shipment.

This is the seventh strike against a GM plant in the last year and a half. The plant stamps fenders, hoods, engine cradles, and other parts for most of GM's full-size trucks, vans, and some cars, supplying 17 assembly plants from Oshawa, Ontario, to Silao, Mexico.

The effects of the work stoppage are being felt in other facilities around the country. As of June 10, the auto giant had closed seven assembly plants in the United States and Canada, as well as three parts plants. More than 18,000 workers have been idled.

The auto giant has made it clear it plans to drive ahead with its speedup and job cuts. GM official Donald Hackworth said, "The real issues are the noncompetitive work practices at this plant that do not allow the equipment to reach its designed output."

In March 1996 GM tried to turn a 17-day strike at two UAW-organized parts plants in Dayton, Ohio, into a lockout of 180,000 auto workers in North America by refusing to meet the workers' demands and shutting down 26 of its 29 North American assembly plants, blaming parts shortages due to the strike. The auto bosses then tried to block unemployment and other benefits for the laid-off workers. In face of the auto giant's demands, however, many workers have expressed their readiness for a fight. Mike Gillespie, with 23 years on the line at GM, said, "We've got to settle all the grievances, bring the dies back, and make them keep their promises." He added, "No matter how long it takes, we're going to stay out here."

John Sarge is a member of the UAW in Wayne, Michigan, and is the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress in Michigan's 14th District.  
 
 
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