“The way they treat us we need a union,” said a worker who stopped and bought a paper from the team outside the Honda plant in Lincoln, Alabama, July 26. Nine workers bought copies of the paper before the team was urged to move on by local police.

Some workers, reporting they are paid starting wages from $12.50 to $14 and topping out in the $20-an-hour range, said they thought they were doing well. But others explained the heavy pace of production and treatment by the bosses made them think about what could be done to change conditions.

At two stoplights along Hyundai Boulevard in Montgomery, Alabama, July 28 workers from Hyundai and from the Glovis parts plant bought 21 Militants.

Alex Alvarado, a member of the Young Socialists and meat packer who joined the team from Miami, described a visit to the Canton, Mississippi, Nissan plant July 27. He said security guards quickly came out and moved the team away, but down the road at the Tower Automotive parts plant seven workers stopped and bought the paper. “The union needs to come out here” one worker told Alvarado.

The parts plant workers generally earn less than those in the main production plants. The push for production means that workers at Tower, for example, worked until the needed parts for production were done, meaning very long days. The United Auto Workers union recently set up an office in the area, citing the increase in phone calls they were getting from workers at the parts and production plants.

The team also visited the Mercedes plant in Vance, Alabama, and the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and sold outside one coal mine, three textile mills, and local shopping centers along the way.

Speaking at a Militant Labor Forum in Atlanta on July 30, Chauncey Robinson, a Young Socialist from Newark, New Jersey, explained she had been reluctant to join the team at first because she was afraid of what conditions and attitudes were like in the South towards Blacks. But after seeing several cities, touring the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, and speaking with workers and students she came away with a different impression. “Things were not like what I thought. The team saw Blacks, whites, and women driving out of the auto plants. This is a region with a history of struggle and there are people who want to be a part of fighting for better conditions today.”

Just a week after returning from the team, Robinson is planning to attend the World Festival of Youth and Students in Caracas, Venezuela. Five other participants in the effort are also going to the festival. Robinson said she planned to share these experiences about the class struggle in the United States with those she meets at the festival.
 
 
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