Vol. 74/No. 9      March 8, 2010

Supporters also introduced the Militant to auto workers in Fremont, California, whose jobs are being eliminated with the closure of the giant NUMMI auto plant there on April 1.

Workers gathered at the United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2244 hall February 13 to register with a “reemployment” service. They were anxious to talk about the impact the NUMMI plant closing will have on working people in this state, where unemployment is already more than 12 percent. The unionists purchased 21 copies of the Militant.

“This is the only Toyota plant in the country that is union,” Salvador Gomez, a worker with 16 years at NUMMI, pointed out. “That’s why they are pulling out. Toyota doesn’t want to pay the union wages and benefits.”

“I have 12 people living in my house,” said Deborah Arroyo-Barrza, a worker with 18 years in the plant. “My daughter lost her home a year ago and now my son has lost his home.” She and her husband, who also works at NUMMI, will both lose their jobs.

The NUMMI plant started as a joint venture of General Motors and Toyota in 1984. General Motors pulled out in June.

Arroyo-Barrza blames both GM and Toyota for the hardships the closing will bring, not only to the 4,700 NUMMI workers, but also to the estimated 40,000 workers in the area whose jobs are dependent on NUMMI staying open.

Like most workers we talked to she opposes the “boycott Toyota” campaign launched by UAW officials, a nationalistic campaign targeting Toyota, and not GM, as being responsible for the plant closing.

“It’s not right what either of these companies are doing,” she said. “The union has a ‘hate campaign’ going on against Toyota, but GM is responsible too. In fact, they were the first to pull out.”

Less than half of the 200 people who came to a union-sponsored rally to support the boycott on February 12 were NUMMI workers. A copy of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power, along with four copies of the Militant, were sold at the rally. Another worker bought a copy of the book outside the union hall the next day.  
 
Transit workers reject concessions
In San Francisco, members of Transport Workers Union Local 250-A were voting February 15 on whether to reopen their contract and agree to concessions. Mayor Gavin Newsom had proposed that workers pay an extra $9 million of their pension costs next year and that overtime be paid only after 40 hours of work. These steps, city officials argue, are to raise $15 million to help make up for a decline in public funding due to the economic crisis. Workers turned down the union-busting proposals with 857 voting against and 575 in favor.

About a dozen of the unionists picked up the Militant. One driver bought a copy of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power along with The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning. He said that he planned to give them to his children who attend local colleges. At the Balboa Park division yard, a student from nearby City College stopped to talk to the Militant sales team. He bought a copy of the book at the special $10 discounted price along with an introductory Militant subscription and kicked in a couple of dollars for the cause.

The day after the vote the San Francisco Chronicle ran an editorial titled “Muni operators throw city under the bus,” which threatened that if the workers “continue refusing to share any of the burden, the [transit] board will have to cut service by 10 percent and double the price of a monthly pass for seniors, young people and the disabled.”

“Labor is the biggest piece of the pie,” San Francisco MTA spokesman Judson True told the San Francisco Examiner. “Reducing labor costs is crucial to addressing our budget challenge.”

“Every time the city asks us for something, they say it’s just for one year,” bus driver Benjamin Narag told the Chronicle, explaining his opposition to the concession package. “Then they ask for more.”

Militant supporters here have sold 85 copies of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power. This includes three at plant gates, eight on the job, and eight to students.
 
 
Related articles:
Millions of workers have no job prospects in ‘recovery’
Rhode Island high school fires all 74 teachers to bust union
On the Picket Line  
 
 
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