American Auto Workers seeking bit more of the cake

 

The President of the American United Auto Workers (UAW) has been ‘"talking about capitalism and the nature of capitalism and how it's really hurt workers.”’

Recently elected Fain, made a speech highlighting members' demands for ‘a significant pay raise to make up for years of concessions by the union following the Great Recession, the rising cost of living and inflation, and to match pay increases enjoyed by the CEOs of the Big Three’.

He’s quoted as saying ,’"Big Three CEOS saw their pay spike 40% on average over the last four years," said Fain. "We know our members are worth the same and more”.

‘Ahead of a September 14 deadline, after which the UAW could go on strike, the union is demanding an immediate 20% pay raise followed by an additional 5% raise in each year of the four-year contract’.

‘According to the union, most new workers start out making $16 per hour, but if cost-of-living increases had been maintained since the Great Recession, the starting wage would be $28.68—about $21,000 more per year’.

The union also wants ‘a return of the defined benefit pension, which would give retired workers a set amount of money each month; the right to strike if a company threatens to close a plant; more paid time off; restored cost-of-living allowance increases; and other provisions’.

The Union President ‘spoke about the potential to shift to a 32-hour work-week to allow workers to spend more time with their families’.

‘"Our members are working 60, 70, even 80 hours a week just to make ends meet—that's not a living. We have to work longer and harder to maintain the same standard of living... That means missing Little League games and family reunions. That's barely surviving, and it needs to stop," he said.

Shawn Fain would seem to very well know that capitalism’s profits come from the surplus value extracted from workers: The car companies can ‘ "easily" afford to substantially increase workers' wages. The companies have made a quarter of a trillion dollars in North American profits over the past 10 years, and reported a combined $21 billion in profits in the first half of this year. Record profits mean record contracts. They've been competitive on our backs and it's time they pay up”.’

An apologist for capitalism, a former hedge fund manager, hosting a CNBC programme is apparently shocked at workers demanding even a slighter bigger slice of the cake. He has called the demands ‘"frightening" for advocating for a wage increase to reflect the record profits the companies have reported in recent years’.

The anchor has refuted ‘Fain's suggestion that Big Three shareholders and CEOs have been "overly rewarded" and scoffed at the notion that shareholders are "fat cats.” ‘

‘"That's class warfare and it's very shocking to hear class warfare," said Cramer’.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/uaw-contract

Sounds like someone should have a conversation with the World Socialist Party of the United States (WSPUS). And that includes the President and the members of the UAW too.

It’s commendable that workers should use their collective strength to improve their living standards under capitalism but it is, as best, a short term solution to the exploitation of the working class.

The real, and only, solution is the collective working toward the abolition of capitalism and its replacement with socialism.