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Demonstrations Throughout California Demand Lawmakers Take Action to Save US Auto Industry

Members of the United Auto Workers Local 2244 were joined by other union members at a rally at the San Francisco office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Dec. 6 to call on Congress to support a federal bridge loan plan for the auto industry.

About 100 demonstrators rallied. The action was organized by the Central Labor Council of Alameda County, where members of UAW 2244 are based, and supported by the SF Labor Council. The UAW members work at the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont that makes vehicles for Toyota and General Motors.

At press time, Congress was expected to approve some kind of deal to keep the Big Three U.S. auto manufacturers operating. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger had testified before Congress the week before and warned that if Congress doesn’t approve emergency loan legislation soon, job losses will ripple not just through the auto industry but through the entire economy.

Reporting on the AFL-CIO’s online blog, Mike Hall noted that, “Gettelfinger said the union is willing to ‘take the extra step’ to aid the industry. Union leaders, he said, have agreed to delay automakers’ payments to a union-administered health care fund and to modify the union’s job banks program that provides laid-off workers with a portion of their wages and benefits. But he reiterated that UAW members already have agreed to wage and benefit concessions that have lowered labor costs at the Big Three. Terms of the current contract will lower those costs even further.”

Hall added that, “During the debate on the auto industry assistance, news reports – especially conservative commentators – have focused on labor costs. … But labor costs are just about 10 percent of the costs of producing a vehicle. The other 90 percent includes research and development, parts, advertising, marketing and management overhead.”

United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard pointed out during an appearance on Monday on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show that blaming workers is a “phony attack,” explaining that, “An auto worker who makes $57,000 a year, working some overtime, who produces a good car, who has a half-decent pension who now has had their pension equity whacked by more corruption and calamity on Wall Street, who has some decent health care after working 30 or 40 years in the workplace, an employer that’s trying to provide that health care because it’s the only country on earth where society doesn’t get its health care provided through a universal system … And all of the sudden, we’re going to blame the workers? It’s not the workers’ fault.”

At the San Francisco rally, workers demanded that Congress support the auto industry during the nation’s current economic crisis and pointed out that the consequences of a collapse of the domestic auto companies would be devastating: three million jobs could be lost; pension and health care benefits for one million retirees, spouses and dependents would be cut; thousands of other businesses including dealers and suppliers would be threatened; huge pension and health care costs would be shifted to the federal government; and the ripple effect of the loss of sales tax revenues would further devastate state and local governments – resulting in further job losses. The rally came days after reports that over a half-million people had lost jobs in October.

UAW Region 5 International Representative Victor Quesada said, “It would be devastating if we don’t get the loan. These are American workers. It’d be a shame to lose such a big group of workers.”
Sen. Feinstein wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in November to support the auto industry, stating that, “Congress has the potential to help the American automotive industry establish itself as the world’s leading producer of fuel efficient, cost effective, advanced technology vehicles. But we must ensure that our limited funds are used to create technological breakthroughs.”

Alameda County Central Labor Council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Sharon Cornu said that she drove a Toyota Corolla made at the Fremont plant. “We can build union and we can build green,” she said. “The Fremont plant can set the pace for us.” She said union labor was the most productive and efficient. Cornu also echoed the UAW’s call for corporate accountability and capping CEO pay. “We’re in for a fight to protect middle class jobs,” she said.

Newly elected East Bay Assemblymember Nancy Skinner addressed the rally and told the autoworkers that – unlike the banks and other financial institutions bailed out with taxpayers’ money – “You are only asking for a loan, not a bailout like AIG. You’re demands are extremely reasonable. The economy depends on the workers and taking care of the workers, not corporate fat cats.”

Press reports noted that Chrysler and General Motors Corp. “are so perilously low on cash that the companies may not be able to pay all their bills by the end of the year. GM wants $18 billion in loans. Chrysler is seeking $7 billion, and both manufacturers say they need cash this month. Ford Motor Co., which borrowed billions before credit markets tightened, says it can survive through 2009 and may not need to tap the $9 billion credit line it requested.”

The UAW members were joined on the picket line in San Francisco by Chris Snyder and Pete Figuerido of Operating Engineers Local 3, as well as a handful of other union members. A rally of about 300 people was also held in Los Angeles, where auto workers were joined by electricians, the pipe trades, nurses and other union members at the federal courthouse in downtown L.A. The L.A. Times reported that “Passing cars honked horns as the marchers shouted: ‘Hey, hey, ho, ho! Bridge loan is the way to go!’ Many waved signs reading ‘Support the Bridge Loan’ and ‘All I Want for Christmas is a Job.’”