Tag Archive for: international solidarity

The UAW stands in solidarity with striking auto workers at the General Motors assembly plant in São José dos Campos, Brazil. Workers at the facility are protesting the company’s recent unjust layoffs and retaliatory firings, decisions that were made in the name of corporate greed.

Workers at the facility, who are represented by the Metalworkers Union of São José dos Campos, have conducted two strikes since last Friday. They are demanding the reinstatement of 50 workers laid off by GM last week. They are also demanding job security and the opening of the Voluntary Dismissal Program if layoffs are inevitable.

What’s been made evidently clear by these arbitrary decisions is that GM is attempting to union-bust and cut labor costs at a time when the company is raking in billions of dollars. GM amassed over $10 billion in profits in 2023 alone. The company looks poised to have an even stronger year in 2024.

“This type of behavior by General Motors is unnecessary and unconscionable,” said UAW Vice President Mike Booth. “There is absolutely no reason why this corporation should be cutting jobs that will so negatively affect the lives of its workers and the local community at a time of record profits. The UAW is committed to supporting these brave workers and the Metalworkers Union in any way we can.”

The GM São José dos Campos plant produces the Trailblazer and S10 models, as well as engines and transmissions. The automaker employs around 3,150 workers in the city.

DETROIT — On Wednesday, the UAW International Executive Board voted to establish a new solidarity project to support autoworkers in Mexico fighting for economic justice and improved working conditions.  
 
The project will provide resources to Mexican workers and independent unions in Mexico, and aims to strengthen cross-border solidarity between U.S. and Mexican workers.  

For decades, corporations have taken advantage of inadequate trade laws to offshore thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs to Mexico where worker wages and conditions have long been suppressed. Corporations use the threat of offshoring jobs as a cudgel to beat back worker discontent and organizing efforts in the U.S.  

Mexican autoworker wages have fallen dramatically since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. Under NAFTA, Mexico’s automotive workforce has grown seven-fold, while wages, benefits, and working conditions continue to fall behind.

The announcement of the UAW’s Mexico solidarity effort comes during a pivotal moment for the UAW, as over 10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in an effort to join the UAW. On Tuesday, the UAW announced it was committing $40 million through 2026 in new organizing funds to support non-union autoworkers and battery workers who are organizing across the U.S.