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Socialist autoworker Will Lehman proposes three-point program to defend jobs at Warren Truck

Caradoc Wyn August 15, 2024

The following statement was made by Will Lehman, a socialist and Mack Trucks worker who ran for chairman of the United Auto Workers on a program to abolish bureaucracy and hand over control to the grassroots.

Will Lehman with the workers of Stellantis Warren Truck

Siblings,

Last Friday, Stellantis announced plans to lay off 2,500 workers at Warren Truck near Detroit. Autoworkers must prepare mass actions to stop the cuts before they take effect on October 8.

Workers around the world must defend the Warren Truck workers. This is one fight in a global battle for jobs that has already claimed 8,000 lives in the United States and many more around the world.

Stellantis workers in Canada, Mexico, Italy, France, Germany and elsewhere must defend their colleagues in America. Autoworkers in Detroit and across the United States, including striking workers at Dakkota Parts near Chicago, have a duty to defend Warren Truck workers.

What is needed is a rebellion against the UAW bureaucracy. These cuts were made possible by the new contract. The bureaucrats are working with management to support layoffs. They have lost any right to lead. Instead, the workers should replace them with leaders recruited from the factory and exercise leadership democratically through action committees.

That campaign must begin now. On Thursday, August 15, Warren Truck workers will attend a local union meeting where union officials will not answer questions honestly and will try to deflect blame. UAW members should throw the bureaucrats out of the room and turn the meeting into a discussion about how to organize a campaign to save the plant.

I suggest to my brothers and sisters at Warren Truck that they introduce the following three-point resolution at the meeting:

We, the autoworkers of Warren Truck, declare that we are prepared to take any action we deem necessary to defend our jobs. The new collective bargaining agreement, which UAW officials called a great victory, was passed under false pretenses. Therefore, it can only be considered null and void. Its terms are not binding on us, including all bans on strikes and other forms of self-help.
We call on our colleagues around the world to join us in a counter-offensive to defend jobs. We call on autoworkers at all plants to contact us to prepare joint actions.
We demand new elections for the UAW, overseen by rank-and-file workers, not UAW bureaucrats or the Department of Labor. By helping the companies fire us, the Shawn Fain administration and the entire UAW apparatus have lost the right to lead.

There is no time to waste. If you need help building action committees, fill out the form below and a representative from the Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committee Network will contact you promptly.

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Socialist autoworker Will Lehman proposes three-point program to defend jobs at Warren Truck

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Caradoc Wyn

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Socialist autoworker Will Lehman proposes three-point program to defend jobs at Warren Truck

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Caradoc Wyn

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