Strong opposition at final Chrysler plant voting on UAW contract

On Wednesday, after an intensive campaign of lies and threats by the UAW bureaucracy, which preyed upon economic insecurity of workers, the UAW was able to reverse the series of earlier rejections and push the contract through at four major factories in the Detroit area. Having experienced years of betrayals workers had no confidence the UAW would lead any serious fight against Chrysler and its new Wall Street owners, Cerberus Capital Management, and reluctantly accepted the deal.

With those votes, Chrysler and UAW officials announced the contract had won approval by 56 percent of those who had voted and that, even if the Belvidere local rejected the deal, it would pass nationally. Nevertheless many workers at the plant decided to stand up to the intimidation of the UAW and vote ‘no’ on a deal that would reduce wages of future workers by half, freeze current workers’ wages and relieve the company of its obligation to pay retiree health care benefits.

The workforce at the factory, which is located near Rockford, Illinois, 70 miles west of Chicago, includes, as one worker put it, a “melting pot” of workers who have been forced to transfer from dozens of Chrysler factories, as far away as Huntsville, Alabama; Syracuse, New York; and Newark, Delaware, to name just a few.

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