Cash for Clunkers Is Record-Setting Success
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The Obama administration’s “cash for clunkers” program, which expired yesterday, was a smashing success. It delivered important benefits to the environment and the U.S. economy, the UAW says. And one highly respected analyst reports the program spawned record car sales.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger pointed out that consumers responded enthusiastically to the program, which explains why it ran its course faster than anyone expected. He says:
In just a few weeks, Americans have traded in hundreds of thousands of older vehicles for new, higher-mileage models.
The result is higher fuel economy, lower carbon emissions—and an increase in production and employment that means increased opportunity for American workers and American companies.
Keep It Made in America: Our Future Depends On It
The pundits and politicians inside the Washington Beltway don’t get: If the United States continues to send its manufacturing jobs overseas—as General Motors and Chrysler are now proposing—the result will be more low-income U.S. families.
So today, workers, economists, academics and business and union leaders, fresh from the “Keep It Made in America” bus tour through the nation’s heartland, brought that message to the policymakers’ doorstep as part of a teach-in on Capitol Hill.
The 11-day, 34-city bus tour showcased the ripple effect on communities of the lost jobs in manufacturing. (See video.) Today, during the teach-in, those who took part brought the stories they heard along the tour and presented principles for revitalizing the auto industry to members of Congress and the press.
‘Keep It Made in America’ Bus Tour Kicks Off
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| Actor Danny Glover tells a Michigan crowd the value of saving U.S. auto jobs. |
With more than 7.2 million paychecks dependent on U.S. autos, a coalition of unions and allies is taking part in a nationwide ”Keep It Made in America” bus tour to send the message that millions of jobs are tied to the fate of the U.S. auto industry. The tour, which kicked off yesterday, will travel to 34 cities in 11 states and ends in Washington, D.C., May 19 for a daylong “teach-in” on the impact of the automotive supply chain in communities and to present a plan to save the auto industry.
The tour is sponsored by the United Steelworkers (USW), the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) and the Mayors and Municipalities Automotive Coalition (MMAC). Says Scott Paul, executive director of AAM:
We all have a stake in a strong domestic automobile industry. That’s why we will put forward a plan to strengthen the automotive supply chain and get America back to work.
Bus tour participants include actor and social activist Danny Glover, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, community leaders, elected officials, labor leaders and workers from steel, iron, glass, plastics and rubber, aluminum and auto parts facilities, along with local auto dealers, community employers and local community and elected leaders.
Gettelfinger: Everybody Has to Help Save Auto Industry
Workers alone cannot save the nation’s auto industry. All stakeholders have to participate, including management, board members, dealers, suppliers, secured and unsecured creditors, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says.
Speaking before the Automotive News World Conference in Detroit today, Gettelfinger said he looks forward to working with the Obama administration to rebuild the domestic auto industry. Click here to read the full speech.
He knows, and we know, that a strong manufacturing base, including a strong domestic auto industry, are vital to the future of the U.S. economy.
2008 in Review: Union Members: Yes, We Can; Yes, We Did
Here’s the final part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.
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Change was in the air—and on the way—in November, as the AFL-CIO’s biggest-ever political mobilization headed toward the finish line. Tens of thousands of union volunteers packed local union halls to phone bank or to talk with union family voters in neighborhoods around the country in the final get-out-the-vote push to elect Barack Obama and win even bigger working family majorities in Congress.
Obama chose a union hall as his last campaign stop. On Election Day morning, he popped into UAW Local 550’s Indianapolis phone bank. Said Keith Neargardener, UAW Region 3 CAP director:
You know, to make the union hall your last stop before becoming president sends such a great message. It shows how he’s not afraid to say the word union and to embrace and support unions openly.
Bailout Billionaires, Kill the Middle Class
We know how the bridge loan to automakers is being spent because the Bush administration made sure they only got aid after agreeing to tough stipulations.
So that accounts for $14.5 billion of our taxpayer money. But what about the rest of the $335.5 billion that went to Wall Street financial firms?
On “Morning Joe,” Joe Scarborough pointed out today that we do know how Wall Street spent $1.6 billion: on chauffeurs, company jets, home security, country club memberships and stock options.
Chrysler Shutdown Shows Need for Immediate Help for Automakers
After Chrysler announced it is shutting down all of its North American plants starting tomorrow, elected officials, union leaders and other industry supporters urged the Bush administration to immediately provide assistance to the auto industry or risk an economic tsunami in the nation’s manufacturing sector.
Citing a 47 percent drop in sales last month, Chrysler said late yesterday it will shut down all 30 of its North American plants at least until Jan. 19, putting 46,000 employees out of work. The plants are typically shut down from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day. The workers will receive holiday pay from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. After that, the workers will be considered laid off for the additional weeks their plants are shuttered. Some of the plants could be shut down into February, according to published reports.
Is Retired UAW Autoworker Dad Public Enemy No. 1?
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When you think of “Public Enemy No. 1,” you picture a Depression-era John Dillinger or maybe the UniBomber. But David R. Radtke says he has learned some shocking news—his dad, a retired UAW autoworker, might fit that bill.
Says Radtke:
“I have a confession. My father is an autoworker. I know that some people will recoil in disgust upon learning that fact, but it gets worse—he’s a retired UAW autoworker, and he and my mother live on a pension and have retiree health care benefits that supplement Medicare. In other words, he is public enemy No. 1 to Sens. Richard Shelby, Bob Corker and Jim DeMint.
“According to these senators, my dad and his cadre of active and retired UAW-represented autoworkers are responsible for this country’s economic downturn.”
‘Shockingly Little Oversight’ of Taxpayer $$$ in Wall Street Bailout
It should come as no surprise that the same Bush administration that gave suitcases full of taxpayer cash to Iraq with no accountability about how it was spent has done pretty much the same thing in its handling of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.
As Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren puts it:
There has been shockingly little oversight of the money.
Grinch McConnell Stole Autoworkers’ Christmas. Next Year, He Might Get Yours
The only items the Grinch stole from the good folks of Whoville were some jingtinglers, trumtookas and gardookas, along with their roast beast. But the Mitch who tried to steal Christmas from the autoworkers and their families was after a lot more serious loot—like health care, wages and their union cards.
In a new online campaign, “The Mitch Who Stole Christmas,” the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) says it’s time to tell Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that according to our list, all he gets for Christmas is a lump of coal. McConnell is one of the leading anti-worker lawmakers who killed an emergency loan to keep afloat the nation’s automakers, along with more than 3 million U.S. jobs.
CNA/NNOC Co-President Geri Jenkins, RN, says McConnell may have been after UAW members and their union this time,
but tomorrow it will be other working people’s wages and benefits.
