Berkeley professor Harley Shaiken:
Globalization rules not inevitable
Delegates welcomed back one of America’s most respected experts on the impact of globalization on working people, professor Harley Shaiken, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
Shaiken began with a virtual trip down the halls of UAW Local 600, which represents workers at Ford Motor Co.’s Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Mich. He described the fight to organize Ford and the broad social benefits that resulted.
“What the UAW did was create a bridge to the middle class. The higher wages won by the UAW spread throughout the economy and the whole economy benefited,” Shaiken said. “The pressures of globalization have forced millions of Americans to cross that bridge in a reverse direction out of the middle class.”
Current rules of globalization affecting workers of all countries are not inevitable, Shaiken said.
“The issue isn’t globalization itself, but the rules of the game which determine who wins and who loses,” he said, adding: “That’s why we need national health insurance, labor rights in trade agreements that allow wages to rise in developing countries, and labor rights in this country that allow workers to freely choose whether they want a union.”
FROM THE FLOOR
Matthew Gianno
UAW Local 686 unit shop chair
Lockport, N.Y.
Who they are: This amalgamated local represents many UAW members, including more than 4,700 who produce radiators, oil coolers, condensers, evaporators and HVAC units at Delphi Harrison Thermal Systems.
His issues: “Our members have taken on the anxiety of the looming Delphi bankruptcy. It’s hard because they want action now, but I tell them our No. 1 priority is to come to work, do our jobs well and continue to get trained, because nobody has taken anything away from us yet. Some of the new people have UAW relatives, so they are familiar with the union, but others are still learning.”
Bill Pickering
UAW Local 259 president
Long Island, N.Y.
Who they are: This local has been representing members at N.Y.-area auto dealerships since 1957, covering utility workers to service shop personnel. They currently represent more than 1,800 at 96 dealerships in the New York, Long Island and New Jersey area.
What’s new: “We also represent workers at foreign-model dealerships, including Toyota, Nissan and Volkswagen. We represent the worker, not the product.”
His issue: “We care about all issues affecting all working men and women: health care, trade and workers’ rights. But we also care about the preservation and advancement of the working class.”
