Assistant Director's Report
Recent Rallies Successful
A short notice—a huge response. When the call went out for Region 1C to send members to Washington, D.C., to protest our trade relations with China, over 500 answered the call.
As always, the local union leadership responded, the local union retired workers chapters responded, and the CAP department in Solidarity House responded. It was a very well organized rally that made it clear organized labor is together and willing to take on the challenge to deal with the facts. As Janie Petit financial secretary of UAW Local 1292, put in her local union paper "Global inequality continues to grow and governments are forced to compete with each other in a race to the bottom in which workers and communities are the clear losers." We may have lost the first battle in this war, but we are going to continue to fight.
Cal and I would like to thank all of you for making the May I.I. Stanley rally in Battle Creek a great success. This is a very anti-union company that has been engaged in a vicious attack on the 600 I.I. Stanley workers for the past years. It was great to see members from TOP, IPS and GM support the workers there who are trying to have a fair election for representation by the UAW. I believe that if the average worker knew the threats and intimidation that workers have to go through in order to organize, they would be surprised.
Surveys prove that the majority of Americans support the right of workers to unionize, but what they fail to see and realize is that workers are not given a fair opportunity. The company almost always breaks the law. We are the greatest country on earth, but working people are being taken advantage of by big business. We must walk and talk these issues. If you have questions, please seek answers through your local union structure, or the Organizing or CAP departments at your regional office.
Cal and I would like to thank you for all your hard work and dedication.
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