AICCTU Solidarity Message with UAW

Dear Shawn Fain and comrades of the UAW,

Greetings from the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), India.

First of all, from the entire rank and file of AICCTU, we extend our unwavering solidarity and support to the on-going historic strike of United Auto Workers (UAW) against the ‘Big Three’. We also congratulate the UAW and its leadership, who have successfully ushered a new era of radical working-class movement in the union.

Post the COVID19 pandemic, in the US, India and across the globe, we witness a new wave of accelerated and aggressive onslaught by the corporate forces. Backed by the governments, the corporate and neoliberal forces under the false flag of ‘losses,’ are shifting the blame on the poor and toiling masses. On one hand, governments are shedding our millions of public money to bail-out corporate companies, on the other we witness the billionaires becoming richer.

In case of the US, the Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (the Big Three Automobile Companies) made a combined profit of $21 billion in just the first six months of this year. But the wages of the workers, whose labor and sweat built and shaped the products of the ‘Big Three’ remain stagnant.

In the veil of crisis, the salaries of workers are either slashed or stagnated, social security benefits are being withdrawn and safety regulations are sacrificed in the altar of corporate profits. In India and other countries of the Global South, the hard-won labor rights and laws are being dismantled and replaced with laws that suit the corporates. As the rich becomes richer, working classes and toiling masses are thrown under the bus of austerity. With skyrocketing prices of essential commodities and unemployment, the new neoliberal onslaught has pushed people into immense suffering.

The growing corporate assault on the lives and livelihood has created a wide-spread resentment among the working class across the world. In past years, we have witnessed several historic workers’ strike actions across the world, including India. In India, the historic farmers’ movement in 2020-2021 forced the fascist-neoliberal government of Modi-led BJP government to withdraw the three farm laws aimed at turning the farmers into corporate slaves. Presently, the workers and farmers are unitedly gearing up to resist and thwart the corporate attacks by government of India.

We, reiterate our support to the demands of UAW for new contract with a 32-hour workweek, 42% pay increases (in conjunction with inflation and to match the average pay increases of the CEOs at the three companies) and pension benefits among others. 

We, once again congratulate the comrades of UAW for their historic action and we wish all success. We believe that the on-going battle against the ‘Big Three,’ will mark a new era in history of radical labor movement in the US. 

In solidarity

AICCTU HQ