GM threatens closure to force concessions

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Restaurant Employees Union, Local 2, rallied on Aug. 12 to protest union-busting contract proposals. They were joined by 3000 members of the American Postal Workers Union, in town for their convention, and by members of local cuts in sick leave, medical benefits, and pensions; a fouryear wage freeze; and shorter shifts. At the midnight hour, the Aug. 14 contract-expiration date was extended, but there is no doubt that Local 2—the city's largest union-faces a JUST RELAX...

HEALTH THIS WONT HURT CARE A BIT... 1524035 INCREASES FRAMINGHAM, Mass.—Three thou -sand auto workers at the General Motors assembly plant here were surprised on July 23 by the announcement of an unscheduled one-month layoff which began on Aug. 1.

Although the Framingham plant builds two of the best-selling cars in the country, the Chevrolet Celebrity and the Oldsmobile Ciera, GM spokepersons have offered only contradictory explanations for the lengthy shutdown.

GM plant spokesperson Ben Harrell said the shutdown was necessary because of high dealership inventories caused by sluggish Ciera sales and to retool for the new model year.

But Nettie Seabrooks, a GM spokes -person in Detroit, said that the Ciera has done well in sales. "We really don't have that many unsold Oldsmobiles," she said.

Workers at the Framingham plant said that it has been unnecessary in the past two years for the plant to close to make the few cosmetic changes on the cars between model years.

The layoff at the Framingham plant comes at a time when the future existence of the facility is in question. Management has said its future is dependent on the production of a new 1988 product, the APV front-wheel-drive van (GM-200 program).

Management stated that Framingham is a good location to assemble the GM-200 because a minimum investment for retooling would be required. The project promised that a new paint shop and a plastics plant would be added to the Framingham facility.

But in July, a Framingham Town Meeting rejected the zoning proposal for the construction of the new plastics plant. Shortly atter, GM announced the cancellation of plans to build the new facilities. GM's headquarters in Detroit sent out word that other sites are now being considered for the minivan production.

But this zoning problem is not the real unions.

Joe Ryan/Socialist Action reason for GM's change in plans. GM executives in Michigan said that "labor difficulties" were the real reason the company had ended plans to build the additional facilities.

GM Executive Vice President Lloyd Reuss said the company would need to close three assembly plants in North America by 1990 to reduce overcapacity and maximize profits. And to increase its profits, GM has demanded that workers accept major concessions and changes in the workplace.

Earlier in the year, UAW Local 422 rejected GM's request to renegotiate its contract to reduce pay, change the work rules, and cut the classifications from 100 to two. Local 422 soundly rejected the last national concessionary contract.

According to The Middlesex News, the construction plans in Framingham were canceled when GM failed to gain an early decision on labor costs.

Framingham auto workers know that one auto assembly plant after another across the country is being forced to accept Saturntype contracts that greatly reduce wages and change work rules by pitting worker against worker, local against local, and community against community. They, like so many other workers, have invested their lives in the communities surrounding their workplaces.

The workers at Framingham know that the cars they build are being sold and that a four-week layoff is not necessary when the model change will only take three hours. The feeling around the plant is that GM is attempting-through intimidation—to in -crease its profits by reducing the workers' wages and curtailing their job standards.

Many of the workers at Framingham feel it is possible to end concessions if the rank and file organize with a clarity of purpose within the plant and if they unify with locals across the country to defeat the only real enemy against their livelihoods: General Motors.

S.F. hotel bosses target union One thousand members of San Francisco's Hotel and Employers are pressing for a two-tier wage system; major major challenge in the months ahead.