Community protests GM plant closing

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NORWOOD, Ohio-On Sunday, May 3, an estimated 4000 people demonstrated against the closing of a General Motor's assembly plant that employs 4300 workers. The plant is scheduled to close Aug. 26.

Labor officials, who had billed the action as a "March For Fair Trade," urged the crowd to "Buy American." Sen. Howard Metzenbaum called for support to the Gephardt amendment, which would prohibit a foreign country from exporting to the United States more than 175 percent of the amount of U.S. goods it imports.

This protectionist proposal would only harm workers in both countries. Plant closings cannot be stopped by supporting "fair trade" legislation such as the Gephardt amendment.

Such legislation takes the side of an American corporation against a foreign corporation. It is a fight about profits— about which capitalist will enlarge its share of the market at the other's expense. It is not in the interest of working people to take sides in such a fight—no matter what the labor bureaucrats or the Democratic and Republican politicians say.

Concessions don't save jobs In November 1986, GM announced the closing of 11 plants by the end of the decade. Two of the plants are located near Cincinnati: the Norwood plant and the Hamilton-Fairfield plant.

Within a month the United Auto Workers union (UAW) proposed and won approval from the workers at both plants for concessions in an effort to convince GM to keep the plants in operation.

The Norwood proposals called for increasing the assembly-line speed by 10 percent and the establishment of an employee drug-testing program. The inclusion of union representatives on the testing committee scarcely improved the proposal.

Labor bureaucrats support concessions to save their jobs, not those of the rank and file. Concessions can only be stopped by the rank and file mobilizing themselves, other unions, and the community for an all-out fight to defend their jobs and standard of living.

Property tax increase

A special election was held May 5 to pass a tax levy, which would raise $2.1 million in additional revenue. City officials claimed it was necessary to pass this levy to offset the loss of jobs and a cut of $545,000 in federal funds. The tax levy was narrowly defeated-but it was promptly announced that it would be on the ballot again in November.

Neither the Republicans or the Demo -crats are able to save our cities from bankruptcy and decay. Their only proposal is to put the burden of taxation on those least able to pay. What is needed is a labor party based on the unions and other working-class organizations.

A labor party would oppose any additional taxes on working people and demand that the money now going to the military budget be used to fund publicworks projects, to provide needed services like child-care, and to pay unemployment benefits at union scale.

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