The following resolution passed at the UAWD Mid-Year General Membership Meeting held on January 30, 2022.
WHEREAS; the corporate drive for profit, including that of the auto companies, is the primary cause of the climate catastrophe that has led to an increase in floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, glacial melting, rising sea levels and other not-so-natural disasters, and
WHEREAS; the auto companies are now trying to clean up – or “green” up – by spending tens of billions of dollars, funds that come from the labor of auto workers and especially derived from the concessions we have been forced to grant over the past decades; to convert to all-electric vehicles (EVs), eventually eliminating fossil fuel burning vehicles,
WHEREAS; It has been documented that the assembly of electric vehicles requires 30% less labor time than the current assembly of internal combustion vehicles;
WHEREAS; the transition to EV’s is leading to the auto companies outsourcing parts production to new “joint ventures” largely funded by the auto companies where union recognition is not guaranteed and where the companies are attempting to remove these workers from coverage under the current UAW contracts;
WHEREAS; as the auto companies are using the fruits of our labor to fund the investment billions of dollars to transition into EV’s, UAW auto workers have a property right to our jobs and to demand that our jobs, wages and benefits be guaranteed during the transition to EV production;
WHEREAS; Demands for shorter work week and guaranteed lifetime jobs are part of the history of the UAW and were only abandoned in the recent period of union-corporate collaboration that corrupted our once great union;
WHEREAS; the auto companies who helped create the climate crisis cannot be trusted to guarantee that the shift to electric vehicles is done in an environmentally safe manner, especially where the minerals for the electric batteries are derived by exploiting fellow workers in developing nations throughout the world.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Unite All Workers for Democracy will adopt a platform and strategy for the transition to electric vehicles based on the following principles:
- The UAW must embrace the demand for a short work week, 30 hours work for 40 hours pay, to insure that our members get the benefits from the shorter work time needed for EV production as a result of new technology.
- The UAW must demand and be ready to fight to insure automatic union recognition in all joint ventures associated with EV parts production, and that workers at those plants be covered under the UAW contract with no reduction of wages and benefits–no new tiers!
- The UAW must build solidarity with workers around the world involved in EV vehicle production
- The UAW must demand guaranteed lifetime jobs for all current auto workers to insure the stability of our membership during the transition to EV production,
- The UAW must launch a serious organizing drive based on this program to bring workers at Tesla, Toyota, Nissan, Volkswagen, BMW and other transplants into the union,
- The UAW must demand that closed plants be reopened for the production of products that can help protect the environment by reducing our carbon footprint, such as solar panels and wind turbines and mass transit vehicles.
- The union must set up a commission on the transition to EV production, utilizing the many scientists who have become UAW members in the recent period, to insure that the transition be accomplished in an environmentally safe manner that will serve all humanity.