 We all, union’s members, activists and workers from automakers in Brazil, USA, Colombia, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Italy and France, are summoning for January, 23 a very important action day to stop the attacks made by the multinational General Motors against the workers of its assembly plants around the world. We’ve realized that GM has operated a world wide restructuring plan. They want us to pay for a crisis that we haven’t created. Such attacks result in worsened working conditions, reduction of labor rights, pay cuts, full or partial closure of production units and thousands of layoffs around the world. Unfortunately, GM keeps this restructuring process as a means to achieve higher profits. For that reason, the company has caused more and more damage to the workers. In US they announced the closure of Michigan’s plant at Grand Blanc. We are very worried about the consequences that will charge the workers with the costs. GM has been destroying jobs and rights in its own country in recent years. In the next days the company is going to fire about 1800 workers from its biggest Brazilian’s plant, at São José dos Campos, with a clear objective of cutting higher wages and to breach vested rights, even after it has been given tax cuts by the Brazilian government that resulted in increased sales. In Argentina, the working conditions are worsening, including hard attacks on the worker’s rank and file organizations and firing of injured workers. In Colombia, bad work conditions lead to hundreds of injured workers who have been continually dismissed by the company without anycompensation nor any kind of severance package. In Spain, occupational health at work is getting worse due to increasing production pace, while the company doesn’t want to accept its responsibility for labor accidents.  In Germany’s GM plant of OPEL/GM Bochum the company wants to close a very important unit causing the dismissal of thousands of workers who has dedicated their whole life working at the plant to support their families. At Eisenach-Germany the night shift was closed. One of their suppliers will have to close and a lot of jobs are at stake all over the city. In Glivice (Poland) the night shift is also closing, putting more jobs at stake. In Ellesmere Port (UK), the employees were blackmailed to freeze their wages and to accept a flexible shift of work on weekends. In Sweden the GM sold the Saab’s plant to Chinese companies and most of the employees are losing their jobs. In Aulnay-sous-bois, it was announced the PSA’s factory closure and more than 3.000 workers are on strike. We render solidarity with the workers and support their struggle to keep their jobs. We also render solidarity with workers who make stand against attacks from other cars assembly plants such as Ford, Chrysler, FIAT and Ferrari. FIAT and Ferrari’s workers in Italy are fighting back to resist attempts of rights flexibilization. This situation is similar to other GM plants across the world Just like other automakers, GM intends to split workers from a country or from different countries, by threatening them with the closure of plants if they don’t accept the conditions imposed by the company. Blackmailing has been a weapon used by automakers to try to make workers from a plant to oppose to workers of other countries. Nowadays it is possible that workers across the world unite to become able to defeat even the big international monopolies such as GM. Therefore, we must unite, step by step, through the coordination and unification of struggles around the world. The crazy production pace in the company, which wants to produce more with fewer workers, makes the number of work-related injuries to increase. The company, in turn, denies being responsible for such injuries and fires the workers in spite of legal prohibition in many countries. For this reason, we uphold that working must be a means of keeping one’s family, not a source of diseases and deaths.  We demand healthier and safety working conditions in GM plants and the end of persecutions of injured workers or victims of labor accidents. Besides, those who were fired must be hired back. GM workers have the right of organizing to defend their rights, but when they do so, their unions are persecuted and their grass-root organizations are jeopardized. We fight for the right of Union organization and for the respect to the labor agreements. We summon all workers and unions from all GM plants around the world to unite and fraternize with one another to defend our interests. We fight for: 1. Against the closure of GM, OPEL and PSA plants. 2. Against the layoffs; 3. For job stability, a measure that should be supported by every government, especially those that have granted benefits to automakers with public funds. 4. Reduction of working hours without pay loss; 5. No to precarious work and the rights flexibilization; 6. Best working conditions; stop mistreating injured workers; 7. Readmission of injured workers fired from GM-Colombia and support to members of ASOTRECOL We make a commitment to carry out discussions like this in the workplaces and to organize this campaign. We are summoning all organizations that are related to GM to struggle by our side. Because of this we are here, in a global action day demonstrating to the whole world that the General Motors cannot disrespect and submit its workers to this degrading situation, may it be through layoffs or pay and rights cuts. We will be able to strengthen our fights, demands and rights through union and solidarity. It’s time to struggle! Let’s fight together! Against GM global attacks, lets globalize our unity and struggle! January 23, 2013 Autoworkers from Brazil, USA, Colombia, Argentina, Germany, Spain, Italy and France |