Feb 04
UAW 2244 at NUMMI Toyota GM plant in Fremont, California has lost their jobs to the plant being closed. Forgotten by GM and a decent closure response from Toyota gives them some fairness but what strikes me about this closure is how the UAW hierarchy is handling the closure in representing them.
Some the same concerns they seem to be going through with UAW are the same that we endured here in Elkhart, Indiana.
Labor Video Project reports that,
“Union meetings have been cancelled violating the union’s bylaws and members are angry about the failure of the union to represent them and many feel that the 17.5% investment in GM is the reason the union has left GM off the hook.”
Those allegations of UAW not representing the members are bogus. They come from the workers who are anti-union/pro-company. The main figurehead in the opposition to the union is Juan Castillo, who is a committeeman, but was elected under false pretenses. He has revealed recently, that he is a Republican in his Autoworkers News website
The recent videos of the near riot was a setup. Looking the video pointing towards the front, you can hear the guy who was yelling at Javier in the front make his way back to the cameraman after the ruckus started. They were quite happy after inciting a riot and talked a bit about it. it starts at about 1:15:
nummi_uaw_meeting.mp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj32Okmz-ho
Don’t get played. Juan Castillo and Maria Gregg are “activists” working for the company and muddying the waters of the debate and directing attention away from the real reasons why NUMMI is shutting down. To put it simply, Toyota is shutting down NUMMI because its their only union plant. With NUMMI out of the way, they will be free to lower wages at the rest of their plants.
Yes but have union meeting been canceled?