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July 28, 2012 - No. 30 Uphold the Dignity of Autoworkers How Should Workers Decide a Line of March to Defend Their Rights and Serve the Public Interest? Windsor autoworkers, Labour Day 2011. • Uphold the Dignity of Autoworkers September
Contract
Negotiations GM's
"Investment"
in
Research
and
Development Mexico Uphold the Dignity of AutoworkersWhose economy? Our
economy! Canadian autoworkers are determined to uphold their dignity during September CAW contract negotiations with executives from GM, Ford and Chrysler. Workers reject with contempt the campaign of lies and invective organized against them by auto executives and the monopoly-controlled mass media. Autoworkers and their fellow industrial workers contribute an enormous amount to the well-being and wealth of the people, economy and society. Autoworkers produce billions of dollars of value each year and are proud of their hard work and contribution to the economy and society. They deserve respect and a Canadian-standard of living not the abuse thrown at them by executives and mass media portraying them in a false light as some sort of "cost" to the auto monopolies and economy. What absurdity to label those workers who are the source of value as a cost. What insolence to demand workers accept concessions to reduce their legitimate claims on the value they produce merely to transfer it to the international financial oligarchy to fatten their already bulging coffers. The auto executives and monopoly-owned media such as the
Globe and Mail, Windsor Star and
other mass media outlets are campaigning to deprive
autoworkers of their rights as the producers of all value and
respectable leading members of society. They seek to put autoworkers on
the defensive and make them apologetic about their claim on the value
they produce. Autoworkers have every right to wages, benefits and
pensions commensurate with
the hard work they do and the value they produce so as to live a
cultured existence in security. They must insist that auto
executives and the mass media stop their anti-worker campaign and
recognize the rights of workers and their established standard of
living as the basis for equilibrium in the sector.
Workers have first right of claim on the value they produce. Governments have second claim on that value so they can fulfil their duties to provide the people and society with social programs, public services and infrastructure. Owners of capital have the last claim on the value autoworkers produce and only to the extent of a general rate of profit without handouts or subsidies from the public treasury leaving enough in retained earnings for renewal and reproduction of the Canadian productive forces and research and development. Executives do not want workers to remove from their brains any notion that there is an alternative to making anti-worker concessions. Concessions are not solutions to economic problems. They are destructive to the economy and workers' communities. Concessions are a clumsy attempt to divert public opinion from real solutions to the real problems the economy faces. They are a cash grab by owners of capital at the expense of the economy and those who produce the value. Autoworkers want equilibrium based on recognition of their rights and established standard of living so they can make their contribution to the economy in peace, security and dignity. But they are not afraid of a fight if necessary to bring these rogue executives to their senses. The concessions paraded in the mass media, such as destruction of pensions and health care benefits, lump sum payments instead of compound wage increases are a conspiracy against the rights and well-being of autoworkers and their communities. Concessions extorted under threat of disinvestment have led to the wrecking of the U.S. economy and a vast transfer of wealth from the working class to owners of capital generating misery, insecurity, poverty, unemployment and disequilibrium in society. Canadians are determined not to continue down that treacherous path and express their solidarity with U.S. and Mexican workers in turning the situation around and defeating the neoliberal attacks. The working class must not allow these executive wreckers and traitors to continue to take Canada on a downward anti-social spiral. Lump sum payments, other concessions and threats to destroy production are anti-worker crimes. Lump sum payments do not represent workers' legitimate claim on the value they produce. The value that workers produce is determined by time worked and the level of their expertise and experience. Lump sum payments perpetuate the myth that value magically arises from the marketplace and not the hard work of workers. Lump sum payments reflect the conditions of the crisis-ridden system and its problems that the authorities refuse to address. Besides, the self-serving monopolies can easily manipulate the lump sum payment in the same way they manipulate their corporate taxes based on self-declared enterprise profit using "creative" accounting. Unlike wages, lump sum payments are not compounded leading to an annual deterioration in pay and benefits, especially since most benefits and pensions are calculated on the hourly rate.
This nonsense of workers as a cost of production must stop! Cost of production to whom? To those holding a strip of paper or coupon that says they own what workers produce? Those people have the right only to a general rate of profit and no right to abuse autoworkers and plot to steal their legitimate established claims. If owners of capital want an additional claim on auto production, they should apply for a production job in a parts or assembly plant, steel works or some other components' factory or mine. Joining with other workers as producers of auto value would give them the same right of first claim on what they produce from their work-time. But they have no right to steal what belongs to autoworkers! Autoworkers are determined to uphold their dignity in these contract talks and demand that executives and their mass media stop their campaign of anti-worker hatred that is generating disequilibrium. The Canadian economy is the people's economy. The $55 billion auto sector is the workers' sector, and autoworkers and other industrial workers demand dignity and respect as the proud producers of that value. Down with the auto monopolies' and mass media campaign of extortion, lies and anti-worker anti-Canadian hatred! Concessions
Are
Not
Solutions! September Contract Negotiations Auto Monopolies Unilaterally Eliminating
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Auto and other workers are
key contributors to the $55 billion a
year auto sector. Without Canadian industrial workers transforming the
bounty of Mother Nature to produce vehicles, the sector disappears and
produces nothing. How long can the economy survive if the majority of
vehicles and their components
are not produced within the economy but are bought from outside? To
reproduce the socialized economy, more has to be put into it than taken
out. Auto executives who threaten to wreck Canadian production and
import vehicles from outside the economy if workers do not agree to
concessions should be removed
from their positions. Such executives and their mass media flunkies are
a disgrace and danger to the country and should be labelled as foreign
agents and traitors. Their threats are attempts to undermine the
Canadian economy and condemn the people to insecurity, poverty and
backwardness. Workers must hold governments responsible for the defence
of the Canadian economy and people from such wreckers.
Workers must demand that
governments stand up for Canadians and not capitulate to these foreign
monopolies. Executives who attempt to
extort concessions with threats to wreck or move production should be
charged with criminal abuse of power and removed from their positions.
A tiny gang within each monopoly
is using their class privilege and power to enrich themselves rather
than manage production in a professional and socially responsible way
within an atmosphere of equilibrium based on the recognition of
workers' rights and their established standard of living.
In the United States, both
General Motors and Ford are unilaterally
eliminating the pensions of tens of thousands of their non-union
salaried
retirees through a scheme giving retirees the choice of a buyout or a
transfer
of their pension to a financial investment firm.
 Andrés Manuel López Obrador |
Elaborating on the circumstances that led to these violations, López Obrador directly addressed the Mexican people and explained that the strategy to promote Enrique Peña Nieto as the presidential candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) began long before the election. It aimed to "use the media and advertising agencies to put [Peña Nieto] on the map and make him into a national figure." This gave him "popularity that began decreasing as information about him began to circulate on social networks and other media. More and more people began to understand that this was a trap, a big farce." Then came the May 6 debate, which was not broadcast in prime time, that people thought Peña Nieto lost. Subsequently, on May 11, Peña Nieto was confronted by the youth of the Ibero-American University and his tactless and authoritarian response prompted the birth of the "Yo Soy 132" movement.
On May 31, the polls indicated that Peña Nieto held only a four-point lead over López Obrador but by June 4 it was the latter who had a two-point lead. "Seeing that Peña Nieto was in free fall, his desperate sponsors' sought help from former president Vicente Fox," López Obrador explained. "At the same time they undertook the dirty war against me, in collusion with the characters who exercise influence in the National Action Party."
Directly addressing the violations of Article 41 of the Constitution which stipulates elections must be "free and fair," López Obrador referred to the June 12 meeting of Peña Nieto and the 16 state governors belonging to the PRI as the moment when the plot to secure votes for the party's candidate was formed. He said, "The plot by these Mexican state governors was carried out through the use of state public funds to buy millions of votes. In practice, all across the country the vote was acquired with cash, prepaid cards for merchandise, groceries, construction materials, fertilizer and other goods. This was in addition to the millions in false advertisements and polls, as well as payments to all those whose activities directly or indirectly propped up this shameful plan." He continued, "I am outraged and saddened to see that above all, those responsible for the disgrace of millions of Mexicans used their victims, particularly the poorest and least informed, to support this disastrous economic, political and media power." Concluding his address to the people, López Obrador called on the Mexican people "to not permit the Constitution to be violated with impunity and democracy to be destroyed. To do any differently would be to renounce our fundamental rights and accept anti-democracy as a form of life and governance."
Court Application for Non-Compliance
The Progressive Movement coalition filed a motion of non-compliance for the July 1 electoral process at 11:59 on July 12, the deadline for filing a court application with the Electoral Tribunal. It includes 441 documented complaints of irregularities, including: 297 for vote buying; 16 for diverting public funds; 12 for police violence; seven for fraudulent practices; 18 for subordination and repression to obtain votes; and two for destroying ballots.
Regarding the grievances filed, Marti Batres, coordinator for the group Defend Your Vote for Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said, "Each was subject to judicial and technical analysis before being presented. They are supported with videos, photographs, recordings or, in the most minor cases, witnesses -- credible evidence of the irregularities being raised."
Ricardo Monreal, coordinator of López Obrador's electoral campaign pointed out that the challenge filed with the Electoral Tribunal focuses on five serious crimes: "the scientific demonstration of how polls were used as propaganda, the Federal Electoral Institute's (IFE) omissions as arbiter of the electoral process, vote buying, violations of electoral spending limits and the illegal intervention of the State Governors of Zacatecas, Tobasco and the Yucatan. We allege that the Constitution has been violated and that the Electoral Tribunal is a constitutional organization." In closing, Monreal said that a request would also be made to recuse Tribunal President José Alejandro Luna Ramos for speaking out on the matter before the process was initiated (creating an apprehension of bias) and magistrate Maria del Carmen Alanis for her affiliation with the PRI.
Through this motion to
render the July 1 presidential
election invalid, López Obrador and the Progressive Movement
intend to demonstrate that the crimes committed directly influenced the
vote for more than five million citizens. The difference between the
PRI candidate, Peña Nieto, and the Progressive Movement
candidate, Lopez Obrador is 3.3 million votes according to the IFE's
latest results. If López Obrador can prove that five million
votes were acquired through illegal methods, he will be justified in
demanding the election be rendered invalid. This is in addition to
proving other violations of electoral law through serious
irregularities in 25 per cent of the polling stations.
For its part, the National Action Party (PAN), the party of current President Felipe Calderón, said it would work with the Progressive Movement on specific cases such as money laundered through the Monex Bank, the agreements between the media and the direct participation of the governors of some states in the presidential campaign. However, PAN said that because of the enormous difference in votes between the PRI candidates' and its own, it could not justify joining López Obrador to demand the election's invalidation.
(Translated from French by TML.)
Millions March Against Imposition of Fraudulently
Elected President and to Demand Democratic Changes
Zocalo, Mexico City, July 7, 2012
On Saturday, July 7, millions of Mexicans marched in more than 30 cities across the country to say that the Mexican people will not stand by, they do not and will not accept the imposition of Peña Nieto as the country's president. They demonstrated their rejection of the electoral fraud committed July 1, through which the ruling oligarchy is trying to impose Enrique Peña Nieto as president by any means. In Mexico City, several hundred thousand people of all ages rallied to demonstrate in a march which began at 3:00 pm at the Angel of Independence monument and continued to the Zocalo, the city's main square. The size of the march was such that the first contingents arrived at 4:00 pm and the last arrived nearly four hours later.
While the demonstration had no official spokesperson, speakers or speeches other than the loud chants from the crowd, it was fully supported by the "Yo Soy 132" movement, Anonymous and MORENA (the National Regeneration Movement). The people marched peacefully and chanted that they will not accept the fraud, irregularities, threats and the imposition of the presidential election results. They directly addressed those responsible: the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) and its candidate Enrique Peña Nieto, the Televisa network, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) and the Soriana grocery store chain. Their chants included: "Peña did not win!"; "Televisa aided him!"; "The press has been bought off!"; "We want schools, not soap operas!" "They are the ones deceiving the nation! We are the new!"; "This movement is neither left nor right -- it is for the common good!"; "Our homeland is not for sale, we love and defend it!" "Me, delinquent? I'm not the one who bought votes!"; "No to the imposition! Peña out!"; "Fraud! Fraud! Fraud!"
Many spoke of the demonstration's aim, like Enrique Hernández, a member of "Yo Soy 132" who said, "We demand elections that are democratic, that the votes be recounted, that the fraud stops that the IFE recognizes that fraud has been committed." Another student said, "This is the moment to unite the people to make ourselves heard because we are tired of all the insecurity, corruption and impunity. We the students are here. We don't support anyone in particular, we only want justice."
Several actions opposing the electoral fraud were held
the week following the national demonstration. "Yo Soy 132" contingents
visited several embassies to explain that the results are not
definitive and that fraud was committed. The "Yo Soy 132" movement held
its sixth general assembly on July 13 to define
its action plan and participated in the National Convention July 14 and
15 which aims to rally as many organizations and social movements as
possible to build a common strategy to block EPN from taking the
presidency on December 1, 2012. On July 12, on behalf of the
Progressive Movement, Andrés Manuel
López Obrador submitted an application of non-compliance to the
electoral tribunal, to invalidate the election.
On July 20,
MORENA announced its its National Plan for the Defence of Democracy, a
campaign that will run until September 6, when the Electoral Tribunal
rules on the motion to invalidate the election. This campaign includes
more than 170 public information meetings between July 29 and August 5
alone, with the participation of intellectuals, artists, scientists,
youth and the general public.
Acapulco; Cancun
Chihuahua; Monterrey
Oaxaca
Puebla
Jalisco
Tijuana
Toluca; Xalapa
San Luis Potos
International Support
Vancouver
San Francisco, California
Los Angeles, California; Salt Lake City, Utah
Munich, Germany
Bern, Switzerland; Oslo, Norway
(Translated from original French by TML. Photos: Regeneración, J. Beck, D. Farias, A. Priego, A.G. Santiago, NereSiHi, Y. Amallely, Yo Vote por AMLO, J. Ricardo, L.Q. Torres)
National Convention Opposes Fraudulent Presidency
On Friday, July 13, the "Yo Soy 132" movement and the People's Front in Defence of San Salvador Atenco (a municipality on the outskirts of Mexico City) convened social organizations and movements to attend a National Convention against the imposition of Enrique Peña Nieto as the country's president.
The Convention was held on July 14 and 15 in San Salvador Atenco, a centre of resistance of communities in the region fighting against the theft of their land for the construction of an airport. In 2006, the people were subject to a savage attack by more than 3,000 police officers, 207 arrests and the rape and murder of 26 young women, all under orders from Peña Nieto, then Governor of the State of Mexico.
The Convention's objective was to rally maximum forces and points of convergence to prevent Peña Nieto from taking office on December 1, 2012. Three working sessions were held during the event that establishing the plan to fight the imposition and plan and build the Convention's organization structure.
Explaining the reasons for taking this action, Damián Camacho of the Front in Defence of the Earth said that for six years the private television network Televisa has openly campaigned for Peña Nieto and his neoliberal plans such as opening the PEMEX State and the Federal Electricity Company to private investment. Speaking of the July 1 elections he said that "government programs were used to buy votes, public funds were diverted into more than 20 States under PRI governance and campaign limits were grossly exceeded. This in addition to all the irregularities that took place on July 1 such as paying money in exchange for ballots, theft of ballot boxes and the distribution of prepaid Monex and Soriana cards with the full consent of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE)."
For its part, the "Yo Soy 132" movement, which now encompasses 115 universities across the country, held its sixth general assembly on July 13. On the agenda was establishing a plan of action regarding the Convention, as well as its ongoing activities. Also discussed and adopted were measures to be taken against the electoral institutions including the IFE, the Electoral Tribunal and the office dedicated to investigating electoral offenses, the media and companies like Soriana and Monex, who participated in the process of imposing EPN as president.
(Translated from original French by TML.)
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