Commentary
Stimulus Packages and “Saving Jobs”
It is becoming clearer every day that,
despite all of the claims about “saving jobs”, the stimulus packages being
adopted in the U.S. and Canada are nothing but massive attacks on the working
class. In the U.S., General Motors presented its restructuring proposal to
Congress last week. GM is now demanding US$30 billion and has promised to
eliminate 47,000 jobs in return. Chrysler is also asking for more money than it
originally had and is pledging to eliminate 3,000 jobs. GM is also demanding
another $6 billion (for a total of $9 billion) from the Canadian government and
is planning to close two auto plants in Canada. The United Auto Workers (UAW)
union in the U.S. is currently in the process of negotiating the biggest
concessions in the history of the union and Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) President
Ken Lewenza has promised to match whatever
concessions are made by the UAW.
Both the UAW and CAW are claiming a
“victory” because they convinced the auto companies to remove rollbacks in the
pensions of already-retired workers from the table. However, both unions have
been silent on the issue of the job losses, apparently accepting them as a fait accompli. The issue of pensions is,
of course, a red herring. Long before the current crisis General Motors had been
threatening bankruptcy if it was not relieved of its US$50 billion debt to the
autoworkers’ pension fund. If anything that debt has now increased due to the
losses in the stock markets and the resulting increased unfunded liability of
the pension fund. It is, therefore, inconceivable that GM will not call on the
U.S. government to legislate an end to its obligations to its retired workers
and their pensions will be slashed, regardless. It is also inconceivable that
Ford and the various auto parts companies will not demand similar concessions
from their workers.
The main purpose of the stimulus
packages, apart from lining the pockets of the monopolies and their
shareholders, is clearly to create an atmosphere of impending disaster in order
to blackmail workers into accepting concessions as inevitable. They are part of
the ideological assault on the working class to passively accept the burden of
the economic crisis as a necessary evil to save the system.
For their part, the trade unions long
ago accepted the survival of the capitalist system as their most important
consideration. This is why, at a time when capitalism has failed and is
preparing a massive assault against the working class and people, not a single
trade union in North America has called for an end to this barbaric system. No
trade union has called on the workers to refuse to accept the burden of the
crisis and to instead demand that the rich be made to pay. This, despite the
fact that the trade unions are past masters at “militant” posturing in order to
divert the wrath of the workers. In the past the trade unions have actually
adopted “no concessions” resolutions while in the midst of making concessions.
The absence of such posturing is a sign of two realities.
First, there is the reality that the trade
unions are impotent in the face of this capitalist onslaught because they are
tied hand and foot to the capitalist system. Saving the capitalist system
requires workers to make big sacrifices and the trade unions are busy
“negotiating” those concessions. But, more importantly, it points to the fact
that the capitalist system is entering a period of extreme vulnerability, a
period in which it could very well be overthrown in many countries. Within such
a situation there is no room for trade unions taking militant positions, even
if the militancy is phony; there is a danger that workers may take it seriously
and actually fight against the attacks. In other words, the crisis has finally
exposed the trade union movement as bankrupt and as a weapon in the hands of
the capitalists against the working class.
The problem facing both the capitalists
and the capitalist trade unions is that the class struggle is spontaneous.
There is bound to be a period of “shock and awe” in which the working class
recoils in the face of the sheer viciousness of the attacks, particularly since
their trade unions are part of the offensive against them. However, sooner of
later the working class will decide that it has no choice but to fight back
and, when that time comes, the existence of the trade unions and their
capitalist masters will be brought into question. The progressive and
revolutionary forces must begin preparing now for that inevitability.