Contract deadlines on September 1 at ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel
Contracts covering 30,000 steelworkers at ArcelorMittal and US Steel facilities in the United States expire on September 1. Two weeks later, on September 15, contracts run out for 140,000 autoworkers at General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.
This week, workers are expected to rally at steel mills in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama and Minnesota to demand improved wages and conditions in the face of the intransigence of the corporations. Fiat Chrysler workers at factories across the Midwest voted last week to approve strike action, with many locals registering near unanimous votes.
The convergence of these contract expirations poses the potential and the necessity for a joint struggle against the corporate-government attack on the working class, which has produced record corporate profits and stock prices along with unprecedented levels of social inequality.
The American ruling class has no intention of making any concessions to the demands of workers for decent wages and working conditions and for job security after decades of plant closures, wage and benefit cuts and speedup. Workers can make gains only through a mass mobilization of their industrial power combined with a political strategy to defeat the attacks of both corporate-controlled parties.
Read more: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/08/17/pers-a17.html