SIGNIFICANT U.S. STRIKE by Ken Tarbuck
The United Auto Workers Union called 260,000 of its members,employed by General Motors, out on strike on an issue that has great import, both for the U.S. labour movement and the British. The issue is one of working conditions. Walter Reuther, president of the union, said that the strike was called because General Motors was unwilling to meet the "standards of decency demanded by the workers," The main issues are production standards and union representation. It was pointed out that the company was prepared to grant the equal economic benefits paid by the other major auto companies; but this was the issue. The union accuses the compeny of planting microphones, etc., in the lavatories, and in union offices in the plants. It also objects to intimidation of workers by company psychiatrists. One presumes that these go to work on workers who are maladjusted enough to grumble about the company, and get recorded by pl:nted "bugs". However, even more telling was the other point that Reuther made, "values have become so distorted that they (G.M.) think the sole purpose of our free society is to grind out greater and greater production and reap the profits esee hoy: have lost all track of the human equation on the production line, and this strike is about the human equation." In March last Reuther accused General Motors of being "the largest, glorified, goldplated sweatship in the world."
All this contrasts oddly-with the usual image projected about American "business unionism". What is at issue here, in this strike, is the fundamental question of who controls the factories. Just how far-reaching the effects of this will be cannot be gusged as yet. If the union wins this struggle it could mean a big step forward for the whole of the U.S. labour movement. What has to be considered is not only the effects of this within the auto industry, but also its wider implications, The fact that this issue - who controls - arose at this time is no accident. “hilst there is no obvious or direct link with this and the negro freedom fight, its connection as a symptom of frustration and determination should not be lost. Both are attacks on capitalism that arise from the daily basic conditions of those involved. Nor should the reversal of the decline in U.S. union membership be forgotten in this context. Since 1957 there has been a small but steady decline, now it is reported in the latest issue of U.S. Labour News that this trend has been reversed, and that total union member-=ship is climbing. Again, one has to say that this is no accident at this time. Capitalism my be 'goldplated'! in the U.S., but it is unable to solve its basic problems: e.g., the newly 'discovered' poor. Even its goldplating creates problems for the working class. This is why this particular strike of the auto workers needs careful study. Even when capitalism 'solves' the economic problems it does so at the expense of the working class and the “human equation."
Those who today are advocating workers! control in Britain should follow this development closely, because it may well have important lessons for us; both theoretical and practical. The most immediate conclusion one can draw is that the strike underlines in a clear way the idea that highly paid workers are not only militant about wages, rather that these high wages can lead to a posing of new and explosive issues. The theoretical discussions that have taken place about alienation are today moving from the abstract to the concrete before our very eyes. The so-called backward working class has moved with remarkable clarity. When Reuther speaks about the "human equation" he is talking about spying, brainwashing, speed-up and, above all, control. Not exactly new problems but the manner and timing of their presentation indicate a new animation of the American scene.