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Rank-and-file workers at the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant (Ford CAP) recently formed a Chicago Ford election committee to support the campaign of Will Lehman, the socialist candidate for president of the United Autoworkers. Will Lehman is working on a program to eliminate the corrupt union bureaucracy and put union power back in the hands of the rank and file. His campaign is calling for the restoration of the cost-of-living adjustment, a 50 percent raise for all auto workers, the immediate transition of temporary workers to full-time, an end to the tier system and more.
The Chicago Ford Committee is part of a growing wave of global and US auto workers. This includes autoworkers in Louisville, Kentucky and Detroit, as well as Flint, Michigan, who are forming rank-and-file committees to begin organizing an independent struggle against the corporations and return power to the rank-and-file workers. Committee members are working to raise awareness of Will’s campaign among factory workers.
A member of the Chicago Ford committee spoke World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter about factory conditions that prompted him and other workers to support Will’s campaign.
The employee’s name, department and shift will not be released to avoid retaliation by both management and UAW officials. If you work at Ford Chicago Assembly or Stamping and would like more information on how to get involved with the rank committee, please email chifordrfc@gmail.com or call (773) 234-7135 for more information. For more information on Lehman’s campaign, visit WillforUAWPresident.org.
What are the conditions like on a daily basis?
The cleaning conditions are terrible. There are so many cockroaches that we have to bring our bug spray to the plant. You have to spray when you see them because you don’t want to take them home. In addition, they fly. I never knew roaches flew before I worked at CAP, but they have wings like beetles.
All the bathrooms are terrible. For a company with so much money, having such old toilets, sinks and hand dryers is ridiculous. We have equipment that has been around since I was a kid! All the bathrooms look like they’re from the 60’s and I’ve seen fast food bathrooms that are better. There is also no hot water. But they have all new bathrooms in the corporate offices.
This situation is ridiculous when it comes to employee water. They didn’t even have water stations in the factory until this year. It can be 90 degrees outside and 100 degrees in the factory and they forget to give us water. One time a water machine had a pipe misconnected and it went to the bathroom water line and there was feces in the water and ice.
Now they’re taking away the versatile work because the new factory management came in, so we’re in a situation where it’s harder to go to the bathroom. Versatile workers come in and cover the work when we have to leave the line because the line doesn’t stop. It becomes more difficult to decide whether to have snacks and drinks or go to the toilet. Going to the bathroom or taking too long a break can be written up depending on the instructor. You don’t know what someone’s situation is; they may have a medical condition that means they need to use the bathroom more than others.
Vending machines – many workers live off food – are so outdated. There are stale, half-frozen pizza wedges and burgers; not healthy at all. We spend most of our days there and hardly have time to go out and get good food.
The factory has stopped due to a lack of parts and we have to remain unemployed and collect additional unemployment benefits [SUB]. It’s a scam if companies control unemployment. The unemployment cap is a certain amount, less than if you worked a normal week and taxes are still taken out. What makes it worse is that they are putting us together so much.
SUB’s timing is against workers and pro-corporation. They don’t pay you until after two weeks, but some people go without pay for a month based on when their pay period starts. We don’t know why some people don’t have their pay periods postponed. Any money the company saves by not paying employees on time, they see as a bonus. This puts workers further down the financial spiral because your taxes will be withheld at a higher rate if the IRS determines that your unemployment benefits put you in a higher tax bracket. The union lets the company get away with it and that’s the worst.
Can you describe what it was like for the workers who were forced to work during the pandemic?
The “lockdown” wasn’t really a shutdown. It was about three weeks while we were on vacation, and then we went back to it while we were still getting our unemployment checks. They didn’t have enough information to force us back here to figure out on the fly what would stop the spread of COVID. They tried to keep us apart, but it was impossible. We touched the same things and the same people on the same job and they put it on us to clean up their stuff. People got sick, but they didn’t tell us. These were not quarantine areas.
A couple of people got COVID and had no more vacation days to take off work. People started working when they knew they were sick. People were angry about it, it happened so much. They had to use their free time and some people couldn’t take a vacation. In my section, they closed the shift and sent everyone home one day. They didn’t tell us until a few days later that there was someone working sick.
We didn’t even see a union during that time. The union representative went to the doctor and stayed at home until we came to work. They didn’t even have union meetings during that time. I can’t believe they couldn’t even get it online. I heard they went on vacation and if they did we probably paid for it with our fees.
Can you describe what the tier system is like? How does this affect the wages and morale of all the factory workers?
They hire skilled workers from outside when they already have factory and union workers. If they have extra work, they should pay them extra to do that work, not bring in outside companies. It utilizes skilled labor. They don’t want to hire more qualified workers, raise wages, or make certification less exclusive. It shouldn’t take 10 years to enter skilled trades.
Keeping something small and exclusive makes it easier to share people, but it also makes your production less efficient. They have it that the only way to get better pay is to go into skilled trades, so some people are there just for the income and not because they really like the job. But if you pay everyone the same across jobs, they can have better output quality. As long as they have us to survive, people will have fear. The union allows it and the companies know it.
It takes too long to reach the highest salary. The income is $15 an hour and $30 an hour, but it takes six years to get there. [Big box retailer] Target pays $15 an hour, but your life isn’t usually in danger when you work there. People die in this factory for $15 an hour. It affects attitude and quality of work.
I know many people whose lives are messed up. One man has been walking to work for two years, kilometers, and he must be in his 50s. He obviously doesn’t make enough to own a car or get a Lyft. Public transport around here is not close to the factory and it does not run in all directions.
One employee who had just started was living out of his car. I overheard another employee talking to him about it, telling him he should tell the union. The new employee said he told them and they just told him he could sleep in his car in the union parking lot. Tempina, you are the sacrificial lamb. You hardly get paid and have to pay union dues. They almost act like they want kids to do the work, because they treat us like kids and pay us like kids, but they expect us to be “professional.”
Can you explain why you support Will Lehman for UAW President? How have the factory workers received his campaign?
Many representatives and union officials have been helped by someone from management. It is a buddy-buddy system where the union sides with the company. This is the corruption. You only see the chairman when they are with management. Union representatives even walk like management and move like them when they walk through the factory.
I have had to deal with most of my problems myself. The trade union representative only comes to take the honor. What am I paying them for? They only rely on disciplinary action and that’s how you know the union is corporate. The trade union’s concerns should be the employees, their health and safety, and the working environment. They should not be the same as companies. The union helps management write people up for things like broken equipment that aren’t even their responsibility. Why do they sign up employees? They should make the company change work processes when things go wrong.
Union bureaucracy is becoming too convenient. It’s clear to us what they’re doing, but they don’t seem to see it.
Now we can directly connect with each other through technology. They cannot stop us from telling each other the truth. I looked at Will’s page and it talked about salaries and how not everyone makes enough.
If the union no longer represents our needs, they are unnecessary. When we come together, we can check our needs are spoken for. This is what companies fear.
We need to get the word out because everyone knows things can’t go on like this. Everyone is watching us now and something has to happen. When everyone stands together and steps back from the line, that’s power.
Workers should not be afraid to organize. Workers must unite. There is power.
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