The National Lawyers Guild Chicago joins in solidarity with the members United Auto Workers across Chicago and the United States who are striking for fair wages and fair benefits, a 32-hour workweek, and a just transition to electric vehicle manufacturing. NLG Chicago denounces the corporate greed policies of the “Big Three” Automakers that prioritize profits over people and calls on the automakers to accede to worker demands. Over the past two weeks, UAW workers in Detroit and across the country have walked off the job and gone on strike. UAW President Shawn Fain announced a unique “stand-up strike” on September 14th, 2023, and since then, Ford, GM, and Stellantis (formerly Chrystler) workers in the Chicagoland area have set up their own picket lines, with UAW 551 members at the Ford Chicago Assembly going on strike on September 29th. .
The constitutional right to strike and protest unfair and unsafe working conditions was forged in blood by anarchists and socialists in Chicago who died during and in the aftermath of the Haymarket Riots, and by autoworkers in Flint Michigan who shut down production at the height of the Great Depression. Black auto workers in Detroit organized the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) and led walkouts to demand better pay and end racist discrimination in automotive jobs during the late 60’s. Beyond automotive manufacturing, the UAW has recently organized graduate student workers at Universities across the US as well as nonprofit legal aid attorneys and legal workers. The National Organization of Legal and Services Workers is UAW 2320. UAW members bargaining for fair contracts in higher education and legal and social services have been critical leaders in limiting the power of university campus police and protecting clients from police harassment and surveillance.
The UAW autoworkers are demanding an end to concessionary contracts and tiers, and an increase in worker pay and benefits that reflects the historic profits that the Big Three automakers have won since the 2008 financial crisis. Workers are also demanding that jobs in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing be covered under UAW contracts. Big Three autoworkers across the Global South have shared solidarity messages in support of striking autoworkers–demonstrating the power in ending divide-and-conquer politics and rhetoric that have been a hallmark of the neo-liberal era.
The fight of autoworkers is the same fight as attorneys and legal workers–to create a better world where all workers are paid a just wage, maintain a healthy work-life balance, as well as moving towards the end of fossil fuel dependency that doesn’t come at the expense of the working class and global poor. We encourage all NLG Chicago members and anyone who supports our mission that “human rights and the rights of the environment shall be held more sacred than property interests” take action to support UAW members and join the local picket lines:
? FORD CHICAGO ASSEMBLY PLANT (LOCAL 551, REGION 4) 12600 S Torrence Ave, Chicago
? GM CHICAGO PARTS DIST (LOCAL 2114, REGION 4) 1355 Remington Blvd, Bolingbrook
? STELLANTIS CHICAGO (LOCAL 1178, REGION 4) 1980 High Grove Lane, Naperville
In Solidarity,
The NLG Chicago Board
