THIS IS A COPY OF THE PRESIDENT ADDRESS TO JOINT COUNCIL. JOHN ZIMMICK, THE PRESIDENT OF UAW LOCAL 174, SPOKE THESE WORDS AT A RECENT JOINT COUNCIL MEETING. I FELT THIS SPEECH HAS SUCH A GREAT MESSAGE THAT I WANTED EVEN THE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT AT THE LOCAL COUNCIL MEETINGS TO BE ABLE TO READ THE WORDS AND 'HEAR' THE MESSAGE.
I HOPE YOU FIND THIS AS ENLIGHTENING AS I DO.
President Address to Joint Council April 19 2009
John Zimmick
Lets us not fool ourselves any longer. Our way of living in this country has changed. People who have power have created an illusion that working people are being compensated too much for their work. That this compensation is what has crippled our economy, which we must accept less, expect less, to save us from certain disaster of our nation’s economic stability.
People with great wealth tell us every day that job cuts are necessary, that paying for medical care is the way it has to be, that contracts and agreements can be broken for the sake of a company, that we must be concerned with a company’s well being first. Not the people who are responsible for making that company exist in the first place. They will take your tax dollar to make sure this happens. Nothing given to People like me and you who have sacrificed, our time, our lives to ensure that we could provide for our families. No consideration for People before us who have dedicated their entire lives to make sure that the next person would have opportunity to live well and prosper.
We speak of the erosion of the Union here quite often, with members with friends. Everyone has a theory an opinion on why this is happening. Most people have concluded that the demise of the Union is inevitable because of many things; the laws in place that discourage unions, the new global economy, the failure of our politicians to demand living wages and respect for working class people, the trading of dollars for laws with companies and people that are elected to represent this nation.
I have had the opportunity and privilege to meet great men and women here. People who can truly say they have seen the change. My friends and brothers such as Mike Kerwin and Carl Reinstein and Jim Reyberg. They will tell you what battles were fought and what the fight was about. Not greed, not to cripple companies, this is not what the Union was or is as so many people with money would have you believe.
Health Care? Without the Unions that concept would not have been created.
Paid Holidays? Vacations? Look at your non union friends, and may God help them too, whatever they get is basically the work of the Union before us that demanded that family, worship, and community is important to a happy life.
Medical Leave? Again hard work from our predecessors to ensure that misfortune wouldn’t be a death sentence to your employment.
Seniority? That word did not apply to working men and women before the Unions demanded it.
Ignorance is the problem we have today, right now. Most working people are generations away from understanding exactly what benefits are available to people who belong to Unions. And we are all guilty of not getting that message outside of this building like it should be.
Look at our last national election; we can all learn from this as both major political parties have. The Democrats were able to understand and quickly utilize means of communication that is not in the hands of corporations, where content, opinion, and the truth would not be drowned out by commentators, pundits, and politicians who make ten times what we make and act like they care about America.
We must understand and accept that change in this country will not come from government, it usually never does. It comes from people, struggling people, people with nothing to lose, as where all of us are rapidly getting too. And these wealthy corporations and people in control are probably thinking how close they are to taking back at least 60 years of our economic and social gains.
Has the never ending media bashing of working people achieved its goal? Has social justice been replaced by robbing working people who have no more to give? And exactly what result do we have from this selective bail out of banks over working people? Unemployment is still rising, foreclosures are still rising, the homeless and uninsured are at record highs, and your children have a debt that may be never paid. For what?
Unions and Activists have been beating the same drum for a long time. National Health Care, The right of people to organize and meet and not be punished, which by the way is a constitutional right, the right to truly organize without persecution and threats.
Let us start by showing people that we are the union, stand up and be seen and heard.
People grasp onto sound bites with no meat. Remember Joe the Plumber? How easy is it to hide the truth in this day? It is because we don’t have a majority with our lawmakers, the media, or even our neighbors. But the one thing we have, the one thing that can create change is right here. US. Give literature to your neighbor, educate them. Have discussion with your co-workers who think the unions don’t care. Explain to them it’s not the Unions who don’t care its people who don’t care. The Union is the tool not the answer. Tell them we are here, as many of you know all the time to help, debate, educate, and support all working people all the time. Call us to come to you and your neighbor or disillusioned member because we are all united here.
In a few months the future of working people will be much clearer. When people had nothing, they battled to demand change. We must not miss this opportunity, this very possible last chance. We owe this to the great men and women before us and most importantly we owe it to our children. We must not fail. Thank you.
THAT CONCLUDES THE COPY OF HIS SPEECH. ( WHICH I ACTUALLY CUT & PASTED FROM THE LOCAL WEBSITE, THANKS JOE!)
AND NOW FOR MY OWN COMMENTS...........
I HOPE WHEN THIS IS BEING READ, THAT YOU THINK ABOUT ALL THE GAINS THE WORKING CLASS HAS FOUGHT HARD TO OBTAIN. THINK ABOUT HOW LONG AND HARD THE STRUGGLE WAS TO JUST GET A LIVABLE WAGE, A SAFE WORK ENVIRONMENT, AND THE OTHER BENEFITS THAT HAVE BEEN FOUGHT SO HARD TO GAIN. JUST THINK, IT TOOK MANY YEARS FOR THESE GAINS AND BIG BUSINESS WANTS TO TAKE AWAY THESE GAINS MUCH MORE QUICKLY THAN THEY WERE WILLING TO GIVE THEM.
I HAVE HEARD OF COMPANIES LATELY ASKING WORKERS TO TAKE $5 & $6 AN HOUR PAY CUTS. THEY ARE ASKING, AND ACTUALLY EXPECTING, THESE WORKERS TO GIVE UP SOMETHING THAT TOOK THEM YEARS TO GAIN. NOW WITH THE ECONOMY BEING IN THE SLUMPS BECAUSE OF JOB LOSS, IF WE TAKE WAGES AWAY FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE BASED THEIR LIVING ON THAT WAGE WILL THIS NOT CRIPPLE OUR NATION EVEN MORE? WE ARE TELLING THE WORKING PEOPLE THAT THEY HAVE TO GIVE UP WHAT THEY HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO GAIN. TAKING AWAY MONEY FROM THEIR HOURLY WAGE IS JUST LIKE TAKING AWAY THEIR JOBS. WHEN PEOPLE HAVE BOUGHT HOMES AND VEHICLES ON THE WAGES THEY ARE RECEIVING, TAKING SOME OF THAT WAGE AWAY IS ALMOST LIKE LOSING YOUR JOB. THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY THAT THESE PEOPLE WILL LOSE THEIR HOMES, THEIR VEHICLES, AND ANYTHING ELSE THEY HAVE PROUDLY PURCHASED ON THEIR CURRENT WAGES.
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