General Motors

On September 1, workers at the Volkswagen-Audi factory in the city of Curitiba began a one-week strike. Workers at the Volvo and Renault/Nissan plants in the same town also went on strike on the same day.

During that week, 24-hour strikes occurred at Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Mercedes Benz and Scania in cities in the interior of Sao Paulo state.

Workers began their strike on Tuesday in support of demands for wage increases to deal with rising inflation. Three Volkswagen, Nissan, and Renault owned plants in the southern state of Parana have been affected, causing a production loss of about 6,600 vehicles.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union launched the strike after "one-sided negotiations" failed to reach an agreement.

"It was going to be General Motors' way at the expense of the workers," Gettelfinger said. "The company walked right up to the deadline like they really didn't care."

The first strike at the General Motors-owned firm began on June 15th when the night shift walked of the job in protest at management's refusal to answer questions on the restructuring plan, the strike lasted until the 18th.

Many Americans are probably not aware of the great extent to which U.S. corporations collaborated with the Nazi war machine during WWII. Ultimately, the international corporations, the lawyers, bankers and financiers who collaborated with the Nazis prevailed. They exerted tremendous influence to thwart investigators delving into their seditious activities after the war.

A march last Thursday was attended by over 80000 people. The 1600 workers are being represented by the UGT (general workers union) and the workers' commission. They have complained that as the owners are in America negotiations are difficult.

The Guelph Mercury reported that auto workers at Guelph Products Collins & Aikman went on a wildcat strike Saturday to support workers at a Toronto plant pushing for severance pay for 200 laid-off workers.

Nearly 75 of the Guelph plant's staff walked off the job around 3:30 p.m. and management barricaded the turnstile entrances with chains and steel bars so the workers couldn't re-enter.

Workers barricaded doors at the Collins & Aikman plant in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, yesterday. The factory produces floor, acoustic systems and cockpit modules for cars.

200 workers have been laid off at the plant since it filed for bankruptcy in 2005, but they have not been paid severance pay. The company claims that its US arm won't release the funds.

The following excerpts thoroughly document how capitalists really acted during the Second World War. Behind the patriotic propaganda that encouraged the working class to slaughter each other in the interests of competing national interests, international capital quietly kept the commodity circuits flowing and profits growing across all borders.

Article from the Swedish "workplace paper" Motarbetaren #5, September 2004 about General Motors/Saab policy and potential struggle in Sweden.