Ford UAW workers should reject the sell-out deal struck by "the leaders whose own best interests

are put ahead of their members" further accelerating the destruction the middle class. After weeks of secretive negotiations, behind the backs of rank and file workers, Bob King, Jimmy Settles and their cronies, have reached an agreement with Ford designed to bribe workers with cash paymentsreportedly up to $6000into selling their jobs through voluntary redundancies and enabling the company to reach its quota of 2nd tier poverty. By doing so, the unions hope to suffocate all resistance by it's members. If the unions succeed in pushing through this agreement, it will be a blow to all middle class communities. They say it's in our best interest. In reality, they have not only accepted the dismantling of conditions but also the overall destruction of jobs. Ford, along with it's corporatist company union, intends to restructure our entire way of life by cutting shifts, overtime and manning levels to reduce wages by up to 40 percent. As a reward for devising these plans, Ford's top executives received bonuses of more than $96 million this year. In response, the union leadership has helped carry the axe! The only purpose of the past weeks of backroom talks and industrial collusion sessions between the company and union representatives has been to figure out ways to meet the companys demands without triggering mass opposition from the rank and file In every instancethe union bureaucrats have opposed any fight to defend all jobs and conditions and blocked any unified struggle by working people. This is part of an international onslaught. All across Europe and the United States, working people are confronting job and wage cuts, as well as measures, in order to bail out the banks and corporate elites that are responsible for the deepening global financial crisis that began in 2008. Cuts of up to 30 percent have been imposed on living standards in Greece, setting a new international benchmark, while corporate profits and executive bonuses have soared to new heights. Everywhere, workers have been muzzled by the trade unions. designed to protect them.. The UAWled by Bob Kinghas sought to divert the anger of it's members in a divisive nationalist direction, blaming not capitalism or even the company for the sackings, but Chinese and other foreign workers for producing cheap cars and other imports. In fact. Ford Motor Company itself employs thousands of workers in sweatshop conditions in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Taiwan China and 60 other countries. American workers need to be united with foreign workers in a common struggle. The UAW, however, is hostile to working-class international unity. They are the new corporate apparatus that defend corporate interests and have direct incentives to slash workers conditions everywhere in order to generate profits for the huge superfunds and other investments they control.

UAW workers need to make a sober assessment of the situation they face. Bob King has insisted that the abuses must be accepted as a transition to a more productive, flexible and competitive economy. The union claims that nothing can be done. In plain language, this means accepting forced pay cuts, low-wage jobs, the dismantling of working conditions and the breakup of skilled trades. New leadership is needed. Rank and file need to make a stand at Ford the focus for a counter-offensive against the agenda of the ruling elite at Solidarity House. The UAW must be harnessed for the interests of it's workers, not a handful of banks and major corporations.