UAW says labor union activists ‘central’ to protests in East

Map of Tunisia and surrounding area. [CIA World Factbook; US Govnmt.]The United Auto Workers said labor unions were “central to the protests” in Tunisia, and “Egyptian Labor gave the decisive push” in driving Egypt’s president Hosni Mubarak from office. UAW made the claims in the union magazine Solidarity*.

UAW is pushing for global organization of workers as part of an international social justice plan to address globalization.

“Unions are essential for social justice,” said the magazine. UAW also claims unions spurred the creation of a middle class in the United States and world organization is now the goal. “The UAW must act in solidarity with all unions around the world to create a global middle class.”

In the same issue UAW announced the creation of the Global Organizing Institute (GOI) within the National Organizing Department. The goal of the GOI is to “promote the right to organize” as part of the broader goal of creating “a global middle class.”

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Will U.S. see unrest like that caused by union in Mexico?

by Kay B. Day

[Image courtesy of NASA.}Labor union anger doesn’t just happen in the U.S. Right now Mexico’s president Felipe Calderón has his hands full because of financial and production problems at state-owned Luz y Fuerza del Centro. The Wall Street Journal said Calderón “sent more than 1,000 riot police to take over operations.” The utility provides light and power to approximately 25 million customers. The president justified his actions by claiming subsidies for the power company were unaffordable, and he said, “Today, we have to change what doesn't work in the country." Expenses were double the amount of revenue—a balance sheet only a bureaucracy could love.  And last year the company lost 1/3 of the energy it bought from Mexico’s main generator said the WSJ.

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