Shawn Fain: May Day 2028 Could Transform the Labor Movement—and the World The UAW President is calling on unions everywhere to align their contract expiration dates for mass impact. by Shawn Fain, In These Times, April 30, 2024 https://inthesetimes.com/article/may-day-2028-general-strike-working-class . . . After decades of falling behind, UAW autoworkers are finally moving forward again.
We made a lot of ambitious demands at the bargaining table. One in particular may not have gotten the same attention as the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments or the reopening of the Stellantis assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill. — but it could also prove transformational: We aligned our contracts to expire at midnight on April 30, 2028. . . . But if we are to truly reclaim the power and importance of May Day, then it can’t be through empty symbolism. It must be through action. We wanted to ensure our contracts expired at midnight on April 30, 2028, not as a symbolic gesture, but as a rallying cry. We’ve asked other unions to join us in setting their contract expiration dates to May Day 2028 in hopes the labor movement can collectively aspire to building the power needed to change the world. . . . There’s been talk about a “general strike” for as long as I’ve been alive. But that’s all it has been: talk. If we are serious about building enough collective power to win universal healthcare and the right to retire with dignity, then we need to spend the next four years getting prepared. A general strike isn’t going to happen on a whim. It’s not going to happen over social media. A successful general strike is going to take time, mass coordination, and a whole lot of work by the labor movement. As working people, we must come together. We can no longer allow corporations, politicians and borders to divide us. It’s time we reclaimed May Day for the working class. That’s what our May Day contract expiration is all about. # # # -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#30158): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/30158 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/105837788/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
