| Dear Katy, When Laura Prater of Spring Hill, Tennessee, woke up last week from a $40,000 stomach operation, she discovered that General Motors had abruptly cancelled her family's health insurance. Striking GM workers and their family members had no warning. Some found out GM had cancelled striking workers' health insurance only when they went in for cancer treatments or to pick up the insulin they need to survive.1,2 This sort of careless disregard for workers is what just led to the biggest strike in over a decade. GM is earning record profits – but refuses to raise pay and stop outsourcing jobs. So this week, more than 49,000 United Auto Workers members heroically went on strike. If they win, it will have a ripple effect that helps workers across the country.3 GM is threatening the health of workers and their families in order to break the strike. We need to show that countless Americans stand in solidarity with workers and force management to back down. Tell GM: We stand with striking workers. Click here to sign the petition. GM is earning record profits thanks to UAW workers and taxpayers like you. First, the federal government bailed out GM to keep the company in business. Then, the UAW offered concessions in order to keep the company going strong. Today, GM is earning more money than ever – but management refuses to respect the workers who made that possible. In fact, the company is continuing to close plants in the US and open new ones overseas.4 GM management fails to pay wages that keep pace with inflation. The company is closing doors to making temporary workers permanent, refusing to end a two-tier wage structure put in place after the financial crash and demanding pay and benefit concessions. So workers went on strike – and unlike in past strikes, GM decided to immediately terminate health benefits with no warning.5 Well-heeled executives are refusing to negotiate in good faith while raking in big bucks – GM's CEO earned $22 million each year, or nearly $10,600 per hour. That's more than 281 times the median worker's pay.6 Powerful unions are the best way to fight income inequality. Inequality hit its lowest levels in the 1950s and 60s, when a much higher percentage of the U.S. workforce was unionized. Studies find that union jobs raise wages for everyone, even non-union workers. In the wake of waves of teachers strikes across the U.S., we could be witnessing new momentum for organized labor. If UAW workers win, it will force executives everywhere to take workers more seriously – and benefit all of us. Tell GM: We stand with striking workers. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/gm-strike?t=9&akid=34161%2E12967895%2En0mA2u Thank you for speaking out, Heidi Hess, Co-Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Nikki Junewicz, "'We had no warning:' Wife of GM employee on strike wakes up from surgery without insurance," Fox 17 Nashville, Sep. 18, 2019.
- UAW, "UAW workers woke across the country, some in hospital beds, without insurance," Sep. 18, 2019.
- Mike Elk, "Over 49,000 GM Workers Head Out on Strike," The American Prospect, Sep. 16, 2019.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ben Klayman, "GM CEO Barra's pay dipped slightly to just under $22 million in 2018," Reuters, April 18, 2019.
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