UAW President Shawn Fein speech, September 15th to UAW members in Downtown Detroit Rally
Good afternoon UAW family – and hello again to the Big Three.
It is my absolute honour to stand here today.
Looking out on this sea of red shirts.
What I see is the power of a united working class. Right now, in Wayne at Ford Michigan Assembly, at Stellantis Toledo Assembly in Ohio, and at GM Wentzville Assembly in Missouri, around 13,000 UAW members are on strike
For the first time in our history, we are on strike against not just Ford, not just Chrysler, not just GM. As I said for many months, the target is the Big Three. ALL THREE.
That’s because ALL THREE have made record profits.
- ALL THREE have price-gouged the American consumer.
- ALL THREE have ripped off the US taxpayer.
- ALL THREE have nickel and dimed the American worker.
- And ALL THREE have failed to recognize the contributions we’ve made. The sacrifices we’ve endured. And the profits we’ve created.
They have forced our hand.
You know, in the past 24 hours, the CEOs and executives have found a lot of time to go on the corporate news and talk their talk.
We all know what they say. They say they can’t pay us a decent wage.
But there’s always money for another stock buyback. They say they can’t provide a dignified retirement.
But there’s always money for another special dividend for Wall Street.
They say they can’t provide cost of living allowance.But there’s always millions for the CEO.
Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, was on CNN this morning. They of course gave her an eight and a half minute segment. She said every management talking point you’d expect.
And in those eight and a half minutes, she made more money doing nothing than any autoworker in America makes in a day. The day before that, Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, was on CNBC.
He said if they give us economic justice at Ford, it would bankrupt the company. He talked about how we can’t pay autoworkers too much because then the public school teachers and firefighters would get left behind.
That man made $21 million dollars last year.
In their economy, these CEOs get everything and the working class gets nothing.
In their economy, workers live paycheck to paycheck while the billionaires buy another yacht.
In their economy, we take all the sacrifice and they take all the profit.
They want to use scare tactics saying we’re going to wreck the economy. We’re not going to wreck the economy.
We’re going to wreck their economy. The one that only works for the billionaire class.
I find it funny when they try to scare us. Look around.
You know who’s scared?
- The corporate media is scared
- The White House is scared.
- The Big Three are scared!
I look around. I see power. I see faith. I see a working class that is fed up and fired up.
There’s only one thing left to do. You already know.
When they tell us to sit down? STAND UP.
When they tell us to shut up? STAND UP.
When they tell us to give up? STAND UP.
Thank you.
Thanks to the UAW in Detroit for supplying Shawn Fain’s speaking notes.
