Will Lehman’s campaign is holding a final campaign rally on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. EDT. All workers are encouraged to register and participate. For more information about the campaign, visit WillForUAWPresident.org.
Workers at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Ky., have expressed strong support for Mack Trucks worker Will Lehman, who is running for president of the United Auto Workers (UAW).
In mid-October, Lehman and his supporters toured the plant, which employs more than 8,400 workers who produce trucks and SUVs. Lehman got a powerful response from KTP workers for his call to transfer decision-making power from the UAW apparatus to rank-and-file workers on the shop floor.
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During the afternoon and morning shifts on Wednesday and Thursday, Lehman supporters handed out campaign materials and spoke to workers about their conditions. Many workers were quick to speak out against UAW bureaucracy. One worker said: “It’s not a union, it’s more like a mafia. Describing the UAW’s tiered pay system, she said, “I work across from a guy who earns half as much as me, for the same job. It’s scandalous.
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Many workers said they had already voted for Will. A young worker leaving the night shift on Thursday morning told campaigners she had voted for Will “because he is a socialist, he is for the workers”.
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Tim, a worker with more than six years at the plant, said: ‘I read Will’s campaign emails and text messages, and voted for him. Morale is zero in this factory and it’s getting worse. People don’t even want to come to work. I was a construction worker before I joined Ford and sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake coming here.
He described the conditions at the factory: “We work 12 hours a day, 5 days a week here. I have never seen a “launch” last so long. The launch of a new vehicle is supposed to take only three to six months, but this one will take more than a year.
He added, “I agree with Will’s call for a 50% raise and a COLA. After more than six years, I still haven’t reached the top of my salary. At the time, it took 90 days to get the best salary. Now you have so many levels; it’s awful. And everything from food to housing prices is steadily rising.
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A few workers expressed support for Stellantis worker and UAW presidential candidate Brian Keller over his criticism of incumbent President Ray Curry and the ruling faction in the UAW bureaucracy. .
Activists discussed with these workers the principled differences between Lehman and Keller, which are above all central to Keller’s support for the nationalist and pro-capitalist agenda of the UAW bureaucracy. Such a prospect only serves to pit workers in different countries against each other, while bowing to endless demands for job cuts and concessions in the name of boosting “international competitiveness.”
During this campaign, Lehman met with Ford and other autoworkers in India, Germany, Mexico, Canada and other countries, and stressed the need to connect workers’ struggles across borders through the expansion of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees.
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When asked what he thought of Will’s fight to unite Ford workers internationally to fight the global corporation’s attack on jobs and living standards, Jerimiah, a worker from Eight-year-old KTP said, “I would like that to happen. We all work for the same people, whether we are here or elsewhere, and all to create a product that definitely enriches those at the top. If we got together, and if we could somehow stay together, think of the voice that would give us. People would pay attention.
Will Lehman’s campaign is holding a final campaign rally on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. EDT. All workers are encouraged to register and participate. For more information about the campaign, visit WillForUAWPresident.org.
