Organizing for a new direction: UAW convention & US Social Forum in Detroit

[Hannah Bell]

TWO GATHERINGS in Detroit this month will take up the economic and political questions that face both the hard-hit city and a labor movement that once won workers there the highest standard of living in the country.

First comes the weeklong United Auto Workers (UAW) convention, to be held in the city's Cobo Hall convention center beginning June 14. The convention roll call will show that the UAW has its fewest number of members since the late 1930s, when an unlikely combination of radicals, socialist and communists laid the foundation for a union that would bring the world's most powerful corporations to their needs.

Then, in the same building, the U.S. Social Forum (USSF) convenes on June 22-26. That gathering is expected to draw more than 10,000 people, many of them young and all animated by the rebellious spirit that gave rise to the UAW some 75 years ago...

Linking the two events are a network of Detroit labor activists like Frank Hammer, many of them UAW members and retirees, who argue that the crisis of the auto industry provides an opportunity for a new green industrialization--the conversion of auto factories...

http://socialistworker.org/2010/06/16/organizing-for-a-new-direction

[old mark]

1. Good. This is much needed. The unions can spark real positive change in America, and

the time is now.

rec.

mark

[old mark]

2. Good. This is much needed. The unions can spark real positive change in America, and

the time is now.

rec.

mark

[maryf]

3. K&R for info nt.

[marmar]

4. K&R.....I'll be at the Social Forum.

I'll post some reports.

[socialist_n_TN]

5. PLEASE DO.............

Hopefully some ideas will come out of it that we can all use. The capitalists are not even TRYING to hide their contempt and arrogance anymore.

[JNelson6563]

6. Awesome! Looking forward to your reports!

:toast:

[Starry Messenger]

7. Thank you, marmar

:thumbsup: