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“We Will Not Bow Down”
Delphi workers stand up to corporate raiders

In November UAW locals across the country participated in a series of informational picket lines to refute the many misconceptions perpetuated in the press concerning the Delphi bankruptcy.

The International Union encouraged local unions to hold informational picket lines as a method of grassroots communication to tell the public our side of the story. At Local 2195, in Athens, Ala., more than 200 members came out to join in the fight. Many used vacation time to spend the entire day on the line while others came before or after their shifts.

Members were assigned to all the gates across the site while others congregated at the intersection of Sandy Road and Highway 31. Passing motorists sounded horns in support of the effort.

Local TV and newspapers favorably covered the picket, interviewing a number of UAW members. The Web site www.truthout.org linked to the article in the Decatur (Ala.)
Daily.

“We had good support from our membership during the informational picket,” said Local
2195 President Terry Scruggs. “We had members on each gate and across the front of the facility from 5 a.m. until 4 p.m. Steve Miller (Delphi CEO) has spread a lot of misinformation over the past several months, and this was a good way to get the truth out to the general public.”

In Fitzgerald, Ga., workers drove their lawnmowers to work as a form of protest against
Miller’s comments about them being “$65 an hour grass cutters.” The membership at Delphi is behind the leadership 100 percent in this fight to protect our way of life.

Delphi is a test case by the auto industry to see how far it can drive back workers’ rights, benefits and wages. We will not go quietly, and we will not bow down to these corporate raiders.

John Davis, Local 2195