GM should respect workers, says autoworker

Latest

Sean Crawford, GM autoworker who works at the Hamtramck plant, speaks with media about the GM plant closures at the protest outside the Auto Show in Detroit.

 
Editor’s note: GM autoworker Sean Crawford speaks to media at a protest about GM plant closures outside the Auto Show in Detroit. Crawford has been working at the GM Hamtramck plant, which is among those slated to be closed.
I think the protest is beautiful. The energy level is beautiful. The amount of community support that we’re getting from Canada, from union brothers and sisters from Oshawa, from our union brothers and sisters in Brazil. The community members from all over Detroit are here. It’s a beautiful thing.
Well, it really shows the juxtaposition between the opulence and wealth of certain classes of society with folks like myself and others who are getting laid off and will be affected from these layoffs. And we’re not against charity, we want charity, we want to be helped, but we also don’t want GM employees to become a charity case. We want good jobs here in Detroit.
We’ve been incredibly stressed out. A lot of us are pulling up roots and moving to other cities, different states. This is my home. I’ve lived here for three years. I love Detroit but now that I have to go to Flint and I don’t want to go and drive two hours every day with all of the traffic.
You need to respect American workers. And not only American workers but workers all over the world that create the products that allow you [GM CEO Mary Barra] to make $22 million a year. You’re making so much.
You say you come from a working class background and your father was trades. Well, go back to those roots and think about what it was like. Go to a city like Flint or go to a city like Detroit or Hamtramck. See how people are suffering. See the horrible mental disease that people get from drug abuse that happens when people are denied the opportunity to make a good living and provide for their families. And the crime rates. All that is a direct result from these corporate decisions.
We’re not just numbers. We’re human beings and we deserve to be treated like human beings.

+ Articles by this author

UAW member Sean Crawford, from Flint, Michigan, currently works at a Detroit auto plant.

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

A Love Letter to Altadena

Our elected officials seem unable or unwilling to keep the financial vultures out of Altadena. We can only win if we fight together to ensure our future.

The Urgency of Unity to Tackle Climate Destroyers

As thousands remain homeless and vulnerable to the negative effects of global warming, Trump is doubling down on opening new leases to fossil fuel corporations.

Where’s Trump? America’s Poorest Counties Devastated by Historic Flooding Speak Out.

West Virginia people devastated by the flooding are crying out for help from the Trump administration. They speak on whether FEMA should be abolished, as Trump is proposing.

An All-American Nightmare

The machinery of mass deportation has been set up in a nightmarish fashion. It is meant to be impossible to stop — or to appear that way. But, like any machine, it can be brought to a halt, when understood.

As ICE Jails Palestinian Protester, Universities Must Commit to Academic Freedom

University faculty call on everyone, on behalf of Mahmoud Khalil, Columbia graduate detained by ICE, to organize on behalf of those who are today's targets, supporting academic freedom and free expression before it is too late.

More from the People's Tribune