Auto workers' contracts The year coming to a close saw the continuation of the United Autoworkers’ (UAW) quarter century of retreat and bowing down to the transnational auto corporations’ agenda. New four year UAW agreements negotiated with GM, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, Delphi and Visteon are once again riddled with major contract concessions. It is impossible to know what all of the contract concessions negotiated are. The UAW has a long history of concealing concessions from its members who only learn about them after the new agreements are signed, sealed and delivered. In 2003 this sordid history was compounded by the fact that negotiations were still far from over when the tentative agreements were sold to the UAW membership. Consequently, the new agreements included significant signing bonuses designed to insure their ratification. We do know that there were no wage increases in the first two years of the new agreements. Lump sum payouts took their place. Pensions were modestly increased. But UAW members will be helping to pay for these pension increases by diverting monies from COLA increases toward the cost of their pensions. Furthermore, the UAW once again signed agreements that did not include indexation of pensions. UAW leaders get indexed pensions. Similarly the UAW agreed to significantly increase co-pays for prescription drugs. This will hit retired UAW members hard. The UAW also agreed to tougher corporate absenteeism policies. The most insidious feature of this year’s UAW negotiations with these corporations was a move to combine the ratification votes at GM and Delphi into a single vote. Delphi workers will endure worse two tier wage agreements than GM workers yet their votes were effectively nullified because there are many more GM workers than at Delphi. These obscenities show what happens when a union decides its job is to help the corporations it deals with to become more competitive. Corporate restructuring and work reorganization strategies have steadily shifted the balance of forces in auto in favour of the corporations. Autoworkers do not need a union that has crossed the line and gone over to the other side. Labour Council Delegates Election I want to thank the membership for re-electing me as a delegate to the St. Catharines & District Labour Council. This made it possible for me to get re-elected as the 1st Vice-President of the Labour Council. I also want to thank all of the others who contested the election for their interest. The election of a new CAW Local 199 delegation to the St. Catharines & District Labour Council has already helped to pay dividends in terms of a better turnout at its general membership meetings. About 40 delegates and guests attended the November 2003 general membership meeting. That was the best turnout in at least a decade. It affirms the fact that our labour council stands out as an increasingly vibrant and dynamic organization and it sharply contrasts with an otherwise pitifully ineffective labour movement.