That's Will Lehman. He's running to be the next president of United Auto Workers. Trina's been noting him at her site and suggested we note him here.
We agree too much time is spent by supposed left sites glorifying the likes of AOC.
Unlike AOC and her social media presence, Will, if elected, could make a real difference.
Equally true, the left media made a star out of AOC (and is now trying to make one out of Congressional candidate Gary Chambers). We're not suggesting Will should be a star -- we are stating that if he got a little attention from our supposed left media outlets, it could be workers front and center where they belong in any discussion.
Last week, workers at the Ventra plant in Evert, Michigan, voted 94.5 percent to defeat the UAW-supported contract that kept poverty-level wages, imposed higher health care costs on workers and called for an end to sweatshops. Have done nothing. conditions in the plant.
On Thursday, the UAW bureaucracy announced a last-minute deal covering 700 employees at GM Subsystems, a low-paying subsidiary of General Motors. The material handling and warehouse workers’ strike could have quickly closed GM’s major assembly plants in Detroit, Lansing, Lake Orion and Flint, Michigan.
Lehman, a 34-year-old construction worker at the Mack Trucks plant in Macungee, Pennsylvania, announced its campaign Last week for the UAW Presidency.
In his latest statement, he declared his solidarity with Ventra and GM subsystem workers, saying they were in a crucial battle worthy of the support of all rank-and-file workers against both corporations and the UAW bureaucracy. “The ruling class of corporate owners is not going to give concessions anywhere unless forced by the workers. But workers everywhere are barred from using our power, corrupt union officials who protect profits and not the needs of their members,” he said.
Isn't that a lot more important than whatever The Fraud Squad is spewing this week?
WSWS has been covering Will's campaign. It's a shame others haven't. WSWS notes:
Workers at Ventra Evart are already fighting back, Lehman said, noting how workers in the recently formed Ventra Evart Workers Rank-and-File Committee issued a statement on Friday calling for a strike authorization and demanding a strike deadline be set.
“I stand in complete solidarity with the Ventra Evart workers,” he continued. “These workers are taking an important stand for autoworkers and workers everywhere. Their problems are our problems—falling wages, rising health care costs, dangerous plants and no time for their families. A major victory by these workers would be a major victory for workers everywhere and would strengthen all our positions.
“My campaign calls for the widest possible mobilization of workers behind the Ventra Evart workers. Workers at Flex-N-Gate, Ford, GM, Stellantis—the Ventra Evart workers need your support. Share the latest statement of the Ventra Workers Rank-and-File Committee with workers in your plant.”
Saying that Ventra workers, in organizing independently to fight concessions, are showing workers the way forward, Lehman concluded, “Organize your own rank-and-file committees to connect with these workers, and build up a network of workers’ power in the plants. We can’t let them fight alone.”
Unlike AOC, Will is neither a spoiled, well off brat (the poor don't intern for Ted Kennedy) nor a media creation. His concerns are the concerns of many -- especially those who have to work to put food on the table.
Left media could do a lot worse than highlighting an actual candidate with actual issues and actual plans.
