car industry

Car industry: reading guide

Libcom.org's reading guide on working life and struggles written by and about workers in the global automobile industry.

Douglas Fraser's Resignation letter from the Labor-Management Group

The then President of the UAW's resignation letter from the Labor Management Group[1]. The letter outlines his disappointment with the group and rejects the strategy of collaboration. But it also reflects on the then contemporary class struggle and outlines the growing tensions between major corporations and the labor movement.

Genora (Johnson) Dollinger Remembers the 1936-37 General Motors Sit-Down Strike

Roscoe Van Zandt, the only black participant of the strike inside the plant

An interview with Genora (Johnson) Dollinger and her recollections on the Flint Sit Down Strike of 1937. The interview particular recounts the role of women and black workers in the strike.

On "Autonomy in India"

"What we see the workers doing, and what we hear of from other places today, gives the impression that some great churning is taking place which we dare not try to fit unthinkingly into existing moulds bequeathed to us by past experience."

Autonomy in India: Tactical and Strategic Considerations on the New Wave of Workers’ Struggles

Recent workers’ struggles in India prompt us to examine the concept of autonomy more closely. Movements in the Gurgaon-Manesar region have consciously or unconsciously addressed the reality of the social factory and have combined mobilizations from below and mass initiative with the need to formulate an appropriate strategy and effective set of tactics.

1968: Ford Female Employees Win Strike for Equal Pay in Dagenham

In 1968 women who worked for the Ford plant in Dagenham discovered their pay was significantly less than male workers doing the same work. They struck for equal and despite ridiculing in the press the strike won a near wage parity, and promoted the debate on equal pay for equal work in the UK

The Black Voice

Cover of The Black Voice

Partial online archive of The Black Voice, the information arm of the United Black Workers, an organization of workers at the Ford Mahwah Assembly plant in New Jersey in the early 1970s.

International trade unionism helps weak Indian unions to integrate precarious workers' struggles

Union flag at factory gate, showing their role.

Analysis of the situation of the working class and their relationship with trade unions in India's new industrial heartland around New Delhi.

Struggles and union issues at Honda and Bellsonica in Manesar, India

Translation of four recent articles from Faridabad Majdoor Samachar (Faridabad Worker' News, India), reflecting on the union question regarding two current struggles at Honda motor-cycle factory and Bellsonica car parts supplier.