This week on Capitalism, Race, & Democracy:
*Contracts have expired for 150,000 UAW auto workers at GM, Ford and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), with several plants already on strike.
*Thousands of asylum-seekers from across the world are in shelters and encampments on the US-Mexico border hoping to cross into the United States. Pacifica contributor Dave Adelson speaks with humanitarian workers with Psicólogos sin Fronteras Baja California.
*Thomas O’Rourke looks at the devastating wildfires and their aftermath in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii and sees some clues that a shock doctrine – disaster capitalism playbook may be in the works.
From Pacifica Radio, this is Capitalism, Race, & Democracy, a collective effort by producers from Pacifica stations and affiliates across the US.
Contracts have expired for 150,000 UAW auto workers at GM, Ford and Stellantis, which was formerly Chrysler. The union is demanding a 32-hour work week for 40 hours pay, a 40% wage increase, and equal pay for equal work. Workers doing the same work at unionized auto plants are currently paid less, which pits worker against worker.
Several plants have been shut down but not engine and parts plants which could shut down the whole industry. Workers are demanding 40 hours pay for 32 hours work to save jobs, because 40% of auto workers could be eliminated by robotics and the introduction of electric vehicles, which take less labor to assemble. President Biden has reportedly urged UAW president Shawn Fain to keep the industry running. We hear from Shawn Fain speaking at a labor rally in Detroit.
Frank Hammer, past president of UAW 909, spoke with Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer about the auto workers’ struggle.
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The first large migrant caravans began arriving in Tijuana, at the US-Mexico border, in late 2018. They were organized to protect asylum seekers from Central America and Mexico on their journey northward and to call attention to their plight.
In the following months, news media began running gripping photos of asylum seekers in mass demonstrations along the border. Migrants were held in US detention centers in chain link enclosures topped with barbed wire, waiting for asylum hearings that came slowly if at all in an overwhelmed asylum system.
In response to the political attention and furor, the Trump Administration negotiated the Migrant Protection Protocols with Mexico leading to the “Remain in Mexico” policy. That policy guaranteed that the growing population of asylum seekers would wait for months or longer for their appointed court dates on the Mexican side of the border, out of American detention centers and out of the headlines.
Since that time, the fundamental problem of a growing torrent of asylum seekers has not slowed down, while the rate at which these claims are processed remains at a trickle.
Since the arrival of the first caravans, the Baja California chapter of Psicólogos Sin Fronteras, led by Luis Gomez Rosales, has been doing grassroots humanitarian work in the migrant hostels – albergues in Spanish – and spontaneous encampments in border cities from Tijuana to Mexicali and beyond. Pacifica contributor Dave Adelson caught up with Luis and his colleague Sebastian Farias in Tijuana in late August 2023, to get an update on the situations in the shelters and the larger forces that are affecting their lives. We share part of their discussion.
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Pacifica’s Thomas O’Rourke looks at the devastating wildfires and their aftermath in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii and sees some clues that a shock doctrine – disaster capitalism playbook may be in the works.
And that concludes today’s edition of Capitalism, Race & Democracy. We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race, & Democracy collective and hosted by Ann Garrison.
Thanks for listening!
Music:
Los Vega & Gael García Bernal – El partisano
