Jackson Leads Workers’ March to GM Plant : Van Nuys: Hundreds take part in a rally to decry cuts in employment and benefits, and join a procession to the factory that is marked for closure.
Led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, hundreds of union workers gathered at a “rally for jobs” Saturday in Van Nuys and marched on a local General Motors plant set to cease operations later this year.
The throng of sign-carrying and flag-waving workers from a range of local unions billed themselves as the “Coalition for Jobs and Health Care.” The workers demonstrated to call attention to rising unemployment and shrinking benefits that they said have been caused by corporate greed and mismanagement in the White House.
Jackson and several other speakers, including United Farm Workers President Cesar Chavez and local elected officials, urged the crowd to exercise its
political muscle and defeat politicians who favor corporations over workers.
“We need alternatives to plants closing, alternatives to jobs leaving,” Jackson told the crowd, estimated by police at nearly 1,000. “We need an alternative vision. We need a new President.”
The union members, including scores of laborers who stand to lose their jobs if the GM plant halts operations as scheduled in August, said they hoped the rally would send a message of worker dissatisfaction to those running for public office.
“I think the only way to make a difference is with a united front like this,” said Jess Pacheco, a United Auto Workers member at the GM plant. “Hopefully, corporate America will take note. Nothing is set in stone on the GM plant. I am optimistic things can change.”
GM officials, however, have shown no interest in reversing their plans, expected to put 2,600 employees out of work. GM says it will try to find other jobs for the workers.
Jackson hit hard on the theme of hard times facing workers in his 15-minute address in the schoolyard at Fulton Junior High School.
“Here in California, over 1 million are unemployed today,” Jackson said. “Plants are closing and jobs are disappearing in aerospace, high technology, heavy manufacturing and construction. We need these industries. We need these workers’ skills. We must not surrender. It is time to fight back.”
Jackson said political leaders must formulate plans to re-industrialize the nation, at one point suggesting that money used to bail out failed savings and loans could be redirected to keep plants such as the GM site open. He spoke highly of Japan’s long-term plans to rebuild its infrastructure and asked why there was no such plan in the United States.
Jackson also complained that the presidential primaries have been dominated by bickering among candidates, rather than a serious discussion of the issues.
“The central issues . . . are not college parties. They are not rumors, pot or sex,” he said. “It is about the dignity of working people. The shared pain of the country is at stake. In the face of this pain, we must choose partnership, not polarization.”
Former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. has said he would choose Jackson as his vice presidential candidate if he wins the Democratic Party nomination.
Other speakers and spectators included a broad sampling of Democratic leaders, from U.S. Senate candidates Dianne Feinstein and Controller Gray Davis to Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) and Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman (D-Los Angeles).
Some speakers offered more pointed criticism of the Bush Administration. National UAW President Owen Bieber said the union “will work harder than it ever has before to kick George Bush’s . . . out of the White House.”
Bieber said the union has not given up efforts to save auto worker jobs in Van Nuys.
“We are going to continue to fight the decision by GM to close this plant,” he said. “They are not going to leave the workers out there with nothing. . . .”
After nearly two hours of speeches, the block-long line of workers shouting “Save our jobs” marched a few blocks from the schoolyard to the plant. Police said the procession was orderly and no problems were reported.
Those who fell in line behind Jackson said the strong showing of political leaders and fellow unionists at the rally gave them hope.
“I think it’s been a big success,” said Gilbert Herrera, who faces the possibility of losing his job at the GM plant. “I just hope it makes some of the politicians open their eyes and see what’s going on. The rally makes me feel optimistic. It says, ‘Don’t close the book on us.’ ”
