Shut down all non-essential production to halt the spread of the coronavirus! Distribute our statement, “ How to fight the COVID-19 pandemic: A program of action for the working class ” and form rank-and-file committees at your workplace. For assistance and to distribute information about actions workers are taking at your plant, contact us immediately at autoworkers@wsws.org or on Facebook .
Update 1:25 PM EDT: The Detroit Free Press is reporting that General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler will shut down all US plants. More information will be posted as it becomes available.
Workers at Fiat Chrysler’s Sterling Heights (SHAP) and Jefferson North (JNAP) assembly plants in Metro Detroit took matters into their own hands last night and this morning and forced a shutdown of production to halt the spread of coronavirus.
The work stoppages began at Sterling Heights last night, only hours after the United Auto Workers and the Detroit automakers reached a rotten deal to keep plants open and operating during the global pandemic. Faced with a fait accompli and with the union, which had temporarily prevented a walkout at Warren Truck on Monday and Tipton Transmission on Tuesday, having completely lost control of the situation, management sent workers on the night shift home early at 10:30 p.m. local time.
This morning, workers on SHAP’s first shift followed suit, staged a sit-in and refused to touch vehicles rolling down the line once their shift began. Because hundreds of people handle the vehicles in rapid succession on the assembly line, they are a major potential source of transmission for the virus. Management again sent workers home and canceled the second shift today. “This is awe-inspiring,” one young SHAP worker told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, referring to the workers’ action to force the closure of the plant.
Workers also stopped working at JNAP this morning at around 10:30 a.m. Workers reporting for the morning shift have refused to work for more than an hour. Workers have told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter that managers have threatened them with firings, with no opposition from local UAW officials, and some have returned to their workstations but are refusing to handle vehicles on the assembly line. “The union sold us out. We don’t need rotating shifts—we have to shut down the plants. They don’t even care about us and our families—the UAW showed that last night.” Management finally relented at 1:00 PM and sent the shift home.
Good for the workers. This is a story we need to all know about. And we need to know this comment left at the article:
Of course corporate media is lying. We should really appreciate WSWS and for that reporting and for other things as well.
Other things?
Are you aware that in this pandemic, The Nation magazine is keeping their paywall? Three articles a month. Greedy Katrina vanden Heuvel is saying, "Let them eat three." The Marie Antoinette of the faux left. You expect that crap from trash like Neera Tanden. But, with Katrina or without, The Nation is supposed to stand for something. And all it stands for right now is greed.
See C.I.'s snapshot below and also Elaine's "Greedy Katrina vanden Heuvel ruins THE NATION magazine." And join the call in calling Katty van-van and her greed out.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Wednesday:
Wednesday, March 18, 2020. Bernie Sanders continues to address the
needs of the nation, if we need to address the economic hardships in
this country during this troubled time why does the opinion journal THE
NATION continue to have a paywall, the Iraq War continues even though
Medea Benjamin seems unaware of that reality.
Starting in the US where business-as-usual-Biden went about demonstrating yet again that he drives with his eyes on the rear view mirror, Senator Bernie Sanders spoke about coronavirus and how we go forward.
Senator Bernie Sanders: So this is a moment that we've got to be working together in going forward together. What I wanted to do tonight, along with you, is to talk about a series of proposals that we are working on right now and that we'll introduce to the Democratic leadership as to how we can best go forward. And in this unprecedented moment, this will require an unprecedented amount of money and my own guess is that we'll be spending at least two trillion dollars in funding to prevent deaths, joblessness and avoid an economic catastrophe.
John Queally (COMMON DREAMS) notes:
The plan would guarantee that all healthcare needs related to the coronavirus would be free and available to all, including testing, any treatments, and ultimately—when available—the vaccine. The plan also calls for a dramatic investment in the public health system—including an urgent overhaul in terms of testing for the virus—and increased preparedness and support for frontline medical workers, hospitals, clinics, and community health centers. It would also mobilize the National Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, and military resources to build healthcare capacity nationwide.
On the economic front, Sanders' plan would issue direct cash payments, in the form of $2,000 check to every American each month for the duration of the crisis. The plan would also establish what the Sanders campaign calls the "Emergency Economic Crisis Finance Agency," which would be charged with handling the financial downturn unleashed by what is now a global pandemic.
"We must guarantee that everyone who needs care can get it for free, ensure that all workers continue to receive paychecks so they can make ends meet," Sander said, "and stop giant corporations and Wall Street from profiting off the outbreak."
Bernie wants you to visit the campaign site to review the plan and to offer your input.
Senator Bernie Sanders: We want to hear from you not only your ideas about how we can best go forward, talk about your experiences. In every state, there is a different level crisis in every occupation there is a different level of concern. Please communicate with us so that we can get the best understanding possible of what's going on in our country and how together we can come up with some effective remedies.
Here's some input, Bernie. Stop sending floats into clinics when they may have been exposed to coronavirus. May have been. A community member in Kentucky is furious because yesterday, at the front desk, she worked with a float who was informed, via e-mail, that the clinic she was at the day before -- a float doesn't have a fixed clinic, they float to various clinics based on need -- had a possible coronavirus patient and they were waiting on the results. After reading that e-mail and telling the others at the front desk, that float was allowed to stay and remain working. The only thing that changed is she put on a mask. It was 2:00 pm. She'd been there since 8:00 am. That mask wasn't helping anyone at that point.
Floats are going to spread coronvirus from clinic to clinic.
What, I e=mailed back, would have been the policy if it was known the patient she was around the day before had coronavirus? She would need to self-monitor for 48 hours, checking her temperature every two hours. If fever came up, she would not be allowed to work at a clinic.
And if she's one of those who doesn't develop fever? Everyone at each clinic is just screwed.
There needs to be a better system.
Kentucky community member wanted to share that her clinic was one of those we were noting the other day that has everyone mask up except for the front desk staff. She said if everyone on the front desk masked up, there would no chance of the float having spread anything before she received her e-mail yesterday afternoon.
At Bernie's website, go to this specific page to read what he's proposing. At the bottom of that page, it's noted: "To leave feedback, send an email to info@berniesanders.com."
There were primaries yesterday because public health is not a real concern obviously. Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports:
Ignoring urgent pleas from medical professionals and other health experts to postpone primary elections amid the coronavirus outbreak, Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez late Tuesday encouraged states to go ahead with their scheduled contests, claiming "we can in fact have voting and protect our workers, our voters, our candidates."
"I think it's a false choice to suggest we either have to protect safety or protect and ensure our democracy," Perez said in an interview with NPR late Tuesday as voters in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois went to the polls despite widespread calls for a delay. Former Vice President Joe Biden swept all three states.
Perez urged upcoming states to make vote-by-mail available to all voters, but it is unclear whether such a solution could be implemented in short order.
This isn't a federal election. This is a political primary. The DNC controls it. They could have done that. What they should have done is postpone the primaries. Create, at each state's Democratic Party website, a place where you requested a mail-in ballot and a phone number for people to call for a mail-in ballot (not everyone has computers or internet access). That does not take weeks and weeks to implement. This could be done by each state in five working days. The request would come in by phone or computer, the DNC worker would verify that the person was registered, a mail-in ballot would be sent out.
That is what should have been done.
This November, there will be a general election. It needs to take place. Even during the Civil War, we did not suspend elections. We need to be using the primary to implement mail-in voting (which the state of Oregon already does -- everyone votes by mail there) across the US and we need to be prepared to do that in the general if the coronavirus is still an issue then (as it most likely will be).
The myth of electable is why the country's in another crisis. The press tells us that their favorite, whomever it is at the moment, is the most electable. In this cycle alone, we've seen them insist that Kamala Harris was electable and that Tiny Pete was though neither ever demonstrated any indication that they were -- at any point in the election. Joe Biden is supposed to be electable.
He most likely is not. A group of delusionals -- Cher, Vincent Tiny Penis and others -- have rushed to insist he is. When is the last time Cher was ever in the majority? When she recorded "Believe"? That was last century. She's not had a true hit since then -- not a hit song, not a hit film and, no, not even a hit fashion show masquerading as a Broadway play. She's hardly in touch with the masses.
Bernie is electable.
And the masses are who will vote. That means leaving the zombie cult that is the Democratic Party. Democrats alone will not deliver a victory. You have to have a candidate who can reach beyond that. Bernie can which is why he is seen as electable. Joe, however, tends to run off most independents because he is so problematic, inappropriate with girls and women, unable to string together a coherent sentence, lying non-stop over and over.
The zombies of the Democratic Party will gladly overlook these things. Voters not addicted to lies and distortions won't be so eager to do so.
And they see Joe's staff as problematic as well. Anita Dunn, for example, donated her time to Harvey Weinstein as he was facing charges of rape and assault -- he has since been convicted and sentenced to over 20 years. Maybe the Poster Gal for Rape and Harassment shouldn't be in your campaign?
Anita gets worse. Jefferson Morely (COUNTERPUNCH) explains:
After Sunday night’s Democratic presidential debate, Anita Dunn, senior adviser to Joe Biden’s campaign, defended the vice president’s performance in a briefing with reporters.
Last year, Dunn, who served as communications director in Barack Obama’s White House, did a similar duty for NSO, the spyware firm founded by former Israeli intelligence officers. The NSO Group created the infamous Pegasus intrusion tool, which has been used to harass and disrupt journalists from India to Mexico to Saudi Arabia—and also to pick Jeff Bezos’ pocket.
As Avi Asher-Schapiro of the Committee to Protect Journalists noted on Twitter, Dunn is “Managing Director at SKDKnickerbocker, a firm that managed the US public relations work for NSO Group.”
Dunn’s work for NSO indicates a willingness to defend private power against the public interest. Her condescending remarks about Bernie Sanders’ performance evoke the arrogance that pervades the intersection of big government and corporate power in Washington. She represents the reasons why some of Sanders’ supporters are reluctant to support the former vice president. She embodies the difficulty of unifying the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party going into the 2020 presidential election.
Let's gripe about trash. Katrina vanden Heuvel, I'm looking at you. THE NATION is not reporting. It's opinion columns which are all over the internet already. So this nonsense that you have a paywall is pure b.s. That you would do so during a presidential election year is appalling. That you would do so while your opinion columns promote the need to grasp the suffering that workers are going through right now is outrageous.
We were going to highlight Katrina's latest column. I'm sure it's her generic rah-rah but we were going to highlight it. The person I'm dictating the snapshot to says that the paywall notice tells them they have 2 free articles left for the month (you get 3 from Queen Katrina, "Let them read three!"). But he can't get around the paywall notice to copy anything from the column.
Garbage. And Katrina for you, in a crisis, to claim to be a journalist and yet have a policy that readers can only read 3 articles a month without paying you? Greed. You are deluded and out of touch. You should be ashamed of yourself. I'm embarrassed for you.
Also needing to take a slice of the shame pie? Medea Benjamin and the man she writes with. They give you 12 ways the invasion of Iraq 17 years ago have harmed. Do we ever put Iraqis front and center? No, that would require paying attention. So Medea and her man note that Iraqis have died and been left injured. That's it for the Iraqi people. They live in greater poverty today than they did under Saddam but that's not noted. Iraqi women have seen their rights stripped away but that's not noted by Medea and her man. Birth defects have increased dramatically due to weapons the west used in Iraq but, again, Medea and her man look the other way. Iraq is not a land of widows and children but they don't comment on that. Iraq has a government that regularly attacks the Iraqi people but that's not noted. It's a really funny way to look at the effects of the ongoing Iraq War -- by ignoring the Iraqi people.
Also strange, they don't seem to get that the Iraq War never ended.
MILITARY TIMES carries Andrew Milburn's column this morning. It's entitled "The Iraq War is not over yet." Readers of MILITARY TIMES are better educated about Iraq than readers of 'peace' 'activist' Medea Benjmain's scribbles. And, hey, Medea, where's that Iran War?
You suddenly remembered Iraq in January, remember? You ran around like Chicken Little "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" You told us all that the US would be at war with Iran in a matter of days. We had to gather, we had to protest!
You couldn't recognize the brave Iraqi people who were already protesting -- had been since the start of August.
But you could scream that war with Iran was going to happen in weeks if not days. As usual, you didn't know what you were talking about.
The following sites updated:
Starting in the US where business-as-usual-Biden went about demonstrating yet again that he drives with his eyes on the rear view mirror, Senator Bernie Sanders spoke about coronavirus and how we go forward.
Senator Bernie Sanders: So this is a moment that we've got to be working together in going forward together. What I wanted to do tonight, along with you, is to talk about a series of proposals that we are working on right now and that we'll introduce to the Democratic leadership as to how we can best go forward. And in this unprecedented moment, this will require an unprecedented amount of money and my own guess is that we'll be spending at least two trillion dollars in funding to prevent deaths, joblessness and avoid an economic catastrophe.
John Queally (COMMON DREAMS) notes:
The plan would guarantee that all healthcare needs related to the coronavirus would be free and available to all, including testing, any treatments, and ultimately—when available—the vaccine. The plan also calls for a dramatic investment in the public health system—including an urgent overhaul in terms of testing for the virus—and increased preparedness and support for frontline medical workers, hospitals, clinics, and community health centers. It would also mobilize the National Guard, Army Corps of Engineers, and military resources to build healthcare capacity nationwide.
On the economic front, Sanders' plan would issue direct cash payments, in the form of $2,000 check to every American each month for the duration of the crisis. The plan would also establish what the Sanders campaign calls the "Emergency Economic Crisis Finance Agency," which would be charged with handling the financial downturn unleashed by what is now a global pandemic.
"We must guarantee that everyone who needs care can get it for free, ensure that all workers continue to receive paychecks so they can make ends meet," Sander said, "and stop giant corporations and Wall Street from profiting off the outbreak."
Bernie wants you to visit the campaign site to review the plan and to offer your input.
Senator Bernie Sanders: We want to hear from you not only your ideas about how we can best go forward, talk about your experiences. In every state, there is a different level crisis in every occupation there is a different level of concern. Please communicate with us so that we can get the best understanding possible of what's going on in our country and how together we can come up with some effective remedies.
Here's some input, Bernie. Stop sending floats into clinics when they may have been exposed to coronavirus. May have been. A community member in Kentucky is furious because yesterday, at the front desk, she worked with a float who was informed, via e-mail, that the clinic she was at the day before -- a float doesn't have a fixed clinic, they float to various clinics based on need -- had a possible coronavirus patient and they were waiting on the results. After reading that e-mail and telling the others at the front desk, that float was allowed to stay and remain working. The only thing that changed is she put on a mask. It was 2:00 pm. She'd been there since 8:00 am. That mask wasn't helping anyone at that point.
Floats are going to spread coronvirus from clinic to clinic.
What, I e=mailed back, would have been the policy if it was known the patient she was around the day before had coronavirus? She would need to self-monitor for 48 hours, checking her temperature every two hours. If fever came up, she would not be allowed to work at a clinic.
And if she's one of those who doesn't develop fever? Everyone at each clinic is just screwed.
There needs to be a better system.
Kentucky community member wanted to share that her clinic was one of those we were noting the other day that has everyone mask up except for the front desk staff. She said if everyone on the front desk masked up, there would no chance of the float having spread anything before she received her e-mail yesterday afternoon.
At Bernie's website, go to this specific page to read what he's proposing. At the bottom of that page, it's noted: "To leave feedback, send an email to info@berniesanders.com."
There were primaries yesterday because public health is not a real concern obviously. Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports:
Ignoring urgent pleas from medical professionals and other health experts to postpone primary elections amid the coronavirus outbreak, Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez late Tuesday encouraged states to go ahead with their scheduled contests, claiming "we can in fact have voting and protect our workers, our voters, our candidates."
"I think it's a false choice to suggest we either have to protect safety or protect and ensure our democracy," Perez said in an interview with NPR late Tuesday as voters in Arizona, Florida, and Illinois went to the polls despite widespread calls for a delay. Former Vice President Joe Biden swept all three states.
Perez urged upcoming states to make vote-by-mail available to all voters, but it is unclear whether such a solution could be implemented in short order.
This isn't a federal election. This is a political primary. The DNC controls it. They could have done that. What they should have done is postpone the primaries. Create, at each state's Democratic Party website, a place where you requested a mail-in ballot and a phone number for people to call for a mail-in ballot (not everyone has computers or internet access). That does not take weeks and weeks to implement. This could be done by each state in five working days. The request would come in by phone or computer, the DNC worker would verify that the person was registered, a mail-in ballot would be sent out.
That is what should have been done.
This November, there will be a general election. It needs to take place. Even during the Civil War, we did not suspend elections. We need to be using the primary to implement mail-in voting (which the state of Oregon already does -- everyone votes by mail there) across the US and we need to be prepared to do that in the general if the coronavirus is still an issue then (as it most likely will be).
The myth of electable is why the country's in another crisis. The press tells us that their favorite, whomever it is at the moment, is the most electable. In this cycle alone, we've seen them insist that Kamala Harris was electable and that Tiny Pete was though neither ever demonstrated any indication that they were -- at any point in the election. Joe Biden is supposed to be electable.
He most likely is not. A group of delusionals -- Cher, Vincent Tiny Penis and others -- have rushed to insist he is. When is the last time Cher was ever in the majority? When she recorded "Believe"? That was last century. She's not had a true hit since then -- not a hit song, not a hit film and, no, not even a hit fashion show masquerading as a Broadway play. She's hardly in touch with the masses.
Bernie beats Trump
✓ Only campaign with more donations than Trump
✓ Beating Trump in over 60 polls
✓ Fastest campaign ever to reach 1 million donors
✓ Beating Trump in over 60 polls
✓ Fastest campaign ever to reach 1 million donors
Bernie is electable.
And the masses are who will vote. That means leaving the zombie cult that is the Democratic Party. Democrats alone will not deliver a victory. You have to have a candidate who can reach beyond that. Bernie can which is why he is seen as electable. Joe, however, tends to run off most independents because he is so problematic, inappropriate with girls and women, unable to string together a coherent sentence, lying non-stop over and over.
The zombies of the Democratic Party will gladly overlook these things. Voters not addicted to lies and distortions won't be so eager to do so.
And they see Joe's staff as problematic as well. Anita Dunn, for example, donated her time to Harvey Weinstein as he was facing charges of rape and assault -- he has since been convicted and sentenced to over 20 years. Maybe the Poster Gal for Rape and Harassment shouldn't be in your campaign?
Anita gets worse. Jefferson Morely (COUNTERPUNCH) explains:
After Sunday night’s Democratic presidential debate, Anita Dunn, senior adviser to Joe Biden’s campaign, defended the vice president’s performance in a briefing with reporters.
Last year, Dunn, who served as communications director in Barack Obama’s White House, did a similar duty for NSO, the spyware firm founded by former Israeli intelligence officers. The NSO Group created the infamous Pegasus intrusion tool, which has been used to harass and disrupt journalists from India to Mexico to Saudi Arabia—and also to pick Jeff Bezos’ pocket.
As Avi Asher-Schapiro of the Committee to Protect Journalists noted on Twitter, Dunn is “Managing Director at SKDKnickerbocker, a firm that managed the US public relations work for NSO Group.”
Dunn’s work for NSO indicates a willingness to defend private power against the public interest. Her condescending remarks about Bernie Sanders’ performance evoke the arrogance that pervades the intersection of big government and corporate power in Washington. She represents the reasons why some of Sanders’ supporters are reluctant to support the former vice president. She embodies the difficulty of unifying the progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic Party going into the 2020 presidential election.
Let's gripe about trash. Katrina vanden Heuvel, I'm looking at you. THE NATION is not reporting. It's opinion columns which are all over the internet already. So this nonsense that you have a paywall is pure b.s. That you would do so during a presidential election year is appalling. That you would do so while your opinion columns promote the need to grasp the suffering that workers are going through right now is outrageous.
We were going to highlight Katrina's latest column. I'm sure it's her generic rah-rah but we were going to highlight it. The person I'm dictating the snapshot to says that the paywall notice tells them they have 2 free articles left for the month (you get 3 from Queen Katrina, "Let them read three!"). But he can't get around the paywall notice to copy anything from the column.
Garbage. And Katrina for you, in a crisis, to claim to be a journalist and yet have a policy that readers can only read 3 articles a month without paying you? Greed. You are deluded and out of touch. You should be ashamed of yourself. I'm embarrassed for you.
Also needing to take a slice of the shame pie? Medea Benjamin and the man she writes with. They give you 12 ways the invasion of Iraq 17 years ago have harmed. Do we ever put Iraqis front and center? No, that would require paying attention. So Medea and her man note that Iraqis have died and been left injured. That's it for the Iraqi people. They live in greater poverty today than they did under Saddam but that's not noted. Iraqi women have seen their rights stripped away but that's not noted by Medea and her man. Birth defects have increased dramatically due to weapons the west used in Iraq but, again, Medea and her man look the other way. Iraq is not a land of widows and children but they don't comment on that. Iraq has a government that regularly attacks the Iraqi people but that's not noted. It's a really funny way to look at the effects of the ongoing Iraq War -- by ignoring the Iraqi people.
Also strange, they don't seem to get that the Iraq War never ended.
MILITARY TIMES carries Andrew Milburn's column this morning. It's entitled "The Iraq War is not over yet." Readers of MILITARY TIMES are better educated about Iraq than readers of 'peace' 'activist' Medea Benjmain's scribbles. And, hey, Medea, where's that Iran War?
You suddenly remembered Iraq in January, remember? You ran around like Chicken Little "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" You told us all that the US would be at war with Iran in a matter of days. We had to gather, we had to protest!
You couldn't recognize the brave Iraqi people who were already protesting -- had been since the start of August.
But you could scream that war with Iran was going to happen in weeks if not days. As usual, you didn't know what you were talking about.
The following sites updated:
10 great media pieces
5 hours ago
Carly Simon, Bernie Sanders
6 hours ago
We can learn from the past
6 hours ago
Something to consider
6 hours ago
Dario is the candidate we need
6 hours ago
Lyle Waggoner
6 hours ago
Looking toward the future
6 hours ago
cats
6 hours ago
Never Biden
6 hours ago
