Thread by @RickSmithShow

Frank Hammer: There was nothing ever "given" to us--our #union fought for everything we got on the job. #1u
@UAW @Detroitunionist @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: When GM went global, it was time for the union movement to become international and grow. #1u
@UAW @Detroitunionist @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: We now have a multiple tier wage and benefit structure--four echelons of workers but they're all getting different things for doing the same job. The workers are fractured, divided from each other.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: The only way we can defeat the strategy of the Race to the Bottom is by reaching out to the workers at the bottom and raising them up.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: The UAW had blinders on & said, "Well, I guess we have to go along with what the company says in order to have job security." This hasn't been a strategy that has worked for job security.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: We should be joining up with the Canadian workers.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: There's no question that by now the UAW should have had mass action to protest what's happening, to say it isn't right. If the leadership won't do it, the rank & file should. Don't wait--move ahead, take action.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: Workers at my plant feel lucky that our plant is still open, but our numbers have dropped drastically since I was President. I don't think the membership feels the strength they did when we had more members.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: There was a period of time, leading up to 1970's, when our productivity was linked to our pay schedule. Since the 70's, our wages flat lined while our productivity increased.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer:You can see our future in the way GM treats its workers overseas. I'm very close with workers in Colombia's GM plant--when workers are injured on the job, GM fires them. That's the model for what they want to do here
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: Myth has it that workers don't need their unions any more, which is completely false. We need a rank & file movement to rebuild our unions in an international way.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: I've heard from workers in Germany--Ford is doing to them what GM is doing to us.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: The economic impact, if these plants are allowed to close, would be devastating. Lordstown will be devastated. Detroit will only leave one assembly plant in a place known as Motor City and Union Town.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: We need to get away from burning fossil fuels, which is destroying the earth & changing the climate. We need to change our plants to build electric cars, to build public transit.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow

Frank Hammer: In 2018 GM finally recognized that climate change is happening. We need to hold them to zero emissions & to building electric cars and trucks.
@UAW @Detroitunionist #1u @freespeechtv #RickShow