Auto Union Leaders Meet for Worldwide Strategy Session

A historic summit meeting of labor leaders in the world auto industry occurred on April 27 in Tokyo. The auto union leaders from the U.S., Japan, and Western Europe gathered to discuss the state of the industry, and to plan strategy for protecting the rights of auto workers around the globe.

United States auto workers were represented by Douglas Fraser, president of the United Auto Workers; Japanese workers by Ichiro Shioji, president of the Japanese Autoworkers Union; British workers by Moss Evans, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union. German, Swedish, and Italian auto union leaders also attended the small meeting. '

"The world auto industry is in crisis," the union leaders, representing some four million workers, said in a joint statement. "There is a declining number of employed workers, earning `a declining amount of money, building and buying a declining number of automobiles." On the question of jobs, the union heads were pessimistic. "While production and' revenue may go up, the total number of jobs will continue to decline," their statement said.

In response to the crisis, the auto union leaders agreed on five major points of strategy.

First, they called "for an increased voice for workers in the overall direction of automobile companies" and pledged to "press for increasing union participation in management."

Second, in an apparent criticism of Japanese auto companies, they urged companies to "take investments and work to where there is unemployment, rather than to relentlessly increase exports." Although shying away from an explicit endorsement of protectionism, the leaders did say "there come moments when unbalanced patterns of trade or trade within a particular industry can visit a special injury to our members." .

Equalizing wages worldwide was the third plank agreed upon by the union representatives. Again, the Japanese companies appeared to be under attack for not paying their workers at levels equivalent to those prevailing in other Western countries. "We are all very concerned about unequal labor costs and long working hours giving certain auto companies unfair advantages," the statement said., "There are countries where automobile workers do not receive in either real or comparative terms a fair share of what their labor creates. This can be as much 'a problem between industrialized countries as it is when comparing wages between advanced countries and newly industrialised or third world countries."

Fourth, the union leaders recommended boosting "organization activities in developing countries. . . to secure fair trade union rights and economic justice for automobile workers in countries where the political background is inimical to trade unions. This particularly applies to South Africa and to certain countries in South America and Asia."

Lastly, the summit statement called for a "tripartite conference" of union, company and government officials "at which our common problems can be discussed," warning that "a future based -on confrontation, employment and 'wage attrition and economic nationalism is bad for us all."