3-04-08, 12:13 pm

In his most recent op-ed in Solidarity magazine titled 'It's time for a change,' United Autoworkers (UAW) President Ron Gettelfinger fired both rhetorical barrels at George W. Bush and John McCain.

Gettelfinger stated that under Bush and the Republican Party controlled Congress, 'working people have been getting a raw deal.'

Bush and the Republicans showed 'in real and painful ways what happens when corporate interests control the agenda.' Workers lose their jobs and their homes; communities are destroyed.

Gettelfinger talked about the demand by autoworkers for change. They want to end bad trade deals that help corporations move jobs out of the economy and 'hurt workers in all countries.' Also, UAW members, he went on, 'have always believed that health care should be a right, not a privilege for those who can afford it.'

Gettelfinger insisted that our government must fulfill its responsibility to protect the rights of workers to organize and join unions and bargain collectively for better jobs.

He stated that the current nomination process has shown that most Americans agree that '[o]ur country needs a fundamental change in direction.'

But the presumptive Republican Party candidate, Gettelfinger added, doesn't represent any kind of change at all. John McCain, said the union leader, 'is bad news for America and American workers.'

John McCain's enthusiasm for NAFTA and other free trade deals mixed with his open lack of concern for lost jobs shows where he stands on working families issues.

John McCain recently told Ohio voters that 'NAFTA was a good idea. ... [F]ree trade ... is vital to the future of America. Have people lost jobs? Yes, they have, and they're gonna lose jobs.'

John McCain should lose his. Perhaps he wouldn't be so glib about it.

Gettelfinger also unloaded on McCain's support for apparently endless occupation of Iraq, his plans to privatize Social Security, and his demand to make Bush tax cuts for the rich permanent.

'His record is just as bad when it comes to workers' rights,' he added. McCain voted against the Employee Free Choice Act, against raising the minimum wage, and against extending unemployment compensation benefits during this recession.

'The choice for change in the coming election,' Gettelfinger concluded, 'will be clear.' He vowed to lead the UAW in mobilizing its members to help bring out the vote to defeat McCain on November 4th.

--Reach Joel Wendland at