A 90-minute demonstration is planned outside Cobo Center from 1-2:30 p.m. Sunday, a day before media preview week starts at the North American International Auto Show. It opens to the public Jan. 18.
This is the fifth time UAW activists calling themselves the Autoworkers Caravan will seek coverage there of their views on economic issues and industry policies. A news release says:
We see this as a golden opportunity to get past the Detroit corporate media censorship and tell our side of the story: That the 1% are making out like bandits while autoworkers are living with concessionary contracts and city workers are getting thrown under the bus. This is a time to make NOISE!
The world is watching to see what autoworkers, the working class and people of Detroit and all of Michigan are doing in response to the assaults on our livelihoods and democratic rights. . . .
We choose the day before "media week" because reporters are here from around the world. . . . Many are looking for a story about the auto industry and Detroit, and in past years have come out to interview us.
A Facebook event page lists these issues:
- "Say no to alternative work schedules."
- "Stop the destructive TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership] trade deal."
- "Protect retiree pensions and benefits."
- "Overturn so-called Right to Work."
- "Defend workers’ rights globally."
- "Stop evictions and foreclosures."
- "Cancel Detroit’s debt — make the banks pay."
- "Convert factories for green manufacturing jobs and a renewable energy future."
-- Alan Stamm
