The following statement was issued by the Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee to workers at the Saginaw, Michigan, auto parts plant who forced United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 699 to conduct a strike authorization vote on Wednesday and Thursday. Nexteer workers voted down two UAW-backed concessions contracts, by 96 percent and 73 percent respectively. To contact the Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee, fill out the form at the end of the statement.

Brothers and sisters,

We have stood firm against the blackmail of Nexteer and the UAW bureaucrats, voting down two sellout contracts and forcing the union to call a strike authorization vote for Wednesday and Thursday. Now we must deliver a massive vote to strike and take matters into our own hands by setting up a rank-and-file strike committee.

We, the workers, must make sure that a strike vote is followed by setting an immediate deadline for a walkout and a clear set of actions to win our demands. A strike mandate by the membership is not a request to the UAW International to call a strike whenever and if ever they decide to. It is a demand that all the resources of the union, including the $840 million strike fund, be marshaled for us to win this fight. This includes demanding $1,000 a week in strike benefits to sustain our fight against the giant corporations and the Big Three automakers that stand behind it.

We will not accept another Hollywood strike like the 20-hour walkout in 2015. We should take a warning from what just happened in New York City, where the powerful strike by 3,500 Long Island Rail Road workers—which shut down the largest commuter rail system in the US—was called off by the union bosses after three days without providing any details of the so-called agreement to the workers themselves.

Make no mistake, the UAW international and local officials will do the same to us if they maintain control, assuming they even honor a strike vote by calling a walkout.

That is why we must elect a rank-and-file strike committee, made up of the most trusted and militant workers, to outline our demands and a strategy to win. The Local 699 bargaining committee has proven that it is negotiating not for us, but for the company. It must be removed and replaced by a strike committee elected by the rank-and-file. Negotiations must be carried out in full view of the workers. No closed-door talks!

But we cannot fight this battle alone. We need the full support of Big Three assembly workers in Flint and throughout the auto industry. We need to coordinate our fight with parts workers who are sick of being treated like industrial slaves by the auto executives and the UAW bureaucracy. If the rank and file controls this fight, our strike can become a catalyst for a powerful movement of parts workers to recoup decades of UAW-backed concessions, restore parity pay with Big Three assembly workers and fight for a decent standard of living for all those workers who produce the multi-billion-dollar profits of the auto industry.

Workers at American Axle in Three Rivers, Michigan, and Dana in Pennsylvania have delivered strike authorization votes by over 95 percent. Contracts are expiring at Bridgewater Interiors, Dana and Magna International in Michigan and other states, and Allison Off-Highway in Indiana, in the next few days. 

Due to the just-in-time delivery system, a strike at Nexteer could quickly slow down and halt production of the Big Three’s most profitable models. That is precisely why UAW President Shawn Fain, IPS Director Richard Boyer, Region 1D Director Steven Dawes and other high-paid bureaucrats are desperate to block us from exercising our most basic right to refuse to work until we win our just demands.

At the Local 699 meeting on Sunday, we sent International Rep Jason Tuck (who made $148,476 in 2025) packing after he showed his contempt for us by cursing the members and threatening us. After voting down two contracts and forcing the union to call a strike vote, we made it clear that Nexteer workers will not accept any more lies or threats from pro-company stooges. 

We must continue this momentum now, preventing any more delays and foot-dragging from Solidarity House, which only gives Nexteer and the Big Three automakers time to undermine our strike.

The rank-and-file strike committee must send pickets to parts and assembly plants across Michigan and beyond to prevent any scabbing on our strike and mobilize the entire working class against any attempt to lay us off or shut the plant.

We must make a special appeal for support to our brothers and sisters in Mexico, Poland and around the world. The only way that we can oppose the shifting of production to lower cost operations is through cross-border solidarity and a common struggle for good-paying and secure jobs for workers in every country. We need to be there for our international brothers so they will be there for us.

We are fighting not just for ourselves, but for the whole working class and for future generations.

We must tell the world that we will not accept any deal that does not meet our non-negotiable demands. The decades of wage cuts and concessions are over! An end to poverty wages ($27 an hour) for senior workers and destitution wages ($19.50) for new hires. Abolish the tier system. No cycle-time surveillance. Workers’ control of line speed, health and safety conditions.

Our demands should include: 

• Abolition of all tiers. Equal pay and benefits for equal work. 
• Immediate, substantial wage increases that exceed the rate of inflation, with cost-of-living adjustments.
• A living starting wage and rapid progression to top pay, not 24 or 48 months of poverty.
• Full healthcare coverage for all workers and their families. No premium hikes, no doubled weekly contributions.
• Enforceable limits on overtime, speedup and scheduling abuse.
• Job security and anti-outsourcing protections. Full transparency and the right to oppose the shifting of work to lower-wage operations.
• Workers’ control over safety and staffing, with elected rank-and-file safety reps empowered to stop unsafe work.
• Explicit, enforceable prohibitions on cycle-time surveillance and the use of tracking data for discipline, job elimination and speedup. 

This is not a wish list. It is the minimum we deserve and need to protect our families from the ravages of inflation caused by Trump’s war against Iran. Nexteer and the giant auto companies are making billions in profits off the backs of workers and there is more than enough money to meet our demands. If we strike, we want to win.

Join the Nexteer Workers Rank-and-File Committee to take up this fight.