Republicans Hate America 8: UAW, the Belvidere Illinois Assembly plant and revived Union Strength

In Union there is strength and Labor is prior to and independent of Capital.  - Abraham Lincoln or Karl Marx?

Republicans are furious they believed they had functionally killed Unions reducing them to a shell of their former selves via their Right-to-Work (For Less) Legislation and big Court rulings.

Here in Illinois for example, in the 2018 Janus Ruling, Republicans thought they had severed the roots of Union member solidarity and ushered in the slow withering of Unions.  It was only a matter of time before every worker would "choose" to not pay Union dues and Unions would slowly die.

TraitorTrump was a fan of the Janus Ruling as he's famous for not paying people who do work for him.

But, then the President Biden had to go and walk the picket line with the striking UAW members, and the stunned Corporate Media quickly tried to ham-handedly proclaim Actually BothSides love Union workers.

Well, the striking UAW has just won 3 successive victories for their members over the automakers, Ford, GM, and Stellantis.

Mr. Belvidere, site of the new Dodge Dakota

I drive past the Belvidere plant just south of Rockford occasionally and recall when the demonstration vehicles were removed from their little display hills in front.  Well now it's going to be a powerhouse for EV in Illinois;

“Eight months ago, Stellantis idled Belvidere Assembly Plant, putting 1,200 of our members on the street. From the strength of our strike, we are bringing back those jobs and more,” stated UAW Vice President Rich Boyer. “Stellantis is reopening the plant, and the company will also be adding over a thousand jobs at a new battery plant in Belvidere.”

According to the UAW, the new product at the plant will be a new mid-sized pickup truck. While many believed it would be a variant of the Brazilian-built compact Ram Rampage pickup, our sources have indicated that it could be a true successor to the popular Dodge Dakota.

UAW President Shawn Fain indicated that the new pickup would offer electrified and internal combustion engine (ICE) power. “We are bringing both combustion vehicle and battery jobs to Belvidere,” said Fain.

Shawn Fain is the type of Union leader we haven't seen in a while.  Every time he's been interviewed he stays on message and doesn't allow Corporate Media to interject their pro-plutocrat talking points into his interviews or get him to concede to their anti-Union stance. 

And this deal besides again showing President Biden's solidarity with Labor also highlights Governor J.B. Prtizker's continued leadership and investment in the people and state of Illinois,

With the announcement that United Auto Workers and Stellantis have reached a tentative agreement that’s good for workers and good for the state of Illinois, auto workers can get back on the job with higher wages, expanded benefits, and new and valuable opportunities in a growing industry.  

For over two years, I have been laser-focused on working toward a permanent solution in Belvidere that retains and grows good-paying jobs, while supporting economic development in the surrounding region. Since the plant was idled in February, we’ve provided support to furloughed auto workers, while concurrently leading a collaborative effort with local officials and legislators to craft aggressive incentives that position Illinois at the forefront of the EV manufacturing industry. Thanks to that collaboration and the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and the Reimagining Energy and Vehicles Act, we are on the verge of significantly advancing that effort. 

I’ve been in constant contact with auto workers, Stellantis executives, UAW representatives, and the White House as the bargaining has unfolded, and I am delighted we are now on the verge of getting this done. I look forward to finalizing the state’s economic package and not only reopening the shuttered assembly plant in Belvidere to manufacture electric vehicles, but also co-locating a new battery production facility. This will be thousands of jobs, billions in investment, and a huge win for Illinois.

Once more Governor J.B. is everything the Corporate Media has tried to force us to believe Shrimpy Boots DeSantis is but, DeSantis is a Republican he hates America, his every policy has been to impoverish, harm, and kill people, while feeding his hateful degenerate base a steady diet of lies, bigotry, hatred, and racism.

The choice is clear; the Democratic Party and Leadership is for the American people and for a better standard of living while the Republican Party hates America; viscerally, intractability