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The Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committee Network and the WSWS are hosting an emergency online meeting Saturday, January 20, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to discuss how to organize a fight against the mass job cuts in the auto industry. Register here.

Ford announced Friday it would be cutting two shifts at the Detroit-area factory building electric pickup trucks, eliminating 1,400 jobs. The move is the latest in a jobs massacre continuing into the new year by corporations across the US and around the world.

The jobs affected are at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Plant (REVC), part of the larger Dearborn Truck complex. Previously, the company announced it would be eliminating one shift and cutting production of its electric F-150s in half, without giving details.

Ford workers at Dearborn Truck Plant

The job cuts announced Friday are even worse than anticipated, affecting roughly two-thirds of the 2,200 workers at REVC. Some 700 workers will be reassigned to the Michigan Assembly Plant and other factories, according to the company, implying that another 700 will be either laid off permanently or forced into early retirement.

The cuts are just the beginning of massive layoffs across the industry, where the transition from gas-powered to electric vehicles (EVs) is being used by the automakers to cut hundreds of thousands of jobs. The cuts bring the total number of announced layoffs at the Detroit Three alone over the past month to nearly 8,000 workers. This includes, in addition to the cuts at REVC:

539 supplemental employees at Stellantis who were summarily fired last week at plants in Detroit and Kokomo, Indiana; 3,680 layoffs previously announced at Stellantis’ Mack Avenue and Toledo Jeep plants; 1,300 cuts at General Motors’ Lake Orion and Lansing Grand River plants; 900 employees at GM Cruise, a subsidiary focusing on automated taxis, equal to 25 percent of the workforce. Layoffs are also taking place globally, including 2,250 layoffs at Stellantis plants in northern Italy and layoffs across Europe by parts suppliers Continental and Bosch. Ford’s Saarlouis plant is in the process of closing, following a bidding war over cuts and concessions between the auto unions in Germany and Spain.

These layoffs are a devastating exposure of the new auto contracts rammed through last fall by means of lies and fraud by the United Auto Workers bureaucracy after a limited strike deliberately structured by the UAW to limit the impact on production. The union claimed the deals were a turning point marking an end to decades of concessions. It has taken only a few months for the auto companies to launch the deepest cuts since the late 1970s, with the blessings of the UAW apparatus.

In a letter to RECV workers, UAW Plant Chairman Nick Kottalis made clear the union would do nothing to fight the layoffs. He claimed, without evidence, that nobody would lose work “by my calculations” and added that “more opportunities will be forthcoming when we receive retirement numbers” from other plants. In other words, the chance for current workers to keep their jobs depends on Ford’s success in forcing higher seniority workers into early retirement.

Anger over the layoffs is building rapidly, and momentum is growing for an emergency meeting against the layoffs on Saturday, January 20, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, sponsored by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC). Will Lehman, the socialist autoworker who ran for union president last year on a platform of abolishing the UAW bureaucracy and putting the rank and file in control, will speak at the meeting, as well as delegates from other industries where major cuts are underway.

Image of "Mack Trucks worker Will Lehman speaking with Ford Dearborn Truck Plant workers on October 16, 2023." too large to upload. Visit link for image

Jobs massacre accelerating across the US The layoffs in auto are part of a broader policy of the ruling class. Last year, US companies cut more than 700,000 jobs, according to Challenger Gray and Christmas, nearly double the previous year’s mark. The spearhead for this was a rise in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, for the explicit purpose of exerting downward pressure on wages through layoffs.

The Fed falsely claimed this was necessary to curb inflation and avoid a “wage-price spiral.” In reality, high inflation rates have historically been primarily due to price gouging by corporations. A recent report by Groundwork Collective found that corporate profits accounted for 53 percent of inflation in the middle of last year, compared to 11 percent in the four decades before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Prices for consumers rose by 3.4 percent over the past year, but input costs for producers increased by just 1 percent, according to the authors’ calculations,” the Guardian reported.

The same day that Ford announced layoffs, the S&P 500 stock market index reached the highest level in its history. The surge in stock prices was driven by optimism that the Fed would cut rates over the next year—in other words, that the job cuts underway are so severe that the Fed can afford to return to its usual free money policies. The stock surge was powered in particular by a continuing rise in tech stocks, as investors salivate over the use of AI and other emerging technologies to cut costs and drive up profits.

Other major cuts have been announced in recent days by other US employers.

Macy’s will cut 2,300 jobs, or 3.5 percent of its total workforce, according to a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal. The department store chain, which once occupied a central position in the US retail sector, has closed hundreds of stores in several rounds of cuts in recent years. According to a report last month, also in the Journal, the company is the target of a potential buyout by real estate investment firm Arkhouse Management. The $5.8 billion potential deal would be a boondoggle for investors, who would receive a 32 percent premium above the company’s share value, while undoubtedly leading to even deeper cuts.

Walmart also announced that it was closing two locations in the San Diego area, affecting around 460 jobs. The company closed 24 stores in 2023.

Walmart claims the closures are due to poor performance. But companies across California, especially low-wage retailers, have announced thousands of layoffs in recent weeks in retaliation against a new minimum wage law recently passed by the state legislature. This includes 200 layoffs by healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente in the midst of the second-biggest wave of COVID-19 ever. California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a delay in the new law’s implementation, underscoring the total control of the corporate oligarchy over American political and economic life.

On Thursday, Walmart also announced it was increasing annual salaries for store managers from $117,000 to $128,000, with performance bonuses as high as 200 percent of base salary.

Other significant layoffs announced in the past week include:

CVS will close certain locations inside Target department stores. Last year, the pharmacy chain closed hundreds of stores. Online furniture and home décor retailer Wayfair announced 1,650 job cuts, 13 percent of its workforce. These follow a year-end memo by CEO Niraj Shah demanding employees work more hours. “Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life is not anything to shy away from,” read the email, reported in USA Today. It continued: “There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success. Hard work is an essential ingredient in any recipe for success. I embrace this, and the most successful people I know do as well.” Tech services company CDW is apparently cutting hundreds of jobs. No official announcement has been made, but the moves have been reported in posts by workers on TheLayoff.com. Sports Illustrated magazine has announced plans to lay off its entire staff within 90 days, following the severing of a licensing deal between the magazine’s corporate owner and its publisher Arena Group. The future of the magazine, first published in 1954, is now in doubt. The magazine had already moved towards using AI to replace some of its writers, with a scandal unfolding last year following revelations that it had published AI-generated articles without prior disclosure. Music criticism magazine Pitchfork is being rolled into GQ magazine by its corporate owner Condé Nast, ending its existence as a separate publication. The working class must build a mass movement in defense of jobs, independent of the trade union bureaucracies, which are helping impose these cuts, and uniting workers across all industries. As the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) said in its recent statement on the job cuts at Stellantis:

The working class must respond to this global jobs bloodbath with a global counteroffensive in defense of workers’ livelihoods. The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees calls for an international movement to be built uniting workers throughout the entire industry, and drawing in workers in logistics and other sectors, to force a halt and reversal to the job cuts.

The Yemen-based militant group has said vessels from all countries except Isn'treal and its allies will be allowed to pass through the Red Sea

Houthi militants in Yemen have promised safe passage through the Red Sea to ships from all countries except Isn'treal and nations “in any way connected with it,” a representative of the group has told the Izvestiya newspaper. He noted that Russia and China are among the nations whose vessels will not be targeted.

The Houthis have carried out a string of drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea region in recent months, following the outbreak of the war in Gaza. They have vowed to continue targeting any Isn'treal-linked vessels until the blockade of the Palestinian enclave is lifted and the hostilities are stopped.

In an interview with Russian newspaper Izvestiya published on Friday, Muhammad al-Buheiti – a member of the Houthi politburo – stated that “Isn'treal ships or those in any way connected with Isn'treal will not have the slightest opportunity to sail through the Red Sea. The attacks on them will continue.”

“As for all other countries, including Russia and China, their ships will not be threatened,” al-Buheiti added. He insisted that the Houthis are prepared to provide “security guarantees for their safe passage through the Red Sea because free navigation plays a significant role in our country.”

Al-Buheiti stressed that the militants’ aim is not to capture or sink any particular ship, but rather “to raise the economic costs for the Jewish state to stop the carnage in Gaza.”

Other Houthi representatives have stated separately that American and British ships are now considered legitimate targets. Earlier this week, the militants struck a US-owned container ship with a ballistic missile and a Greek-owned carrier bound for Isn'treal. Another US-owned vessel was hit on Wednesday by a drone carrying a bomb.

The attacks came in response to a US-led series of airstrikes on Yemen on Wednesday last week, which targeted more than a dozen Houthi launch sites as part of ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ – an international maritime coalition set up with the stated goal of protecting commercial shipping.

On Thursday, Houthi Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced the group had carried yet out another missile strike, this time on the US-owned and Greek-operated Chem Ranger tanker in the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea. He described the move as “retaliation to the American and British attacks,” warning that “any new aggression will not go unpunished.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3373992

Havana, Jan 19 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today ratified the historical commitment and solidarity of Cuba with the cause of the Palestinian people.

“For Cubans, Palestine is a close sister nation; the cause of its people has always been defended by the Revolution,” the president wrote in his account on the X social network.

Díaz-Canel noted that in days of so much horror in the Gaza Strip due to Isn'treal aggression, Cuba renews its firm commitment to a free Palestine.

In various international scenarios, Cuba has demanded a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian-Isn'treal conflict, including the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and the return of refugees.

According to official figures, since the beginning of the Isn'treal aggression last October 7, more than 24,400 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, over 61,500 were wounded and other thousands were declared missing.

Havana, Jan 19 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today ratified the historical commitment and solidarity of Cuba with the cause of the Palestinian people.

“For Cubans, Palestine is a close sister nation; the cause of its people has always been defended by the Revolution,” the president wrote in his account on the X social network.

Díaz-Canel noted that in days of so much horror in the Gaza Strip due to Isn'treal aggression, Cuba renews its firm commitment to a free Palestine.

In various international scenarios, Cuba has demanded a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian-Isn'treal conflict, including the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and the return of refugees.

According to official figures, since the beginning of the Isn'treal aggression last October 7, more than 24,400 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip, over 61,500 were wounded and other thousands were declared missing.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/3373985

Havana, Jan 19 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban Foreign Ministry reiterated its firm and unchanging support to the principle of "one China", stating that the Caribbean country recognizes Taiwan as an inalienable part of China's territory.

In an official statement, the Foreign Ministry expressed Cuba’s support to Beijing “in the face of the pretensions of secessionist forces and external actors to take advantage of this issue to undermine the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China, intervene in its internal affairs and undermine regional and international peace and security”.

The text reaffirms that “Cuba’s position is consistent with United Nations General Assembly resolution 2758 of October 25, 1971, and with the position of the overwhelming majority of the international community that officially recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole and legitimate representative of the entire Chinese people”.

In this sense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlights in its statement that “Cuba also recognizes and supports the efforts of the Chinese Government to achieve national reunification”.

Havana, Jan 19 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban Foreign Ministry reiterated its firm and unchanging support to the principle of "one China", stating that the Caribbean country recognizes Taiwan as an inalienable part of China's territory.

In an official statement, the Foreign Ministry expressed Cuba’s support to Beijing “in the face of the pretensions of secessionist forces and external actors to take advantage of this issue to undermine the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the People’s Republic of China, intervene in its internal affairs and undermine regional and international peace and security”.

The text reaffirms that “Cuba’s position is consistent with United Nations General Assembly resolution 2758 of October 25, 1971, and with the position of the overwhelming majority of the international community that officially recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole and legitimate representative of the entire Chinese people”.

In this sense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlights in its statement that “Cuba also recognizes and supports the efforts of the Chinese Government to achieve national reunification”.

Buenos Aires, Jan 19 (Prensa Latina) The general secretary of the Argentine State Workers Association (ATE), Rodolfo Aguiar, confirmed today the participation of that organization in a general strike and a mobilization planned for January 24.

In declarations to El Destape Radio, Aguiar stated that ATE will be part of these actions against the measures of President Javier Milei, in spite of the Government’s attempts to demobilize citizens.

Last night, such entity was summoned to the labor union negotiations at the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security, in this capital city.

If the call to this meeting is a strategy to get us to lift the strike, we warn that this will not happen. We have many demands. We ratify that we will mobilize massively, the union leader pointed out.

The reasons that lead us to protest are much broader and include more than just the salary issue, he added.

Next Wednesday, members of social, union and political organizations will express their rejection of an adjustment plan, a protocol against demonstrations, a decree of necessity and urgency and a package of laws presented by the Government.

These last two initiatives imply the elimination or reform of more than 300 regulations and the declaration of a state of emergency with the granting of legislative powers to the Executive until 2025, with the possibility of a two-year extension.

Beijing, Jan 19 (Prensa Latina) China today reported the discovery of a new mineral in a rare earth mine, with a high cerium content, used in the automobile and energy industries.

The mineral was found by experts in the city of Taiping, in the central province of Henan, and was named Ni Pei Stone, in honor to a prominent Chinese geologist, the Ministry of Natural Resources informed.

It ranges in color from light red to reddish brown and holds the record for having the highest cerium content among silicate minerals discovered in nature, the source stressed.

Cerium is known to be an important component in the rare earths, a group of elements that includes the lanthanides.

It is used in various applications, such as in the manufacture of catalysts for catalytic converters in automobiles, in the lighting industry to produce incandescent light sources, in electronics, among other fields.

Kinshasa, Jan 19 (Prensa Latina) Nearly two million people have been affected by the worst floods in 60 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

OCHA, as the agency is known, said that 1.8 million people have been affected by the rising waters that began in October last year and reached most of the country, with nine of its 12 departments flooded.

The government declared a state of emergency on December 29 and announced that more than 350,000 persons are in need of urgent life-saving assistance, as well as warning of epidemiological risks.

Although the water level began to drop in the north, access remains difficult, the agency said, adding that many villages can only be reached by canoe or boat.

Further damage is reported in the health sector, with nearly 250,000 people unable to access primary health care, while some 27,000 children are unable to attend school.

“Our humanitarian colleagues also warn that the floods could have medium and long-term consequences, due to the impact on livelihoods,” the OCHA report said.

The initial assessments estimate that some 2,300 hectares of cultivated land have been flooded, in addition to the destruction of fishing gear, the loss of small livestock and other means of food production.

The DRC government, with the support of UN agencies, is deploying a humanitarian response that urgently needs financial assistance.

LUSAKA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Zambia on Friday launched the country's first-ever national refugee policy, aiming to enhance the management of refugees in the country.

Minister of Home Affairs and Internal Security Jack Mwiimbu said that the policy has been formulated to alleviate challenges and improve the management of refugees.

"Government embarked on the process of developing a national refugee policy by adopting extensive countrywide consultations to create a policy that will adequately and accurately provide much-needed guidance and clarity on the management of refugees," he said.

He expressed optimism that many challenges faced by refugees in the country will be resolved following the launch of the policy, saying he expects the policy to have a positive impact on integrating refugees into society and their contribution to the economy.

The policy, he added, comes with solutions to the many problems refugees, asylum seekers and persons of concern face in the country.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative in Zambia Preeta Law commended the government for coming up with the policy, saying that it reflects the country's commitment to allowing refugees to integrate and contribute to society's development.

She said the UNHCR will support the government using its global expertise to replicate best practices in the management of refugees.

BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- China is poised to restore at least 30 percent of its degraded terrestrial, inland-water, coastal and marine ecosystems by 2030, according to a plan released on Thursday.

Nature reserves, largely in the form of national parks, will account for approximately 18 percent of the country's total land area by 2030, per a biodiversity conservation plan issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

"Red lines" designating special ecological conservation zones will encompass at least 150,000 square kilometers of China's marine territory, according to the plan.

It outlines measures in various priority areas, including laws and regulations, publicity, social participation, and monitoring and evaluation, aiming to ensure the timely fulfillment of these objectives.

China has rich biodiversity and is home to more than 10 percent of all terrestrial vertebrate species worldwide and over 36,000 species of higher plants.

The country has established a natural land protection system in recent years, with an increasing number of wildlife habitats coming under national protection thanks to this national conservation initiative.

CARACAS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's government is striving to raise workers' earnings despite the economic stranglehold of U.S. sanctions, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said Tuesday.

One of the most important announcements President Nicolas Maduro made at the National Assembly (Parliament) on Monday was an increase in earnings, Rodriguez told local media.

Maduro announced a hike in bonuses paid to Venezuelan public workers, raising their minimum comprehensive indexed income from 70 U.S. dollars to 100 dollars per month as of February 1, saying it would be adjusted in case of a devaluation.

The main victims of Washington's "criminal blockade" against Venezuela have been blue-collar workers, Rodriguez said.

The ongoing sanctions and financial embargoes undermine the South American country's welfare system, as well as its vital infrastructure and public services, she said.

In addition to the bonus increase, Venezuela's government has made progress in controlling inflation and stabilizing the currency exchange rate, thus facilitating the economic growth of the South American country, said the vice president.