The World Socialist Web Site Autoworker Newsletter has received the following statement from a group of Macungie (Allentown) Mack Volvo workers who are forming a Rank-and-File Committee. The letter calls for Mack workers to join the new Rank-and-File Committee and to support the New River Valley strike of Volvo workers.

The United Auto Workers announced Thursday evening a third tentative agreement with Volvo in a bid to shut down the four-week-long strike of nearly 3,000 workers at the New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia. The World Socialist Web Site will do all it can to assist in the formation of the new Rank-and-File Committee in Allentown and at all other auto plants.

Dear Mack Truck Co-workers,

We have heard the workers of New River Valley’s call and we are currently assembling a Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee at Mack in Macungie comprised of both LVO and LVLC workers. The fight of Local 2069 is our fight as well. We need to support them by whatever means we can. The Union representing NRV mirrored actions taken in 2019 by our Union such as low strike pay, sending workers back to work before the first contract vote, releasing only highlights of the contract made between the UAW Representatives and Volvo and the conducting of a vote without everyone having a clear understanding of every concession made in the contract. We passed our contract according to the UAW Representatives’ count of pencil-marked ballots. We missed out on progress we could have made. Now we can see that the UAW Organization does similar things in different locations, acting as a company of its own, putting the UAW Organization’s interests before the actual union auto workers it is paid to represent. We cannot allow the workers at NRV to struggle alone. We cannot allow the UAW Organization to isolate and betray the workers it claims to represent.

We call on you to join us. A fight like the ones fought by the workers of NRV should not go on in isolation. We need to develop lines of communication between the NRV working class and ourselves. We need to communicate among ourselves. We have to stop relying solely on the UAW Representatives to represent us and our interests. Most importantly, we have to stop handling scab cabs coming from the nonunion scabs in the NRV plant. If you are interested in joining us, please text us at (267)-227-1762.