The Oh, Hello and welcome to Behind the News. My name is Doug Henwood. The usual two

guests today. In moments Sam Ginden will talk about the UAW's strike against

GM and what could be done with a plant the company is

abandoning in Ontario. And then in the follow-up to last week's interview with

John Clegg on how slavery shaped the US political economy, Robin Einhorn will

discuss that wretched institution's influence on taxation in the

U.S. from colonial times through the Civil War.

First, Autos.

On Monday, some 46,000 members of the United Auto Workers Union went on strike against GM

to try to recoup some of the concessions they made as part of the financial crisis bailout

of the company a decade ago, and to get a piece of the 35 billion in profits GM has made over the last three years.

Those concessions included an increase in the number of workers, mostly younger, who are

paid considerably less than the veterans.

And GM wants workers to pay more for their health

insurance. Also, GM has been closing plants in the US and Canada as it relocates more production to

Mexico and a group of workers and activists in Ontario have some ideas about what to do with one of the plants the company is abandoning.

Here's Sam Gindon, who is the research director for the Canadian Other Workers Union from 1974 to 2000 to talk about both.

Sam, who's been on behind the news many times before, is also the co-author with his good friend

and frequent collaborator Leo Panich of the Making of Global Capitalism published by Verso in 2012.

Sam Ginden.

Before we talk about what could be done, what do you make of the UAW's track against GM?

What are the issues and what are the prospects?

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