Autoworkers Under the Gun: A Shop-Floor View of the End of the American Dream - Paperback

by Lee Sustar (Introduction by), Gregg Shotwell (Author), Jerry Tucker (Foreword by)

Workers' rights are not defined by law or contract. Workers' rights are defined by struggle.

Gregg Shotwell's Live Bait & Ammo newsletter chronicled the outrages and absurdities of corporate managers, exposed union leaders who acted in "partnership" with employers, and sounded the alarm about the devastating effects of auto industry job losses and union concessions. LB&A fliers grew legs of their own, distributed by rank-and-file workers in auto plants across the United States and cited by industry analysts. This collection spans a decade of autoworker resistance--and it's a call to action for a new generation of workers coming of age in recession-wracked America.

Author Biography

Gregg Shotwell, a machine operator turned rebel writer, worked 30 years at General Motors. His shopfloor fliers grew legs of their own. Workers all over the country and abroad downloaded Live Bait & Ammo and commandeered company copiers to spread what Gregg calls, "the vigor of truth and the ruth of rebellion." His growing notoriety led reporters in his hometown to question: "Is Toyota scared of this man?" UAW bureaucrats pretend he doesn't exist, but auto industry analysts and reporters cite his work, and online labor media like Socialist Worker, Labor Notes, and the Monthly Review post his articles, poems, and satires with unreserved enthusiasm.