Martin Scott

Writer for the World Socialist Web Site

[Will Lehman | WillforUAWpresident.org @WillforUAWpres]

This morning, I was confronted by my union rep and was told that campaigning at the UAW constitutional convention could cause my company to fire me. I reported this to the federal monitor in this letter below.

If I am being threatened with termination for fighting for the rank and file at a union convention, I can't imagine what other workers are facing in terms of intimidation. I have watched the UAW bureaucracy treat multiple delegates here in an anti-democratic manner, and I was told by multiple long-time UAW members that this is the least democratic convention they have ever seen. Workers must take action against these betrayals.

***

Dear Monitor:

At around 9 AM this morning, in the hallway outside the floor of the convention, Mr. Lehman was threatened with being terminated from his job for campaigning for delegates to nominate him. Local 677 President Mike Shupp approached Mr. Lehman and told him that UAW International Representative for Heavy Trucks Doug Irvine communicated to Mr. Shupp that Mr. Lehman could be fired from his position at Mack Trucks. Mr. Shupp communicated this threat to Mr. Lehman by saying that if Holly Georgell, Director of Employee and Labor Relations at Mack Trucks, found out Mr. Lehman is campaigning for his nomination at the convention, he could be fired.

Election Rule 4-4's "Freedom to Advocate" provision states, "Any threats, intimidation, retaliation, penalty, discipline, or improper interference of any kind, or any similar conduct is strictly prohibited, and reports of such violations shall be investigated by the monitor." Election Rule 4-5,'s "Retaliation and Discrimination" provision states that the proscription of "threat of retaliation" against a Union member "specifically includes each member's freedom...to run for or seek to run for International office as a Candidate."

As a result of these threats, Mr. Lehman has temporarily stopped campaigning outside the convention hall out of fear of losing his job. Mr. Lehman has lost several hours of campaigning time as a result of the intimidation. The harm is irreparable if not remedied immediately--today.

We demand that the Monitor initiate its obligation under the rules to conduct an investigation into the intimidation of Mr. Lehman, including by investigating whether other delegates are being threatened if they nominate Mr. Lehman. The proper remedy for the ongoing violation is for Mr. Lehman to be given 5 minutes to address the full convention before the nomination of candidates.

[David North @DavidNorthWSWS]

On Friday, December 12, 2025, the World Socialist Web Site will launch Socialism AI, a chatbot that will use the power of amplified human cognition to advance the development of socialist consciousness in the international working class.

[Socialist Equality Party (Australia) @SEP_Australia]

WSWS correspondent Michael Coggins explains how the tragic deaths of 2 #miners in an explosion in Cobar, regional NSW, is a result of capitalism which places profits over #workers' lives. To share your experiences in the mining industry, send us a message or leave a comment

[Oscar Grenfell @Oscar_Grenfell]

Scale of Australian military exports to Israel exposed

The Declassified Australia report is an unanswerable exposure of the Labor government’s active involvement in Israel’s mass murder of Palestinians.

https://t.co/TcpdzXbWbl

[Keo Vongvixay @KeoV_SEP]

I support NSW #doctors who went on strike, and all workers fighting for better wages + conditions. This fight requires workers to break from the trade union bureaucracies. Explaining this is a central part of the @SEP_Australia election campaign
#ausvotes #publichealth

[Oscar Grenfell @Oscar_Grenfell]

Workers should reject this and rebel against the UWU bureaucracy. There must be the widest campaign for a "no" vote in the formal ballot and workers' rank-and-file committees to fight for real pay increases and workers control on the shop floor.

2/2
https://t.co/R4JtgnYLnL

[Oscar Grenfell @Oscar_Grenfell]

The deal struck by the United Workers Union to end the Woolworths strike is a filthy sell-out. Its reported pay increases of 11 percent over 3 years are miserable, and the hated Framework for brutal conditions remains. 1/2

https://t.co/TozimOwwjE

[Oscar Grenfell @Oscar_Grenfell]

@purplepingers Interesting updates. But why has the UWU leadership been promoting ACTU scabs Sally McManus and O'Neil, along with various ALP politicians, all of whom would have been involved in this police-state attack?

[David North @DavidNorthWSWS]

I have sent this letter to an outstanding historian of the Civil War era

Trump’s victory may be shocking, but it is hardly surprising. His election is the disastrous outcome of the long-term and very deliberate repudiation by the Democratic Party of any programmatic orientation to the working class, which Hillary Clinton infamously dismissed as “a basket of deplorables” and Biden recently referred to as “garbage.”

Focused on the flim-flam of identity politics — i.e., the politics of more or less affluent sections of the middle class seeking a more favorable distribution of the wealth among the top 10 percent — the Democratic Party convinced itself that it had found an alternative to the politics that prioritized class. This intellectual regression was promoted and justified in the academy by the various forms of anti- and pseudo-Marxist philosophies (Frankfurt School and Post-Modernism) that were embraced by a generation of ex-radical students in the aftermath of 1968.

In the United States, the new anti-Marxism blended with the longstanding tradition of anti-communism. Leftwing politics, of the sort connected to working class militancy, disappeared. The grievances related to identity displaced any serious concern with the massive concentration of wealth in a small segment of society at the expense of the working class.

The pseudo-left replaced calls for equality with demands for equity. This was closely connected to the relentless harping on racial and ethnic differences, and, with it, a contempt for the genuinely democratic traditions of the United States. This found noxious expression in the 1619 Project. All this has been accompanied by a general cultural degradation, the promotion of every form of backwardness.

To the extent that the Biden administration had an agenda, its number one item was the escalation of military conflict with Russia and China. Its endorsement of the Gaza genocide — among the greatest crimes in the history of the new century — has been entirely bound up with its militaristic global strategy.

The disastrous consequences of Trump’s victory can be averted only by “a new birth” of genuinely socialist politics, based on the working class and animated by an international strategy that unites global humanity.

[Oscar Grenfell @Oscar_Grenfell]

At the @SEP_Australia public meeting on Sunday, Michael Coggins explained that Labor's dictatorial administration over the #CFMEU has nothing to do with unsubstantiated claims of corruption, but is aimed at smashing workers' pay and conditions.

https://t.co/9u6AIUETYg

[Oscar Grenfell @Oscar_Grenfell]

Cheryl Crisp, @SEP_Australia National Secretary, said Labor's attack on #CFMEU construction workers is part of a turn to authoritarianism, amid war and capitalist crisis. She called for workers to fight for socialism to secure their social rights.

https://t.co/9u6AIUFrNO

[IYSSE (Australia) @IysseA]

Special General Meeting against genocide and war at Western Sydney University starts in 10 mins! Register now!

https://t.co/hQ0F1QpBAY

[Oscar Grenfell @Oscar_Grenfell]

Share this video by @SEP_Australia national secretary Cheryl Crisp.

Join the SEP to ensure there is a genuine socialist party on the ballot at the next election to fight war, the #GazaGenocide, austerity and dictatorship!
https://t.co/TjRXuRhX08

[David North @DavidNorthWSWS]

This Open Letter demanding that the Zelensky regime halt its frame-up of socialist leader Bogdan Syrotiuk and release him from prison is addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova. Support the fight for Bogdan's freedom. https://t.co/sL36Eq1u19

[David North @DavidNorthWSWS]

This is an appeal for support for the World Socialist Web Site. Amidst the descent of capitalism into barbarism, the arming of the working class with a socialist perspective is of decisive importance. Listen to this message, and if you agree, go to https://t.co/Fh5ZKKcbU0.

[Jerry White @jerrywhiteSEP]

American workers have a rich history of class struggle and international socialism. SEP presidential candidate @jkishore and I will give a voice to the striving by the working class to end war, social inequality, and dictatorship. Become a part of history. Support Kishore-White #Socialism2024 campaign! https://t.co/HFFndZVYV3

[David North @DavidNorthWSWS]

The Socialist Equality Party has selected Joseph Kishore and Jerry White as its presidential and vice-presidential candidates. This is the socialist alternative in 2024 to Biden and Trump, the corporate candidates of war and dictatorship. #Socialism2024 https://t.co/bXWdMRYhkN

[Martin Scott @MartinScottWSWS]

“The Australian government’s silence against genocide is absolutely awful.”—Josh, a Melbourne nurse, was among hundreds of health workers who rallied on Monday against #Israel’s onslaught on #Gaza.

[Oscar Grenfell @Oscar_Grenfell]

#QandA beginning with a question opposing a ceasefire in #Gaza. Now controversial to call for an end to the mass killing of civilians and children.

Absolutely shameful from @abcnews, which is competing for the mantle of Australia's most pro-genocide broadcaster.

#auspol

[Cheryl Crisp @CherylCrisp6]

The result vindicates the SEP's fight for an active boycott. The decisive issue is building a movement of the working class against war, austerity and capitalism.
(7/7)