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This new feature will highlight selected questions and answers from Socialism AI—concise, clear and politically insightful responses to some of the most pressing issues of our time. If you come across an answer that you think should be featured in a future installment, use the form at the bottom of this article to submit it for consideration.

Question: What can GM workers at Factory Zero do to oppose the pending layoffs?

Answer:

The announced permanent layoffs at GM’s Factory Zero are not an accident or a failure of communication. They are the predictable product of capitalist restructuring driven by investor demands, automation and profit maximization. GM posted nearly $15 billion in 2024 profits, bought back stock and raised dividends while moving to cut production and destroy jobs. The Factory Zero cuts are part of a coordinated corporate campaign that includes battery-plant pauses and supplier shutdowns across the auto industry (WSWS reporting on Factory Zero layoffs). The United Auto Workers bureaucracy has so far facilitated this process by refusing to mobilize the membership and by backing nationalist policies that divide workers instead of uniting them.

Understanding this political reality is the first step: Management and Wall Street will always prioritize profit; the union bureaucracy has become a layer that protects that system. Workers cannot rely on either to defend their jobs.

Strategic orientation: Rank-and-file organization, not bureaucratic reliance

The only effective basis for defending jobs is the democratic, independent organization of workers on the shop floor—rank-and-file committees that act in the interests of the working class, not the union apparatus or corporate management. Such committees must be formed by trusted, militant workers in every department and shift at Factory Zero, with elected, recallable coordinators, open membership and transparent accountability. They must immediately demand a full membership meeting called by the rank and file, not the UAW leadership, to decide strategy.

The aim of these committees is to unify and coordinate action—strikes, mass protests, pickets and regional plant solidarity—rather than negotiate behind closed doors. A fighting platform should include demands that begin from workers’ needs: no permanent layoffs; full pay and benefits for all affected; immediate membership meetings; shortening of the workweek with no loss of pay to preserve jobs; and democratic control over production decisions.

Concrete organizing steps (What workers at Factory Zero can do now):

• Convene small trusted group discussions on every shift to elect temporary shop floor spokespeople and begin building a plant-wide rank-and-file committee. Do not wait for UAW officials to act.
• Publicly demand an immediate membership meeting and prepare a clear agenda: layoff freeze, no concessions, action plan to defend every job. Use leaflets, text chains, social media and on-site rallies to build pressure. The WSWS and IWA-RFC (International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees) supporters have circulated materials calling to build rank-and-file committees to stop GM layoffs.
• Document and publicize layoffs, bonuses to executives, stock buybacks and the company’s profits to expose the lie that “we can’t afford jobs.” Use photos, payroll extracts and official filings where possible. Public pressure wins support.
• Organize mass protests at GM facilities, bank offices and shareholders’ meetings; coordinate with laid-off workers and with supplier plants facing cuts. Demand immediate strike action if GM refuses to negotiate.
• Prepare strike readiness: mobilize picket lines, set up legal and financial defense funds, ensure communication channels and childcare/food support for strikers. Build committees for solidarity support in the wider Detroit area.
• Reach out to workers in other GM plants, suppliers and battery operations to coordinate simultaneous industrial measures. Factory Zero cannot defend its jobs alone.

International context and why cross-border unity is essential

GM is a transnational corporation. Any local defense that accepts national isolation will fail. The UAW bureaucracy’s embrace of tariffs and economic nationalism divides workers in the US from those in Mexico, Canada and elsewhere—playing into management’s hands. The only viable strategy is international solidarity: link Factory Zero rank-and-file action with workers at other GM plants and suppliers across borders through the IWA-RFC. The WSWS has repeatedly emphasized that “we will not win just as American workers” and calls for unifying struggles internationally (Factory Zero coverage and IWA-RFC appeal).

Revolutionary tasks: Link defense of jobs to political independence

Immediate industrial action must be combined with political clarity. Defending jobs requires rejecting both corporate rule and the union bureaucracy’s nationalism. Rank-and-file committees should adopt a socialist orientation: Fight for public ownership of the auto industry under democratic workers’ control to use technology for shorter hours and higher living standards—not to boost profits. This is the only program that can permanently stop corporate closures and layoffs.

If you want to organize: Practical assistance

If you are ready to organize a rank-and-file committee or want assistance in building worker-led structures to stop the layoffs, fill out the WSWS/IWA-RFC contact form referenced in the Factory Zero reporting and connect with comrades who are actively building committees on the ground (Mobilize to stop GM layoffs and build rank-and-file committees). For strategic political support and to link your committee internationally, consider contacting the Socialist Equality Party via their membership page: https://www.wsws.org/en/special/pages/sep/us/join.html.

The fight to defend Factory Zero jobs is a test of the working class’s ability to act independently of corporate and union managers. Only through democratic rank-and-file organization, mass coordinated action and international solidarity can workers stop these layoffs and begin to transform production to serve human needs, not private profit.