Shut down plants and workplaces amid spreading toxic air!

The IWA-RFC demands the immediate shutdown of non-essential workplaces engulfed in toxic wildfire smoke, with full pay for every worker affected.

Hello, The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) has issued an emergency statement: “Shut down plants and workplaces amidst spreading toxic air!” Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota has given Detroit the worst air quality of any major city on Earth. The Air Quality Index has climbed above 500, the nominal maximum of the scale, across large areas; one monitor in Detroit reached 917. All of this comes amid a heatwave driving temperatures above 100 degrees. Millions of workers have been sent to work anyway. At Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, smoke and heat filled the factory through the night; dozens of workers went to the plant’s medical unit, and some were taken out on stretchers by ambulance. At Nexteer, 188 workers called off rather than labor in dangerous conditions. Postal and delivery workers remain on their routes without protection, and the union apparatus has done nothing: under the UAW’s own “act of God” contract language, a worker who walks off the job to save his own lungs can be penalized with days off without pay. There is a powerful precedent for such action. In March 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the wildcat walkouts of workers themselves, above all autoworkers, who shut down production independently of and against both management and the union apparatus. Those actions forced the initial lockdowns and saved countless lives. The same independent initiative is required now. The statement calls on workers across the US and Canada to take matters into their own hands through the formation of rank-and-file committees to shut production. The IWA-RFC proposes that these committees demand: 1 A halt to production at every affected non-essential workplace, with no loss of pay for workers impacted, and the immediate provision, at company expense, of properly fitted N95 or P100 respirators to every worker still required to work. 2 An emergency program to install high-quality air filtration and air conditioning in every plant, warehouse and workplace. That auto factories generating billions in profit are operated without functioning ventilation or climate control—leaving workers to breathe smoke and labor in 100-degree heat—is an indictment of the entire profit system. 3 Independent, worker-run monitoring of air quality inside every workplace, published to all workers in real time, rather than left to the discretion of management, complicit union officials or gutted regulatory agencies. 4 Workers’ control over safety and health in the factories. As long as such decisions are left in the hands of management, workers will be continually exposed to unsafe conditions, as well as the risk of serious workplace injury. These demands cannot be won through appeals to corporate boards, government agencies or union officials who have already shown their contempt for workers’ lives. They require the independent organization of the working class. Please read the full statement and share it as widely as possible, on social media, with your coworkers, family and friends. Tell us what is happening where you work Reply to this email with a report on conditions in your plant, workplace or area, and let us know of any developments or signs of opposition among workers. These firsthand reports are vital to exposing what is really happening and to coordinating a response. We keep the identity of everyone who contacts us strictly confidential. And if you agree with the need to form or join a rank-and-file committee at your workplace, contact us today. Join a committee   World Socialist Web Site We’re powered by the support of our readers and workers. Make a contribution today to the World Socialist Web Site. This email was sent to alitealbum.wsws@blogger.com. If you want to, you can unsubscribe. We rely on your financial support and your participation. © Copyright 2026, World Socialist Web Site, wsws.org. All rights reserved.

Shut down plants and workplaces amidst spreading toxic air!

Dear reader, Here are the latest articles published today on the World Socialist Web Site. Shut down plants and workplaces amidst spreading toxic air! Wildfire smoke from Canada and Minnesota has given Detroit the worst air quality in the world. The International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees calls for workers to take independent action to protect their health and lives. Read more White House actively discussing sending ground troops to Iran This dangerous escalation would be a desperate response to the failure of the US war to overturn the Iranian regime. Read more Protesters speak out against ICE murders in Houston, Texas and Biddeford, Maine WSWS reporters spoke to protesters in Houston, Texas and Biddeford, Maine this week, the sites of two daylight murders of workers on their way to work by ICE gestapo agents. 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Read more Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa Airbus workers in Spain walk out over pay and conditions; machine tool workers at factory in Iran strike over unpaid wages; stoppage by health workers fighting Ebola in Democratic Republic of the Congo over lack of pay Read more About the WSWS The World Socialist Web Site is published by the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist movement, and its affiliated sections in the Socialist Equality Parties around the world. Find out more about joining the Socialist Equality Party. We’re powered by the support of our readers and workers. Make a contribution today to the World Socialist Web Site. This email was sent to alitealbum.wsws@blogger.com. If you want to, you can unsubscribe. We rely on your financial support and your participation. Copyright © 2024, World Socialist Web Site, wsws.org. All rights reserved.