With the March 1 contract expiration for over 6,000 UAW members at Caterpillar fast approaching, workers are increasingly calling for a counter-offensive to win back major improvements in wages, benefits and working conditions.
Over 6,000 Caterpillar workers in the US are gearing up for a major struggle to reverse wage and benefit concessions previously imposed by the UAW bureaucracy.
Workers who spoke to the WSWS earlier this week at plants in the Peoria, Illinois, area the center of Caterpillar production for much of the 20th century overwhelmingly expressed the sentiment that they needed far better wages, benefits and working conditions.
The recently formed Caterpillar Workers Rank-and-File Committee issued a statement calling for a common struggle with autoworkers for higher wages and better working conditions.