On Sunday, July 27, approximately 100 workers and youth attended the first public hearing held by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) as part of its investigation into the death of autoworker Ronald Adams Sr. The 63-year-old skilled trades veteran was killed on April 7 at the Stellantis Dundee Engine Complex when an overhead gantry crane suddenly activated and crushed him.
The meeting was held at the Marygrove Campus in the Bagley neighborhood of Detroit, where Ronald Adams grew up and where his family still lives. Among the attendees were Adams’ widow, Shamenia Stewart-Adams, other family members, and workers from the Dundee plant who braved the threat of retaliation to attend. They were joined by autoworkers from other area plants, as well as postal workers, teachers, students, and neighborhood residents.
The hearing was a powerful response by rank-and-file workers to the months-long silence from Stellantis, the United Auto Workers (UAW) and state safety officials. It concluded with the unanimous adoption of a resolution to continue and expand the investigation, support other victims of workplace hazards, and build rank-and-file committees to enforce safe working conditions as part of an international campaign to end the sacrifice of workers’ lives for profit.
In the course of this rank-and-file investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of this senior US autoworker, the WSWS has also exposed the treacherous working conditions that pervade the industrial slaughterhouses of capitalism that claim the lives of over 140,000 workers per year who die from occupational illnesses and injuries. Workers lives are wantonly sacrificed for the profits of capital. Workers must organize independently of the pro-capitalist union bureaucracy to defend their lives and safety!
Resolution adopted at the meeting: Resolution at public hearing on death of Stellantis worker Ronald Adams Sr. demands “end to cover-up of ongoing industrial slaughter”
Statement by Ronald Adams Sr. widow to the meeting: Shamenia Stewart-Adams, widow of Ronald Adams Sr.: “Our family is demanding the truth”