The following resolution was passed unanimously at a
meeting of students and young people called by the
International Youth and Students for Social Equality’s
(IYSSE) club at Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand, on July 29.
This meeting condemns, in the
strongest possible terms, the death threat by United Auto
Workers (UAW) official Raymond L. Jensen Jr. against Will
Lehman, a socialist auto worker and candidate for president
of the UAW.
The AI-generated image posted by Jensen on
Will Lehman’s Facebook page—showing Lehman bound and
gagged, and menaced by a gunman—is an unambiguous threat
to kidnap and murder Lehman.
Lehman is standing in the
union’s 2026 election on a socialist platform. He calls
for the abolition of the union’s bureaucratic apparatus
and returning power to workers on the shop floor by
establishing rank-and-file committees in every factory,
democratically run by workers themselves.
Jensen is a
supporter of the current president Shawn Fain, who leads an
organisation rife with corruption, which seeks to suppress
the growing opposition among workers to pro-corporate
attacks on their wages and conditions.
Jensen’s post
is reminiscent of the fascistic, anti-communist threats made
by Donald Trump and his supporters against left-wing
opponents. It is an indication of the fear gripping the UAW
apparatus that Will Lehman’s socialist platform is finding
widespread support among rank-and-file members.
The
IYSSE (NZ) endorses the demands made by Will Lehman and his
lawyer for Jensen to be immediately suspended without pay
and for the UAW to repudiate his threat and issue a public
apology to Lehman. The federal government Monitor that
oversees the UAW must immediately launch an investigation
and take all necessary steps to guarantee that the election
campaign proceeds without further threats and
intimidation.
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Jensen’s social media post must be
investigated as a criminal matter by law enforcement
agencies: it is a clear incitement to violence against
Lehman.
Failure to take such steps will be seen by
workers as implicit endorsement of Jensen’s threat.
Jensen’s post is not just aimed against Lehman, but is
intended to intimidate workers who support his campaign and
who oppose the UAW apparatus.
The IYSSE (NZ) stands in
solidarity with Will Lehman and calls on all young people
and students to draw the necessary political conclusions
from the threat made against him. As the International
Workers’ Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC)
explained, Jensen’s post is not merely the act of a
deranged individual. It reflects the mentality of a
bureaucracy that is hostile to workers’ interests and
their fundamental democratic rights.
Fain and the rest
of the UAW leadership have systematically suppressed
opposition to wage cuts and have facilitated the destruction
of thousands of jobs. Fain supported Joe Biden’s
administration of war criminals and is backing the Trump
administration’s trade war measures and militarisation of
the economy.
The situation workers confront in New
Zealand is not fundamentally different. Following the mass
strike in October 2025 by more than 100,000 teachers and
healthcare workers, the union bureaucracy has acted to
divide and demoralise these workers, and to push through one
sell-out agreement after another to slash their wages. The
leader of this country’s biggest union, the Public Service
Association, openly supports the vast increase in military
spending aimed at integrating New Zealand into US-led war
preparations against China.
The IYSSE (NZ) warns that
workers cannot carry out a real fight against militarism,
austerity and the far-right without rebelling against the
union bureaucracy, who are the labour lieutenants of the
capitalist class.
We fully support Will Lehman’s
call for workers to unite internationally and to reject the
nationalism and xenophobia promoted by the union leaders.
Workers’ rank-and-file committees, as part of the IWA-RFC,
must unify workers of all countries against the capitalist
system which is plunging the world into barbarism and
war.
We call on workers and young people to register
their opposition to the incitement to violence against Will
Lehman by emailing the UAW at feedback@uaw.org and
copying the Will Lehman campaign at info@willforuawpresident.org.
***
Students
who attended the meeting also gave statements of support for
Will Lehman.
Amelia, who is studying politics and art
history, said: “It is absolutely disgusting that someone
can make such a blatant threat to someone’s life and face
little to no repercussions. The image posted by Raymond L.
Jensen Jr. against Will Lehman is completely inexcusable
especially from someone in his position and it is indicative
of the corruption within the wider union
bureaucracy.”
Cameron, a science student and worker,
said the threat made by Jensen was intended to make all
workers afraid and demonstrated how the union bureaucracy
functions “to suppress worker action for fair working and
earning conditions.”
He called the death threat
“an abhorrent and cowardly act which is reflective of the
worry of the union bureaucrats toward a genuine socialist
movement of workers. I stand in total support of Will
Lehman’s campaign for the abolition of the standing union
structure” and its replacement with rank-and-file
committees of workers.
Cameron strongly endorsed the
internationalist perspective at the centre of Lehman’s
campaign. “Globally, there is more that unites people of
the working class than what divides us. Simple geographical
differences and differences in country allegiances are minor
compared to the collective struggle of workers, students and
young people against the small yet ultra-powerful capitalist
class.”
Jorjia, an environmental science student,
said: “I believe that Will Lehmann’s legal demands in
response to Jensen’s social media death must be recognised
by the UAW. Jensen should be immediately suspended without
pay, and steps should be taken to ensure that further
threats and intimidation do not continue. Threats to the
safety of those involved in the election campaign should be
taken seriously as a criminal matter, and remedial actions
must be taken to ensure Lehman’s safety. The UAW must take
a stand that the incitement of violence is
unacceptable.”
Michael said: “I stand in defence
of Will Lehman and strongly condemn the threats and attacks
directed against him. No worker or activist should be
threatened to be kidnapped and killed for speaking out and
fighting for workers’ rights. Will’s courage in standing
up for workers’ rights deserves solidarity and support
from everyone. The threat made against him should be
investigated and criminally charged.”
By the
International Youth and Students for Social Equality
(IYSSE)
31 July 2026
Original url: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/07/31/bdbv-j31.html
