People Before Profit blog

Profit, control and Wal-Mart equals union-busting

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 04:30:00 +0000

As the battle over the longshore contract with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) intensifies, corporate America is chomping at the bit at the prospect of even greater profits, if it can bust the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) currently in contract negotiations.

Wal-Mart is one of the leading retail and commercial corporations in the 50-member West Coast Waterfront Coalition which have been playing a key role in the industry’s campaign to draw the Bush Administration into the contract negotiations on the side of the employers.

Others in the coalition include such non-union corporate giants as Home Depot, Toyota, Gap, Mattel, Chiquita Brands, Best Buy, etc. Most of these corporations pay minimum wages, with no benefits to American workers, and many times less in wages and working conditions to their workers in third world countries.

An Associated Press report, August 14, that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. registered $2.04 billion profit for the three months ending July 31 this year, made clear that this profit margin is not enough.

But these corporations are never satisfied with their profit margin. The coalition has been active in issuing statements saying that a strike by the ILWU would “threaten the national economy” and disrupt the flow of goods to commercial enterprises.

Longshore workers handle 10 times the amount of cargo they did decades ago, but now have one-twentieth the people to do the work. And those numbers continue to decline as more ILWU clerks’ jobs are outsourced to inland areas like Utah, Nebraska and Arizona, or offshore to India, Singapore and Bangladesh.

In India, the Journal of Commerce says, ocean carriers are setting up service centers where computer-literate college graduates can be hired for $6-7000 a year compared to $30-40,000 in lower-cost U.S. cities, and over $60,000 in port cities where the ILWU has organized office workers.

The New York Times reports that the Singapore Port Authority has introduced an auto-piloted crane. A single operator at its computer system manages up to six cranes, directing them to fetch containers from a stockyard. That will certainly boost productivity and add substantially to company profits, but it will not add to the work force.

And that is the basis for the lack of trust in PMA President Miniace’s claim that being more competitive will create more jobs for longshore workers.

The claim, however, provided a convenient cover for Mr. Miniace to try to portray the longshore workers as “unreasonable” for rejecting his offer of new technology, a small wage increase, a two-tier medical plan, and no pension improvements as “making the ports more competitive, meaning additional jobs at the docks.” Miniace told The New York Times (8/13) that “under his proposal, jobs would dip by 400 over three years and then increase, surpassing current levels in 2007.”

The ILWU’s call for jurisdiction for the jobs of ship planners, who map cargo placement on ships, and certain jobs that are now management jobs, and the return of the outsourced jobs, would help to stanch the loss of clerks’ jobs and place some democratic control at the ports.

It would also mean that corporations like Wal-Mart, as well as the big shipping and stevedoring companies, might have to settle for a little less than a $2 billion profit for the quarter, but, as the man in the White House says, “we all have to make sacrifices for the good of the country.”

Herb Kaye is a retired seaman and teamster and frequent contributor to the People’s Weekly World/Nuestro Mundo.

Iraqs people must win democratic patriotic alternative

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 04:15:00 +0000

Following are brief excerpts from the communique issued by the Iraqi Communist Party after its Aug. 15 meeting.

The meeting paid exceptional attention to the mounting dangers threatening our people and country, in connection with the escalating political-information and military campaign of the U.S. administration, which – as repeatedly declared – is aimed at demolishing the dictatorial regime.

This campaign at the same time reflects an internal need for the U.S. administration, in relation to the forthcoming elections in November and the desire to cover up the successive scandals of big American companies, as well as to promote new security measures constituting a return to McCarthyism.

Added to this is the need to deflect attention away from the aggravating situation in Palestine and the crimes being committed there by Israeli rulers. All this comes against the background of the ongoing debate about the strategy of “pre-emptive strikes” adopted by the U.S. administration instead of the strategy of “containment” used throughout the past period. In this context officials in Washington have stressed that the attack will happen in any case, even if the regime agrees to the return of U.N. weapons inspectors!

Information published in recent weeks has revealed the intention to keep a large part of the troops participating in the expected attack positioned in Iraqi territories for many years to come. This exposes an evident desire to exercise direct control of the future development of the country, pushing it in a direction suitable with American views and plans, so as to reshape the situation in the area in accordance with strategic interests of the United States.

Parallel to this escalation and preparation for war by the U.S., voices opposed to it have been mounting from governments, social movements, political forces and sections of world public opinion. Obviously, the effect of this broad and growing front of opposition to a military strike, or its size and timing, cannot be ignored. This front has been stressing the need to respect international legitimacy and the U.N. Charter and resolutions, and reject American unilateralism.

Regarding the schemes put forward for overthrowing the regime and drawing the features of Iraq’s future, the meeting drew attention to the grave dangers caused by reliance on the war option and foreign military intervention as a means for change. Numerous experiences have proved that they leave behind death, destruction and tragedies, and do not bring about democracy. Achieving democracy relies mainly on the participation by the masses of people and their political forces in the process of change.

The meeting stressed that achieving change is a task for our people and their armed forces, led by the alliance of patriotic opposition forces.

The meeting once again stressed the need to redouble efforts to develop the conditions ensuring the overthrow of the dictatorial regime and achieving the democratic patriotic alternative. This is the alternative which must be prepared for by a transitional democratic coalition government that includes the principal forces and currents in the country.

For more information on the Iraqi Communist Party go to www.iraqcp.org

The search for a mass organizing strategy

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 04:09:00 +0000

Today, many unions are beginning to realize the need to organize unorganized workers. Some are still learning how to organize. Only a few have had marked success. Perhaps only the Service Employees International Union has had the mass organizing successes we look for in the rest of the movement – and those wins came after years of effort.

One approach unions are looking at is multi-union organizing – organizing campaigns involving a number of unions coordinating efforts on a large employer or a large number of workers at single or multiple work sites. It might involve a large hospital or university, or a number of employers in the same industry, such as hotels, metal shops or construction. In this scenario, a number of unions would be going after a section of the target or targets, but in a planned, coordinated effort. Optimally, these campaigns would be coordinated by the Central Labor Council (CLC) with help from other unions, Jobs With Justice (JwJ) and community forces.

There have been some successes with multi-union organizing, Las Vegas being the most notable, where most of the hotel industry, from construction to daily operations, were and are union. But for the most part, we find a single union, with little or no help from other unions or the wider community, carrying out organizing attempts.

While individual unions are struggling with the difficulties of organizing – hostile government, anti-union laws, lawsuits and a well-organized, well-funded, corporate front – the state and local central labor bodies are still weak and ill-equipped to provide much help.

Even in cities with a strong CLC, unions are only beginning to examine multi-union organizing strategies. Such an approach requires a certain level of understanding and trust on the part of the unions involved, as well as experience in working together on other projects. It would also need a strong central body to help coordinate such efforts. Ultimately, an approach that is cooperative, coordinated, commonly funded and has an attack mode mentality against corporations, will be the most effective way to get over today’s hump where union membership remains static.

The labor movement must make advances in a few arenas before a mass breakthrough in organizing will be realized.

It must significantly increase its political power. This includes developing its own political apparatus involving union members, and electing more trade unionists to political office and being able to help set the political agenda and atmosphere during elections. It must demonstrate that unions represent the concerns and needs of all working people. Finally, it must be concerned about maintaining a strong political presence between elections and become a permanent and continuing champion of working families.

Increasing labor’s power is critical to a mass organizing strategy for at least two reasons:

First, to demonstrate labor’s political power to workers by fighting for the interests of working families. Workers who see unions fighting for public education, a living wage, and affordable prescription drugs for all will have a better view of unions, one that will be harder for employers to undermine during an organizing drive. This is particularly true regarding issues of concern to the African American and Latino communities, where many of the workers who will join organizing campaigns come from.

Unions must demonstrate their political power if they are to utilize the influence of elected officials in organizing drives. Public officials can write a letter or pay a personal visit to the company, threaten to eliminate a tax rebate, or pass a resolution or ordinance in city council. Effective electoral/political work includes more than getting candidates elected. It also includes educating them on workers’ rights and the need for elected officials to support these issues.

The organizing campaigns that resulted in the building of the CIO only took off after the Wagner Act was passed and FDR urged workers to join unions. Before passage of the Act workers were fired for trying to organize, companies broke laws with impunity. Mass organizing in such a climate will not happen. Therefore the need to change the climate and to demand that elected officials and candidates help make that change.

The most critical and immediate development necessary for multi-union organizing is for unions, especially CLCs, to continue to advance coalition activities with community and friendly issue-oriented organizations. A classic example is Jobs with Justice, now 11 years old. Once looked upon with suspicion by most union officials, it is now an integral arm of the labor movement.

This coalition has served to unite labor and the wider community. Its activities around living-wage bills, fast track and the FTAA, accessible health care, affordable prescription drugs, and other issues have served to inter-relate so-called workers’ issues with community issues, to bring a greater understanding to union and non-union groups of each other’s issues and how to fight for both.

JwJ coalitions have been a very important factor in organizing drives, struggles for card-check union recognition, first contract struggles and in bringing wider support for strikes and lockouts. Most often, support has come in the form of demonstrations, one-time actions or a series of actions. Its Workers Rights Boards, comprised of prominent local figures, have monitored card checks, met with company directors and drawn unwanted media attention to recalcitrant employers.

Clearly, union organizing drives have been the most successful when they got the support of forces outside their own membership. These successes moved other unions to ‘see the light’. However, some unions have never called upon “outside” groups in their organizing efforts and have had more failures than successes.

As the labor movement becomes more successful in coalition building, recognition of the need for multi-union organizing will grow. Elected officials will become more involved in organizing. The workers being organized will be more receptive to unions. As labor’s political work should seek to set the agenda in politics, so its coalition work should seek to create a positive atmosphere for mass organizing. Joining a union will move up on the to-do list of working people. As unions become more socially acceptable and joining one becomes less of a risk, working people will begin joining in large numbers.

John Gallo is a trade union leader in Cleveland. This is a contribution to the organizing discussion kicked off on page 5. The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Union members run for Congress

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 03:10:00 +0000

Even a brief look at the make-up of the 107th Congress helps explain why workers are catching hell these days. Yes, it is true that there are “friends of labor” who have 100 percent AFL-CIO voting records, but they find themselves out-gunned in a Congress whose 535 members include 150 millionaire lawyers, bankers and other business people.

This year seven more trade unionists are seeking election to Congress – six in the House of Representatives and one in the U.S. Senate. If they succeed, they will join two other trade unionists – Mike Honda and Adam Schiff, both members of the American Federation of Teachers. And even if they don’t, the very fact that they are in the race has changed the way other candidates have to respond to the issues.

The campaign to elect union members to Congress is part of the battle to defeat the right wing in this year’s elections. It is also a referendum of the Bush Administration’s policies.

Chellie Pingree is a former member of the Maine Senate and member of UAW Local 1961, who is the Democratic challenger to Susan Collins, the state’s first-term U.S. Senator.

Although she was active in the fight on education and environmental issues, Pingree’s crowning achievement was passage of Maine’s prescription drug law that stands as a model for policy makers across the country.

Pingree says she will pursue the same policies if Maine voters send her to Washington on Nov. 5. “We’ve seen the corporate special interests win out over the interests of hard-working families for too long,” she says.

Ed O’Brien, the Democratic candidate in Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District, has served as a leader in the Steelworkers Union since 1969. He is presently assistant director of the union’s Pennsylvania district and a vice-president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO. This is his second attempt to capture the seat, having amassed 47.3 percent of the vote in 2000.

Opposition to Social Security privatization is high on O’Brien’s agenda. And for good reason: O’Brien’s father was killed during World War II and he and his mother received Social Security survivors’ benefits. “Many people do not realize that Social Security is more than a pension system for seniors,” he told the World.

O’Brien, like Pingree and others interviewed for this article, is a “Three E’s Candidate,” whose concerns can be summarized as the economy, the environment and education.

Linda Sanchez, the sixth of seven children born into a family of Mexican immigrants, won the Democratic nomination in California’s 39th CD by beating five other candidates in the primary election. The district, which covers part of Los Angeles County, is one of the two new districts in California that resulted from reapportionment following the 2000 census. Sanchez is no stranger to congressional elections, having headed the campaign that elected her sister, Loretta, to Congress in 2000. She is the former executive officer of the Orange County Central Labor Council and is presently a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

“My interest in politics was nurtured by my experiences as a member of an immigrant family where my parents had to struggle every day to provide the necessities of life,” Sanchez said, adding, “the months since 9/11 have not been an easy time for immigrants.”

Sanchez told the World there were a lot of reasons why she decided to run, among them the need to spur economic development in the district. “We’re almost like a rust belt because of the closure of aerospace and auto production facilities. And like everywhere else, health care and education issues were of major concern to my constituents, 60 percent of whom are Latino and 8 percent African American.”

The race in the 21st CD in Texas pits American Federation of Teachers member John Courage against Lamar Smith, one of the right-wing pillars in the House of Representatives – small wonder that Courage’s website is titled “Texans with Courage.” Courage is also a member of the National Education Association.

As a teacher – “just an ordinary teacher,” Courage told the World – education issues are near the top of his to-do list. And, like all the trade unionists running for election this year, he supports strong measures dealing with corporate accountability, a prescription drug benefit under Medicare and health care reform that makes affordable health care available to all. He opposes privatization of Social Security and supports a woman’s right to choose.

Courage is also concerned about what he calls “the woes rural Texans now face.” He says the problem is simple enough to understand: “The quality and sustainability of rural life is in an alarming decline. We can no longer ignore rural America and stand idle while 50 million Americans abandon their farms, ranches, and small towns to move to urban areas.”

Courage said his 11 years as a special education teacher in San Antonio’s schools persuaded him to run for the House of Representatives. “It’s important that the House of Representatives be representative of the majority of the American people – in the first place working people.”

Dario Herrera, a member of the Service Employees Union, is the Democratic candidate in Nevada’s newly-created 3rd Congressional district. Like other candidates interviewed for this story, Herrera’s “Nevada Families First” agenda calls for access to affordable health care, a prescription drug benefit through Medicare and legislation to make it easier to bring generic drugs to market. He supports a woman’s right to choose.

Closer to home, the Nevada Families First agenda calls for a continued fight against the Yucca Mountain Project and working with other members of Congress to explain the dangers of the site and of the transporting of nuclear waste.

Elle Kurpiewski, a United Airlines flight attendant for 33 years and a leader of the Association of Flight Attendants, won a primary race last June to become the Democratic challenger to GOP incumbent Mary Bono in California’s 45th CD.

Kurpiewski said she decided to run after the attacks of 9/11, when Congress gave the airlines a $15-billion federal bailout with nothing for aviation workers who were losing their jobs.

“My message is simple,” Kurpiewski said, “I will work hard to secure the rights of women, men and children for today and tomorrow and tomorrow! My concerns are going to be security – not just aviation security, but security of jobs, security of the environment, security of health care and of our seniors. They’re all being attacked in a variety of ways,” she said, adding that she was also concerned about attacks on civil liberties.

Maine, like California, has two trade unionists running for Congress. Michael Michaud, the Democratic candidate for Congress from the state’s 2nd CD, works at the same Great Northern Paper Company mill where his father and grandfather worked. He is a member of Local 1-037 of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical Employees Union.

His program centers on bread-and-butter issues facing working families: increasing the minimum wage, equal pay for equal work and a “real drug benefit” under Medicare.

Michaud is against privatization of Social Security or any trade agreement that does not contain tough environmental and labor standards.

When asked his qualifications to rub elbows with millionaires in the halls of Congress, Michaud said, “I’m a worker. I know the problems [workers] face and the dreams they have. I’ve been unemployed. I’ve been on strike. I’ve seen my friends and co-workers injured in on-the-job accidents. I think I’m qualified.”

The AFL-CIO has been encouraging trade unionists to run for elected office for one very simple reason: Who else can better represent working families in the legislative halls than men and women who have been representing workers in collective bargaining talks, contract enforcement or as lobbyists.

The campaign has scored some notable successes. As the year began, nearly 2,500 union members had been elected to public office at the state and local level. Now, the 2002 election gives the labor movement – and all working families – the opportunity to raise the ante by electing workers to national office. That effort, in turn, will help lay the basis for achieving the goal of electing 5,000 unionists to public office by the end of the 2004 election cycle.

Pingree said it as well as any when she said. “These are critical times for our country and the issues that affect working people’s lives are more important than ever. From guaranteeing a prescription drug benefit under Medicare and preserving Social Security, to making sure that all young people receive a good education, to insisting that we protect the rights of working people – we are facing some tough but important challenges. These battles are never easy but with hard work and courage, we can win!”

The author can be reached at fgab708@aol.com

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No more business as usual

By Fred Gaboury

There is more to electoral politics than winning elections. Or, put another way, elections are not just a matter of who gets the most votes. Rather, they are about establishing a mandate – of mounting a powerful campaign that will win the voters’ program of action and elect candidates who support that program.

A case in point is the broad “No business as usual” campaign of the AFL-CIO, with its focus on linking corporate accountability to workers’ issues like job security. That campaign, with its town hall meetings in 20 cities since spring, peaked the last week in July.

In the course of three days the AFL-CIO led protests in New Britain, Conn., against Stanley Works’ announced decision to reincorporate in Bermuda to avoid taxes, and staged a Wall Street demonstration demanding “No more business as usual.” A third demonstration, in Boston, demanded that Fidelity, a major investment firm, publicly announce its votes in stockholder meetings on matters of pay to executives and corporate governance.

As part of its campaign the AFL-CIO has championed the cause of fired Enron workers, many of whom lost their pensions when top officials of the company juggled the books, resulting in staggering losses in employee 401(k) pension plans. Later WorldCom employees who had suffered the same fate joined the campaign.

The federation’s response to the collapse of Enron and WorldCom has helped bring public attention to the ailing economy. Unions and union-sponsored pension funds have been spearheading the demands for corporate accountability. Many polls show that these demands may be “a” – if not “the” – defining issue in many congressional races this fall.

And the campaign has scored some victories, most notably winning a $34 million award in federal bankruptcy court for 5,000 Enron workers. The federation also scored victories in its campaign to prevent other corporations from seating former Enron directors on their boards, and forcing Stanley to rescind its decision to reincorporate in Bermuda. The AFL-CIO and affiliated unions worked closely with the Senate in drafting the Sarbanes corporate reform bill.

Even before the collapse of Enron, unions affiliated to the AFL-CIO stepped up their initiatives at stockholder meetings, which have provoked a minor revolt on Wall Street around such issues as management accountability, auditor independence at major Wall Street firms and the composition of committees dealing with election of corporate officers and setting executive pay. Unions were the first to challenge the Enron board of directors and have been among the most aggressive in insisting that Harvey Pitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, deal firmly with those charged with corporate crimes.

Small wonder that these activities – and there were many more – gained the attention of Business Week. An article in its July 15 issue said the labor movement “may be doing more than any to push for corporate governance reform.”

But with all of this there is still much to be done in order to rein in Wall Street. Reprehensible as their behavior has been, much of what the Ken Lays and Bernard Ebbers of this world did was legal and was done in a situation where the guiding morality was not the legality of things but, instead, what an enterprising corporate executive could get away with. Changing that morality is part of what the 2002 elections are all about. The AFL-CIO’s “No more business as usual” campaign should be seen as part of the effort to win a people’s agenda in the November elections.

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Contact the campaigns at the following addresses:

Chellie Pingree for U.S. Senate P.O. Box 7878 Portland ME 04112 www.pingreeforsenate.com

John Courage for Congress 8123 A Broadway San Antonio TX 78209 www.texanswithcourage.com

Dario Herrera for Congress 1920 E. Serene St. #520-3 Las Vegas NV 89123 www.darioherreraforcongress.com

Friends of Elle K P.O. Box 1466 Cathedral City CA 92235 www.friendsofellek.com Michael Michaud for Congress 213 Lisbon Street Lewiston ME 04240 www.michaelmichaudforcongress.com

Committee to Elect Ed O’Brien P.O. Box 447 Bethlehem PA 18018 www.obrienforcongress.com

Linda Sanchez for Congress 13416 Telegraph Road Whittier CA 90605 www.lindasanchez2002.com

Bush kills Rx benefit for seniors

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:57:00 +0000

Responding to the demands of the drug monopolies, the Bush Administration killed the demand to give seniors on Medicare an affordable prescription drug benefit. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and Tufts Unviersity-New England Medical Center found that nearly one-quarter of seniors cannot afford and therefore do not take medical doses prescribed by their physicians. The study also found that one in four seniors spend $100 or more per month on prescription drugs.

These numbers are averages compiled in eight industrial states. In some of these states, one third of all seniors said they were forced to do without or cut back on one or more of their drugs.

These prescription drugs are not cosmetic. They are drugs prescribed by physicians. They are needed to relieve pain, treat illnesses or stop the spread of disease, all of which are the basis of a moral and humanitarian country.

Republican excuses

The Senatorial debate over legislation to provide a prescription drug program to seniors unearthed deeply cynical Republican responses. The Republicans argued in favor of a means test. That is, only those seniors who cannot afford the drug should receive the benefit. The argument is that the benefit is too costly. And this is from an Administration that is spending billions on aggressive preparation for war and anti-democratic activities in our own country!

The Democrats, to their credit, rejected the means test. Everyone knows that to institute a means test based on a person’s income is a road that leads to a two-tier medical system. The disastrous Medicaid system, which separates low-income people from the rest of the population, cannot be repeated in Medicare.

State of Maine

The two senators from the State of Maine showed the dilemma that the Republicans are facing. On the one hand, almost all Republicans are in bed with the drug companies. They are violently opposed to any price controls of prescription drugs.

On the other hand, the Republicans want to retake the Senate. The State of Maine has the most advanced program for prescription drugs for all residents. The founder and leading activist of that movement, Chellie Pingree, is now running for U.S. Senate from the State of Maine. Her opponent is Republican Susan Collins. The other Senator from Maine, also a Republican, is Olympia Snowe.

In the floor discussions and press releases Collins, trying to counter the popularity of Pingree, actively supported the full Medicare bill, without any means test. Snowe, holding to the drug company line, supported that means test.

The real fear of the drug monopolies and their Republican allies is that the Medicare prescription drug benefit will set an example for those working to make prescription drugs available to everyone at greatly reduced prices.

Racism in Elder Care

A recent study from Shaw University and the University of Maryland found significant evidence of racial disparity in regard to African Americans in residential care/assisted living and nursing homes. The study showed that these facilities have considerably lower ratings in regard to cleanliness/maintenance and lighting. In addition, these facilities also admitted seniors who are not equipped for this level of living, i.e., people with severe mental problems, which places all residents into difficult situations.

This study was reported in the recent issue of The American Journal of Public Health, which focuses on “Healthy Aging.” Throughout the articles the Journal’s editors make painfully clear the need for greater attention to geriatric care that goes beyond the equally-important question of upgrading Medicaid and Medicare.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Thousands march against health cuts in Los Angeles

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:50:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES – Thousands of demonstrators protested here Aug. 20, in a massive march against the closing of hospitals and community health clinics by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

“These cuts won’t heal!” were the loud chants heard from the members of the Coalition for Healthy Communities, a broad organization composed of community groups, unions, religious leaders, elected officials, health care providers, business groups, patient advocates and educators.

The coalition packed the Supervisors’ public hearing while hundreds of unionists from the home care workers in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 434B marched outside.

Earlier the Los Angeles Police Department and their riot squad arrested many members of SEIU as they blocked two major intersections while chanting “No justice, No Peace.”

In spite of the coalition’s efforts, the Supervisors decided to proceed with the closure of 11 county clinics, four school-based health centers and the High Desert Hospital. One hundred beds will also be cut back from the Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center. In one year alone, 238,000 people walked through the doors in need of medical help in the clinics which will begin to close on Aug. 30. More health cutbacks are very likely to occur in October.

Tyrone Freeman, president of Local 434B, told the press that those affected by the health cuts have different priorities than the Board of Supervisors. Freeman said that the coalition will mobilize more thousands of Los Angeles residents to take to the streets, demanding that health care become a priority in the County.

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org

Ohio voters demand affordable medicine

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:43:00 +0000

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The five-million-strong Ohio Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs is “fed up with legislative stonewalling.” An “Initiative Petition,” filed July 2, has lain in limbo with no action for over a month in Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery’s office.

An Aug. 6 coalition press release asks why the Attorney General is taking this long to “review” and certify the petition, whereas she approved a referendum petition for reactionary changes in Ohio’s Workmen’s Compensation Law in just five days.

The coalition is seeking approval of the petition in order to “circulate Initiative Petitions for a state law that will force the State Legislature to act.” Under Ohio state law a petition with 102,000 signatures forces the State Legislature to take up a bill. If they fail to act it will go to a ballot referendum in 2003.

The Ohio Prescription Drug Fair Pricing Act was introduced into the Ohio Legislature in January 2002, as HB-127 and SB-290. The bills were bottled up in committees which refused to allow either debate or votes on the bills.

The coalition alleges that the Attorney General is being unduly influenced by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the lobbying arm of the drug industry, which sent a letter to Montgomery asking her to withhold approval of the petition.

The Columbus Dispatch joined a number of Ohio’s largest newspapers editorializing for hearings on the bills. “The Democrats’ proposal would cover all Ohioans regardless of age. ... This plan ... has ... ideas worthy of exploration. Unfortunately ... the plan has been bottled up for nearly a year. Health care is too important for partisan bickering,” said the Dispatch. The Lorain Journal joined in with “The Ohio legislature’s inaction is shameful. Schedule hearings on this legislation ... and get it adopted.”

The Prescription Drug Act, when passed, will mandate the State of Ohio to negotiate discount prescription drug prices with drug manufacturers on behalf of 22 million Ohio citizens. About 2.2 million Ohioans have no prescription drug insurance coverage, and most of them will benefit from passage of the Act. The Ohio bills are patterned after the existing State of Maine law, which brought about an average 50 percent drop in prescription drug costs for Maine residents.

The Ohio Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs consists of 19 statewide organizations embracing five million people. These consist of Ohio AARP, Ohio Council of Churches, Ohio AFL-CIO and affiliated unions, the United Auto Workers, Ohio United Way, Ohio Nurses Association, Ohio Public Interest Campaign, among others.

All candidates for state office running in the November elections have been mailed support pledge cards, with many already being returned, including by some prominent Republicans.

The grass-roots base of the coalition is made up of 60 cities, eight County Commissions, agencies governing Senior Buildings, Fraternal Societies, as well as local bodies affiliated with state organizations.

An “Action Alert” has been put forth by the coalition urging all supporting organizations and individuals to call the Attorney General’s office. A Secretary taking phone calls pleaded with one caller to “please stop calling, we’ve already received billions of calls!”

The prescription drugs battle being waged in Ohio is part and parcel of a nation-wide struggle for real reform of and solution to our national health care crises. Other states are closely following events in Ohio. Leaders and activists in the Ohio movement are confident they will deliver a Prescription Drug Fair Pricing Act based on the Maine law, which will serve as a model for building winning coalitions in support of vital peoples’ needs.

The author can be reached at wallyk@ncweb.com

Yale workers battle Ivy league economics

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:38:00 +0000

Job security, classifications, promotions and pensions are at stake when 4,000 Yale workers take a strike authorization vote on Sept. 4, as well as the right of graduate teachers and hospital workers to organize. But for many members of Locals 34 and 35, HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union), the bottom line is the bottom line: there’s just not enough money in their paycheck. Local 34 is asking for a raise of 10 percent per year for four years; Local 35 is asking for 7 percent per year.

Union workers at Yale earn between $10 and $21 per hour, with a “typical” wage of about $15. According to a study commissioned by the State of Connecticut, it takes over $18.50 per hour in New Haven to meet the minimum basic needs of a family of three. As a result, many single-earner Yale families get by only with family or government assistance.

Twenty years ago, the clerical and technical workers were just organizing into Local 34. Service and maintenance workers in Local 35 had already won relatively good wages in a series of bitter strikes. In 1985, Local 34 gained significant increases in their first contract, and both unions have since made progress in job classifications and security. But taking inflation into account, Local 35 workers are making about the same as 20 years ago, and Local 34 average pay only increased by an estimated 15-20 percent over the same period.

This is not surprising. Across the country, real wages have stood still or slipped backwards since the early 1980s. At the same time, productivity – the amount of wealth created by each worker – has soared.

Yale is no exception. University workers don’t produce anything easy to measure, like cars, or filing cabinets, or houses. But we can get a good idea by looking at the university’s budget.

In 1982-83, each dollar Yale paid its clerical, technical, service and maintenance workers supported about $6 worth of educational, research and other activity. By 2001-2002, that figure had doubled: Yale was getting $12 worth of activity for every $1 in union wages. The union’s proposal of 7 percent – 10 percent annual raises would increase the workers’ share of Yale’s budget, but would still leave payroll costs a far lower share than twenty years ago.

Yale has offered 4 percent per year for Local 34, and 3 percent for Local 35, for six years. At best, this offer would allow workers to stay about even with inflation, while the university continues to cut the share of workers’ wages in its overall budget. But the situation could easily get worse.

The country faces a large trade deficit, a federal budget shortfall caused by tax cuts for the rich and growing military spending, and the possibility of oil price increases. These were some of the causes of the raging inflation of the 1970s and early 1980s. Locked into a six-year contract with weak cost-of-living protection, an upsurge in inflation to double digits could leave Yale workers facing an effective wage cut of 5 percent per year or more.

In the last 20 years, Yale’s endowment has mushroomed ten-fold to $11.8 billion. Operating as a large corporation, the university and hospital have expanded their healthcare industry state-wide, and increased their property ownership in New Haven. This has contributed to gentrification of working class neighborhoods and the loss of affordable housing. Yale has become the dominant employer and economic force in New Haven.

In 1984, when clerical and technical workers struck for their first contract, unionized service and maintenance workers refused to cross picket lines despite intense pressure from the Yale administration. Local 35 members knew that if they were to make further advances, they needed more unionized workers on campus. The two groups stuck together and won substantial improvements for all workers.

Today, Locals 34 and 35, and Local 1199-SEIU representing hospital dietary workers, have joined their negotiations for better wages with support for other Yale hospital workers and graduate teachers who are organizing for union recognition. They have also tied their struggle with the needs of working class, multi-racial neighborhoods in New Haven in an unprecedented union-community coalition.

On Aug. 24, John Wilhelm, president of HERE, addressed a joint organizing convention of 750 workers from the three union locals and two organizing drives plus community leaders. “If we’re organized, there is nothing that the University can do to prevent us. Undoubtedly, our time is now,” he said.

The author can be reached at arthur.perlo@pobox.com

TWU launches save the fare struggle

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:33:00 +0000

Workers Correspondence

As our local union prepares to negotiate a labor contract with New York City Transit, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proclaimed that a $2.00 subway fare was in the offing. The current fare is $1.50. Fighting the fare increase has brought a new set of coalitions into the fray.

A revolutionary feature of the new leadership of Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 is its alliance with subway riders. Even before winning the leadership elections in 2000, the rank-and-file movement led the fight to save and expand the Franklin Shuttle in Brooklyn. The top union leadership at that time had given up on that. Well, the Franklin Shuttle was not only saved, but totally rehabilitated.

In 2001, the union led the labor and community struggle to save all token agents. New York City Transit wanted to eliminate all token agents in favor of Metrocard vending machines. All token agents are still at work, no layoffs.

The recent victory of the Queens private line bus workers was another example of keeping the public on your side.

Now, that labor and community unity will be put to the ultimate test. In the past, the local union leadership made no attempt to hold down the fare, and there were no coalitions with the community. Unfortunately, the union leadership thought that the transit fare had to be increased to pay for union wage and benefit demands. That quid pro quo was never the case.

Local 100 organizers and shop stewards are handing out “Save the Fare” cards at subway stops throughout the city. They got the ball rolling during the recent massive wage demand demonstration by police and fire unions in Times Square. Local 100 President Roger Toussaint spoke at the rally in support of their wage and benefit demands. He also called on everyone to join the “Save the Fare” campaign.

The Annual Caribbean Labor Day Parade will be the next major “Save the Fare” effort. Over 1 million people celebrate Labor Day on that day.

There are already 20 major community organizations involved in this coalition, including the Straphangers organizations.

– A Transit Worker

No-match letters: anti-union weapon

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:28:00 +0000

“No-match” letters have become the weapon of choice as employers and the government step up their attack on immigrant workers.

The Social Security Administration sends these letters to employers advising them that information in the administration’s files do not correspond to information on employees provided by the employer, that there is no such number, that two or more people have the same number or that the name connected to the number is not the same in its records.

Some no-match letters result from errors: a misspelled name, transposed digits in the number, or an unrecorded name change. For this reason the letter advises employers that they are not supposed to fire the employee but, rather, to notify him/her about the discrepancy.

Many employers assume that a person about whom a no-match letter is received is undocumented and immediately fire the employee. In other instances, employees in whose name no-match letters are received simply walk away from their jobs, assuming they are sunk.

Reliable estimates say the SSA has sent no-match letters to as many as seven million workers, a huge proportion of the some 11 million undocumented immigrants, which threaten to undercut legalization efforts. Labor and community activists say an immigrant who loses a job because of a no-match letter doesn’t disappear but is simply forced to find another job under even worse conditions.

Thousands of workers have lost their jobs because of this. And although some employers profess to be sorry to lose their employees in this way, others show their fangs, going so far as to immediately offer the employee their job back—but with loss of all seniority, at a lower wage and no benefits. In other cases, immigrant workers involved in union organizing drives or strikes suspect that the sudden “discovery” of a no-match letter is a convenient union-busting tool.

At a recent workshop on the no-match situation, co-sponsored by the Chicago Federation of Labor and Chicago Jobs with Justice, several unionists talked about using contract language and grievance procedure to make sure that employers do not use no-match letters as a pretext for firings and union-busting.

UNITE and United Food and Commercial Workers, and perhaps others, are developing such contract languages. Labor activists in unionized shops also advise grievers to be thoroughly educated on this situation and prepared to go to bat for workers who receive no-match letters. All agree that the sudden blow-up of the no-match crisis makes the fight for legalization more urgent.

The campaign, coordinated by SEIU, but involving the active participation of Catholic and Protestant churches and hundreds of labor and community groups, to deliver one million post cards calling for legalization of the undocumented to Congress by Oct. 9, has acquired even greater importance.

The author can be reached at Zola2642@aol..com

March to support HERE workers

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:15:00 +0000

CHICAGO – Even with the threat of rain looming, almost 5,000 people, Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 1 members, families, and supporters marched through the “Magnificent Mile” shopping and hotel district for better wages, affordable healthcare, and respect from luxury hotels here, Aug. 23.

Despite management’s tough talk about its “financial hardships” since Sept. 11, one hotel cook told the World, “We’ve been underpaid for too long.”

At one of Chicago’s finest hotels room service deliverers make $5.25 an hour. But, one room service deliverer said his hotel charges an additional $3 each delivery for his services and that clients assume this fee is his gratuity, so he gets few tips. Businesses are allowed to pay employees less than minimum wage if they receive tips. He adds, “I work non-stop all day,” with little to show.

Hotel executives are offering a five-cent wage increase per year, but workers say they haven’t “seen a raise in 10 years, and now they want to lock us into a seven-year contract.” Additionally one banquet worker complained that the health care he received was far from adequate. “If you get sick you have to go to the company hospital, but you don’t get sick days,” he said.

Another banquet waiter commented, “I’m willing to strike. From the city we can’t get affordable housing. Our health care is bad and expensive, and in most hotel cities in the country, the same jobs get twice as much, plus free health care.”

Members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Association of Community for Reform Now (ACORN), and the Chicago Teachers’ Union, including its president, marched with Local 1 to show their solidarity. An elementary school teacher came to support the cooks at her school who belong to Local 1, saying “They do the most difficult jobs and get no respect, no air-conditioning, little health care, and low wages.”

Union members also complained about their pensions. A second-generation parking attendant whose father just retired from his hotel job said, “They [the hotels] put pennies in. You get $200 a month after 40 years. How can you live on that?”

Marchers came by the busload, spanning half a mile, stopping rush hour traffic, while passing cab drivers showed the most support, continuing honking their horns and cheering on the marchers. Even shoppers cheered the marchers on. One New York law student said while he was watching the march pass, “It’s a simple idea – paying people what they are worth. People should be able to afford that which they produce. It would help everyone, we’d all be better off. Such an old idea, why hasn’t it caught on yet?”

The author can be reached at Bkishner@pww.org

Dockers crash shipping line party

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:12:00 +0000

LOS ANGELES – When Maersk Sealand, the largest shipping company in the world, opened its new facility, the largest terminal in the world, in the Port of Los Angeles Aug. 15, it threw itself a grand opening party. But nearly 2,000 fired-up longshore workers and their supporters crashed the bash, demanding that Maersk, one of the hard-line PMA members in the current contract negotiations, drop its push for concessions from the union.

“Today we are beginning phase two of our bargaining, making the companies accountable,” said Dave Arian, the alternate negotiator for Local 13 ILWU. “Maersk says they’ve been good to us. But if they’re our friends, where’s our maintenance of benefits?” Arian asked.

Though Maersk supports PMA’s proposal to cut the union’s healthcare plan, the company reportedly blew more than a half-million dollars on its party. Maersk built a wall of containers between the rally site and the party, but the demonstrators roared their demands loud enough to be heard. “What do we want? CONTRACT! When do we want it? NOW!”

Two small planes flew low overhead with banners reinforcing the message reading, “ILWU wants a contract now.” Eight boats cruised near the new docks, carrying banners with the same slogan.

“We were almost outnumbered by the two Coast Guard boats and two Port Police boats,” said ILWU Local 13 member and ITF Inspector Rudy Vanderheider. “But when we went across the bow of the Coast Guard cutter, two ensigns stood at attention and saluted us. That’s cool, these guys are behind us.”

Adding international pressure to the ILWU’s cause, members of the Danish dockers’ union Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark (SiD) delivered a letter to Maersk Sealand executives at their headquarters in Copenhagen the same day. “We strongly urge you to speak to the PMA to resolve the outstanding negotiation issues with the ILWU,” said the SiD.

Steve Stallone is the ILWU communications director and editor of its newspaper The Dispatcher. This is reprinted from The Dispatcher.

Farmworkers march for historic bill

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:07:00 +0000

SACRAMENTO – Thousands of marchers besieged the state capitol on Aug. 25, demanding Governor Gray Davis (D) sign a bill that would make history for those who toil in the fields of this state.

“Sign Senate Bill 1736! ¡Si se puede!” was the demand of farmworkers, prominent leaders and United Farm Worker (UFW) supporters who were carrying a sea of red flags with the UFW Aztec black eagle symbol on them.

The rally concluded an 11-day, 165-mile march from Merced, led by Arturo Rodriguez, UFW president, and a remarkable Dolores Huerta, UFW co-founder, who marched the entire trek in spite of nearly dying last year.

“It is a disgrace that the richest state, in the richest nation in the world cannot be responsible to farm workers and to their children,” said Huerta, introduced to the rally as a worldwide symbol for civil rights.

“The only farm workers who have decent wages, benefits and pensions are union farm workers!” she shouted. “Don’t do the wrong thing, Governor Davis, because we will never forget it!”

SB-1736, which would profoundly change the relationship between growers and farm workers, already passed both houses of the legislature. If signed by the Governor, the bill would impose binding arbitration on growers when they stall in establishing a union contract.

“The purpose of this march and SB-1736 is to fulfill the dream of the original 1975 farm labor law – to make the right to organize a reality and not an empty promise,” Rodriguez told the rally as he pointed out that growers who earn $27 billion annually learned how to drag out negotiations for years, sometimes for decades.

“The great majority of farm workers still endure the grinding poverty that has been their lot for generations in this rich and bountiful land,” continued Rodriguez. “Should farm workers in California be prevented from ever enjoying the reality of their own union?” Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, Linda Chavez-Thompson, vice president of the national AFL-CIO, Herb Wesson, speaker of the State Assembly, State Treasurer Phil Angelides, Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, religious leaders, and many elected officials who addressed the rally, all agreed they should not.

State Senator John Burton (D-San Francisco), author of the arbitration bill, minced no words when he said, “The Governor has said we owe a great debt to farmworkers in this state. Well Governor Davis, this is how we repay them for what they do!” Huerta and Rodriguez accompanied Burton when he took the bill to the Governor for his signature.

“No one in this country could eat or do anything without you,” shouted AFL-CIO leader Linda Chavez-Thompson to farmworkers. “Workers in agriculture earn the least, have the least rights, are most abused, and it is wrong to be denied those rights! This bill could double (UFW union) membership if passed.”

Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson received loud cheers as he brought out on stage close to 20 legislators who voted for the bill. “Your fight for justice is our fight for justice,” Wesson said. “If Dr. Martin Luther King were here today, he would be proud of you! If César Chávez were here, he would be proud of you.”

Bustamante said that failure to sign the bill “dishonors what César Chávez gave his life for. Farmworkers have a right to vote [for a union] but those rights are denied if those votes don’t count!”

In 1975, César Chávez and the UFW convinced then Governor Jerry Brown (D) to push the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, the only law in the nation granting farm workers the right to organize and bargain for union contracts through the state legislature. California is the only state where farm workers have a state law guaranteeing agricultural workers the right to organize.

The plight of farmworkers at Pictsweet Mushroom Farms in Ventura County clearly exposes the role of growers in preventing contracts and why SB-1736 is needed. Workers there voted for the UFW soon after the 1975 law was established. “When it comes to negotiating the core things like wages, pensions and medical benefits, the negotiations just stop,” said Manuel Salomon, who has worked in dangerous cave-like conditions at the Ventura farm for 22 years. To this day, the workers have nothing to show for their efforts because the contract has been stalled.

The UFW has made this bill a priority and has maintained a vigil outside the Capitol since the bill was passed and will continue mass actions and lobbying efforts.

The author can be reached at evnalarcon@aol.com

Bush blocks funds for 9/11 rescue workers

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 02:02:00 +0000

At his Waco, Tex., CEO pep rally on the economy, President Bush announced he intended to enforce “spending restraint” by blocking a $5.1 billion emergency spending bill passed by Congress which included $90 million for long-term health monitoring of World Trade Center (WTC) rescue workers and volunteers who were exposed to a catastrophe with potential long-term health and environmental consequences.

The Bush administration also slapped down firefighters and veterans, rejecting $250 million for firefighting equipment and training and $275 million to reduce the backlog of patients at veterans’ medical centers.

Reaction was swift and strong. Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said, “Now the President is backtracking on the commitment to America’s heroes and he ought to be ashamed.”

International Association of Fire Fighters General President Harold Schaitberger wrote to Bush after the announcement, “Quite frankly, I would be dishonest if I did not convey our anger, concern and growing doubt about your commitment to us. I will not in good conscience allow our membership to be used as foils. No one, not even the President, has the right to pontificate about his or her commitment and respect for firefighters while ignoring our legitimate needs.”

Richard Santos, national commander of the American Legion, said, “More than 300,000 veterans new to the VA system are on waiting lists, some more than one year long, for the initial medical exams they need in order to qualify for prescription drug benefits.” Bush pledged his support to the Legion’s national convention as a candidate in 2000. “Now, we feel we’ve been let down,” said Santos. “A verbal promise in front of 6,000 people is something you have to keep.”

Don Carson, director of Hazmat Program of the International Union of Operating Engineers, who worked at Ground Zero from Sept. 15 till it was cleared, told the World, “The union handed out over 12,000 respirators. We did independent air testing which was shared with the EPA You may not know for years the effects of working on the pile.”

“It was a horrific job,” he said. “Every day that goes by people begin to forget what happened. We’re tired of being called heroes. We want respect for the job that we do. If they are serious about homeland security then they have to do the training and the health monitoring.”

Many health and environmental protection specialists have characterized Ground Zero as a catastrophe without precedent. The WTC structure, furnishings, office equipment and supplies were reduced to a burning 16-acre heap that smoldered for weeks at very high temperatures.

Pulverized concrete, glass, steel, zinc and asbestos were hurled into the air not only in the immediate area but also into Brooklyn. Hazardous materials from the wreckage were transported through New York Harbor to the Staten Island landfill, exposing untold numbers of people to asbestos and other toxins.

Pawel Kedzior of Local 78 Asbestos, Lead and Hazardous Waste Laborers, whose members worked day and night at Ground Zero, commented, “It’s disgusting that the president of this country wants to cut off money for health checkups.”

Kedzior continued, “We got independent results at Ground Zero from tests run to monitor the air quality. For obvious reasons businesses in NY were scared to do the test because they were worried about jobs in the future so we had to get testing done from outside.” He said, “The pile was one huge pile of toxins.”

With the emergency funding, an initial screening program of 8,500 WTC rescue workers would have been expanded to include all 18,000 who worked or volunteered at Ground Zero.

Jonathan Bennett, NY Committee for Occupational Safety and Heath public affairs director, said if the funds are not restored tens of thousands who need to be monitored will not be eligible for treatment programs. “If they come down with illnesses 20 years from now ... and are not watched as a statistical group their medical treatment will be affected ... Workers simply won’t get medical care they need if they come down with diseases years later.”

Mario Cilento, New York State AFL-CIO communications director, told the World the labor federation would be meeting with members of Congress after Labor Day to demand action. The WTC rescue workers are owed peace of mind by the government, he said.

The author can be reached at jleblanc@pww.org

Its unpatriotic to steal workers pensions

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 01:55:00 +0000

CLEVELAND – This is what steelworkers are saying as they build a campaign to save their pensions that are being sacrificed on the altar of corporate bankruptcies and outright theft by corrupt executives.

Now, in an unprecedented act, the Federal Pension Benefits Guarantee Fund “shut-down pension benefits” for steelworkers employed by Republic Technologies International (RTI).

The Bush Administration and Congress are dithering around with “reforms” on Wall Street and corporate accounting regulations to reassure investors, while little or nothing is being done to restore pensions to hundreds of thousands of workers. Legislation introduced into the House and Senate to provide financing for company under-funded pension and health funds has gone nowhere, being opposed by the Bush Administration.

Steelworkers are saying: We won’t stand for it! We earned our pensions. We demand they be paid! The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) is organizing a rally in front of the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Youngstown, Ohio, on Sept. 12, 2:00 p.m.

Steelworkers employed by Republic Technologies Institute, with plants in Lorain, Canton, and Massillon, Ohio, Lackawanna, N.Y. and Chicago, are especially angered over the unprecedented action taken by the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) in seizing the under-funded RTI pension fund. RTI has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but the USWA says this action by the PBGC is “premature termination” of the RTI pension plan and cuts out shutdown pensions for over 2,000 steelworkers, abrogating a contractual agreement with the union. PBGC took this action only after President Bush fired the previous chairman.

Steelworkers point out that the PBGC is mandated by Congress to oversee pension funds, making sure that company payments into the funds are enough to pay all future pensions. Instead, companies have been allowed to plunder the funds and use billions of dollars of workers’ retirement money for company expenses that have nothing to do with pensions. There is a report out that General Motors’ pension fund is $61 billion under-funded!

The USWA is mobilizing its membership in support of legal and other actions being taken by the union to reverse the act of the PBGC. A bi-partisan letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao signed by Congressmen Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), being circulated among legislators. A dozen House members have already signed on.

City Councils in Cleveland, Lorain, Elyria, Oberlin, and Amherst have sent resolutions to the Labor Secretary and the PBGC. Thousands of signatures have already been gathered on petitions addressed to the Bush administration and the PBGC.

“If they can steal our pensions, then no pensions are safe!” say the steelworkers in their call to the Sept. 12 rally. They are asking all union members to join them and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in Youngstown.

An Ohio AFL-CIO Convention is being held in Cleveland the week of the rally, and a number of delegates are expected to head for Youngstown towards the end of the Convention. For further information and details of the rally, bus departures, and copies of resolutions, letters, and petitions, contact national coordinator Bruce Bostick at (440) 244-1358 or 1378, or at (440) 277-9980. E-mail bruceb@erienet.net.

The author can be reached at Wallyk@ncweb.com

Longshore negotiations Key battle for democratic rights

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 01:49:00 +0000

Commentary

The contract battle of the West Coast International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has emerged as a decisive struggle for workers rights and democracy in our nation.

Not only is the ILWU having to defend its members from the world’s most powerful shipping lines and retailers, but from the President of the United States who is using the Sept. 11 tragedy to draw a line in the sand by threatening to take over West Coast ports militarily if the ILWU decides to strike.

The national AFL-CIO called the threatened use of federal troops to determine the outcome of a collective bargaining dispute, an “undermining of the basic civil rights of the labor movement and all American workers” which has “implications for the entire labor movement.”

That is absolutely true. The right to bargain collectively and strike without the interferrence of government is the guts of unionism and workers democratic rights. If the Bush administration gets away with gutting the ILWU, the entire labor movement and all workers’rights in the United States will be jeopardized.

The ILWU has never been one to flinch in a labor fight, and they won’t this time, but this union which has stood by the side of Nelson Mandela, César E. Chávez, the Charleston 5, the Chilean people, the Liverpool dockers and countless others, now requires the solidarity of every democratic institution and organization in our nation.

The 30-million member AFL-CIO has sent a team of staff on the ground in a half-dozen strategic west coast port cities to organize actions to support the ILWU.

International solidarity is in motion from the International Transportation Workers Federation (ITF) and the International Dockworkers Council (IDC). The Danish dockworkers have delivered a letter to Maersk Sealand – the world’s largest shipping company – telling them to negotiate in good faith with the ILWU or face problems with Danish dockers.

Public officials and entire cities are now responding. An extraordinary public hearing held at the port of Los Angeles by the Labor and Industrial Relations Committees of the California State Senate and Assembly on Aug. 16 rocked the docks with legislators blasting the Bush administration for siding with longshore employers – the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).

State Senator Richard Alarcon (D-San Fernando Valley), Chair of the Senate Labor Committee who chaired the hearing put it right when he said, “Why is the Bush administration questioning the loyalty of hard working men and women when corporate executives are ripping off the stock market?

“President Bush should get his priorities straight. It is inappropriate use of federal power to team up with corporate America ... who are devastating our economy by lying, cheating, stealing and raiding,” said Alarcon.

“Our ports are healthy because of your hard labor,” Alarcon told the overflow dockers audience. “Why doesn’t the federal government go after Enron which has caused devastation to our nation? We are on a dangerous precipice when we encourage a federal process to be moved by corporate leaders,” he concluded.

All the California legislators present called on Bush to “butt out” of negotiations and told the ILWU that “we will stand with you to insure that every right you have earned is adhered to.” It included Democratic Senators Betty Karnette, Assembly members Paul Koretz, Judy Chu, Alan Lowenthal and many more who sent messages.

There was even a small crack in the Republican party with Rep. Jane Harmon’s (D-San Pedro) announcement that Republican Congressman Dana Rohrbacher (R-Huntington Beach) joined her in signing a letter to Bush calling on the president to stay out of negotiations.

That hearing raised a new bar in defense of workers rights. So did the City of Los Angeles, when its Mayor and City Council passed a resolution which declared that the people of Los Angeles stand “in opposition to any action by the President and the Administration that would impose a Taft-Hartley injunction against the ILWU, would remove longshore workers from coverage by the National Labor Relations Act, or would send military personnel to the West Coast docks to assist in a lockout of workers.”

The City of Long Beach did likewise. Soon Oakland, and other cities will join.

Jobs With Justice (JWJ) has added a grassroots dimension to the fight by launching a national campaign originally initiated by Friends of Labor in San Pedro, targeting West Coast Waterfront Coalition (WCWC) retailers like Target, Home Depot and Wal Mart.

Last Tuesday, Washington Governor Gary Locke upped the ante as the first governor to write to President Bush in opposition to military intervention in negotiations.

The ILWU is leading this battle for democracy at the workplace for all of us. But, they cannot win it alone. On this Labor Day, let us show our solidarity by getting our Congressional Representatives to tell Bush to “butt out,” by pressuring our local WCWC retailers, by getting our unions and organizations involved, and our city councils and legislatures to pass resolutions and write letters to President Bush. An injury to the ILWU, is an injury to all!

Evelina Alarcon is the national coordinator of the César E. Chávez Holiday Campaign. The author can be reached at evnalarcon@aol.com

Earth Summit to act on poverty, environment

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 01:31:00 +0000

JOHANNESBURG – The United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) opened on Aug. 26 here. Over 20,000 participants are expected to attend.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, at the gala opening of the summit, welcomed the world’s delegates to Africa, the “birthplace of humanity.” Mbeki outlined the heavy responsibility on the U.N. meeting to overcome the failures of the Rio Earth Summit 10 years ago. The Summit he said offered a chance to end what he called “global apartheid” between the world’s rich and poor. The president said, “Out of Johannesburg and out of Africa must emerge something that takes the world forward, away from the entrenchment of global apartheid, to the realization of the goals of sustainable development. A global human society based on poverty for the many and prosperity for the few characterized by islands of wealth surrounded by a sea of poverty is unsustainable,” he said.

The outcome of the Summit remains uncertain as debates rage on Johannesburg between poor and rich countries over accountability and enforcement of the event’s decisions. In the view of many, the Rio Summit failed precisely over the failure to define a mechanism to implement most of its essential decisions. The 1992 Summit developed an Agenda 21, a program for Sustainable Development, which attempted to link economic growth with environmental protection. Governments pledged to cooperate to achieve those ends.

The governments of the United States, Canada and Australia are said to be leading the opposition to time-bound environmental decisions and targets, with one U.S. State department official calling them “ludicrous.” The Bush administration is also opposed to a proposal from the European Union (EU) with broad support from the Third World and Non-governmental Organizations (NGOS) to establish a World Environmental Organization (WEO). Some hope a WEO would act as a counterforce to the WTO.

Trade unions, and community groups participating in the Sustainable Development Civil Society Process or NGO component of the event claim the WTO and transnational corporations have hijacked the agenda of the conference to serve big business needs.

Additionally, issues of international trade policy between developed and poor countries remain key sticking points, with the developing world complaining bitterly against protectionist policies from the imperialist West who at the same time insist they open their markets to free trade and privatization.

The Johannesburg summit takes place against backdrop of growing environmental and economic crisis worldwide. Major issues being discussed are the depletion of the world’s fresh water supplies, deforestation and the growth of deserts, HIV/AIDS, biodeversity, intellectual property rights and genetically modified foods. Over half of the planet’s wetlands were depleted in the last 50 years and the process is continuing. In some countries, access to potable water has reached crisis levels. With the advent of globalization, there is a growing economic crisis as well. Unemployment in Latin America at the time of the Rio Summit was 4.6 percent. By 1990, it had almost doubled to 8.6 percent.

A trade union meeting organized by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) stressed there is no sustainable development without ending poverty. In their view, sustainable development must be built around three pillars: social, economic and environmental. The trade union meet will focus on poverty reduction, gender equality, working women, the disabled and AIDS. The achievement of sustainable development in the workplace and core labor agreements are key in this regard.

However, NGOs participating in the conference feel shut out of the event. Most have been denied access to the heavily guarded site. As of this writing, after requests from the South African government, the U.N. has agreed to expand access. Groups representing “civil society” are planning big protests on Aug. 30-31. Some are planning Seattle and Genoa-type actions aimed at shutting the event down.

At the heart of the frustration is the feeling that the corporate neo-liberal agenda has completely dominated the U.N. process. “The World Summit of Sustainable Development is a contest between those who want to own and subjugate the earth and those who want to live by her laws and protect her wealth to be shared by all today and saved for future generations,” said Dr. Vandana Shiva, physicist, author and anti-globalization activist. “This is the real clash of civilizations that needs to be addressed.”

The author can be reached at jsims@cpusa.org

Expulsion of Arab teacher denounced

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 01:25:00 +0000

TAMPA, Fla. – On the basis of secret evidence he has never seen, Palestinian college instructor Mazen Al-Najjar was removed from a federal prison, Aug. 23, hustled aboard a private jet and deported leaving behind his wife and three daughters who are U.S. citizens.

He is now in Lebanon with his sister, but his fate is unclear since the Lebanese government is threatening to cancel his visitor’s visa. Nor has South Africa, where he had hoped to move his family, accepted his visa application. Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a tenured computer science professor at the University of South Florida (USF), and his brother-in-law, told the World, “Of course we are utterly disappointed that Najjar had to leave the country. He spent 273 days in solitary confinement, which was seriously affecting his mental health. It was a lock-down situation with only one hour a day for exercise outside his cell. It was very humiliating because they forced him to strip naked to be searched every time he went in and out of the cell.”

Born in Gaza, Al-Najjar, came to the U.S. in 1981 and studied for an advanced degree in engineering in North Carolina before moving to Tampa, and enrolling at USF. Later he became a teacher at USF and married Dr. Al-Arian’s sister, Fedaa, a pharmacist. Al-Najjar has denied the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) allegations of ties to Islamic Jihad but nevertheless he was arrested on May 19, 1997 and spent over four years in prison without being charged with a crime. An immigration judge reviewed the secret evidence Dec. 6, 2000 and ordered him released because of insufficient proof of links to “terrorism.” Then-Attorney General Janet Reno, refused to overturn that decision.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, he was arrested again Nov. 13, 2001 and placed in solitary confinement. Attorney General John Ashcroft exulted that a court gave him “unambiguous authority” to jail Dr. Al-Arian without charges and deport him as a non-citizen although he is a stateless person with no passport and faces great difficulties finding a country that will accept him.

“The charges against him were bogus,” Dr. Al-Arian said. “They knew it would not stand up in court. He was persecuted because he was active in the cause of justice for the Palestinian people. All of his activities were legal and peaceful. He advocated on behalf of the Palestinian people in an academic and intellectual style.”

Al-Arian sharply disputed Bush Administration claims that the Bill of Rights does not protect non-citizens. “The founding fathers were very careful in the language of the Bill of Rights. They used the word ‘persons.’ It does not say ‘citizens,’” he said. “It is to protect the rights of all people.”

The racist persecution is not limited to Al-Najjar. “Fedaa’s license to practice as a pharmacist was revoked,” Dr. Al-Arian said. “She lost her job. It has been very tough for her and the children. There were such strong protests they finally gave her job back three weeks ago. But they don’t know when or where they will be reunited as a family.”

Gov. Jeb Bush is leading a vendetta seeking to fire Dr. Al-Arian on similarly spurious allegations and supports the decision of the USF board of trustees to fire Al-Arian, even though Dr. Al-Arian has won numerous awards as an outstanding teacher and has written 40 articles on computer science. The USF Faculty Senate lawsuit in support of Dr. Al-Arian has temporarily blocked the firing for now. The American Association of University Professors, and the American Federation of Teachers have come to his defense as have many of his current and former students. Palestinian and other Arab and Muslim groups have come to Dr. Al-Arian’s defense. The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace provides massive documentation of the innocence of the two teachers on their website.

“I think this is the most important academic freedom case since Angela Davis,” Dr. Al-Arian said.

The author can be reached at greenerpastures21212@yahoo.com

Opposition grows to war with Iraq

Fri, 30 Aug 2002 01:19:00 +0000

Growing opposition to the Bush administration’s planned attack on Iraq, even from prominent right-wing Republicans, provides a “window of opportunity” to prevent such a war, Kathy Kelly, coordinator of Voices in the Wilderness, a humanitarian group working to end economic sanctions against Iraq, told the World. “I hope every grassroots group will develop a committed nonviolent resistance campaign, including sit-ins at Congressional offices if need be,” to stop a U.S. war on Iraq, she said.

Kelly, and six other people, are in the midst of a 40-day fast outside the U.S. mission to the United Nations in New York. The fast will end Sept. 11 as part of nationwide peace actions on the anniversary of last year’s terrorist attacks. Protests, lobbying and fasts are taking place around the country in a growing national movement to prevent a U.S. attack on Iraq. A national lobbying day at U.S. Senators’ offices Aug. 28 was organized by Moveon.org and other groups.

Several hundred protesters chanting “Drop Bush, Not Bombs” turned out when Bush arrived in Portland, Ore., Aug. 22. “I don’t think any American boys’ lives are worth a barrel of oil,” said Rob Moitoza, a Vietnam vet who carried a sign reading “Vets Against Bush.” Moitoza said he served two years in the Navy aboard an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War and fears a much worse conflict if U.S. troops are sent to Iraq.

Defying the mounting opposition within the U.S. and abroad, Bush administration warhawks have ratcheted up a public relations effort to justify a unilateral U.S. attack on Iraq.

Vice-President Dick Cheney told a friendly Veterans of Foreign Wars audience Aug. 26 that an attack on Iraq is justified because “many of us are convinced” Iraq will “fairly soon” have nuclear weapons, “just how soon, we cannot really gauge.” But Cheney cited only “testimony from defectors” to support his claim.

The same day, the White House asserted that Bush does not need Congressional approval to attack Iraq.

But 75 members of Congress, led by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), have insisted on the Constitutional role of Congress in deciding whether or not to wage war on Iraq. Prior to any such action the President should seek congressional authorization, they told Bush in an Aug. 6 letter.

At an Aug. 20 press conference convened by Kucinich, former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter, Institute for Policy Studies Middle East expert Phyllis Bennis, and former SANE/Freeze director David Cortright, now president of the Fourth Freedom Forum, and a visiting fellow at the University of Notre Dame, warned that a U.S. attack on Iraq would be a “disaster,” turning the U.S. itself into a rogue state.

Ritter, a former Marine who served for seven years with the Concealment Investigation Unit of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM), said there is “no credible factual evidence,” that Iraq has or is close to having weapons of mass destruction.

It was the U.S., not Iraq, that killed the weapons inspection program, by using the program as a spying operation, thereby discrediting the program, he charged. Nevertheless, he said, by 1996-98 Iraq was “fundamentally, qualitatively disarmed.” It is unlikely that Iraq has now reconstituted its military capacity, he said, and the U.S. has the technology to ascertain if it has or not. “Iraq has no capability today to project meaningful military power outside of its borders,” Ritter declared.

Ritter, a Republican, said, “We cannot go to war based upon rumor and speculation. Before we send tens of thousands of American troops off to fight, kill and be killed in our name, we have to be absolutely certain there is a threat there worthy of war, worthy of sacrifice.”

Ritter, Bennis and Cortright all emphasized that the Bush administration’s “regime removal” policy makes weapons inspection impossible. Similarly, Iraq’s Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, said Aug. 27 he believes the return of U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq would not prevent U.S. military strikes. He said Iraq has no weapons of mass destruction, but the Bush administration wants to oust Saddam Hussein regardless of the inspections issue.

The author can be reached at suewebb@pww.org

International notes

Thu, 29 Aug 2002 10:39:00 +0000

Colombia: unionists face death threat

Abandon the Department of Risaralda, or be killed, was the message to a dozen union leaders last week, on a poster signed by the region’s ultra-right paramilitary bands. In a statement issued Aug. 23, the Communist Party of Colombia pointed out that trade unions, political and human rights organizations have repeatedly protested against such threats, but the government has failed to protect the unionists. The CPC called on the government to act against the paramilitary bands, to investigate the origin of the continuing threats, and to work out with the unions an effective plan for protection and security. Messages supporting these demands may be sent to President Alvaro Uribe, auribe@presidencia.gov.co, and to People’s Defender Luis Eduardo Cifuentes, secretaria_privada@hotmail.com.

Canada: ‘Big Three’ face big strike

Over 40,000 workers at Canada’s major auto companies have voted overwhelmingly to strike if new contracts aren’t concluded next month. Canadian Auto Workers at GM and DaimlerChrysler voted 97 percent to strike if the final round of talks – to start this week – fail. At Ford the vote was 95 percent. CAW president Buzz Hargrove said his members have shown they are prepared to fight for better contracts, including higher wages and more job security. He said the union would select one of the companies as the target to establish the pattern agreement for 2002, and projected a strike deadline of midnight Sept. 17.

Portugal: Defense minister warns against general strike

Portugal’s Defense Minister Paulo Portas warned last Saturday that his government would act against left parties and unions considering a general strike to protest economic austerity and changes in labor laws making it easier to fire workers. 'If they want struggle in the streets, we also know how to go to the streets,' Portas told a rally of his far right Anti-Immigrant Popular Party. Portugal has seen an upsurge of strikes and street protests against the policies undertaken by the five-month-old coalition government headed by social democrat Jose Manuel Durao.

Slovakia: Anti-civil liberties move fails

A measure in the Slovak Parliament to ban 'the propagation of communism' failed in a second vote taken Aug. 19. In a first vote last month, the measure – an amendment to the 1961 Penal Code – passed without the absolute majority needed to become law. Slovak President Rudolf Schuster refused to sign the amended bill and sent it back to Parliament for further discussion. The second time, it received only 63 votes in the 150-member Parliament. If passed, the measure would have criminalized the Communist Party of Slovakia’s campaign for the September parliamentary elections. The CP now has no MPs, and hopes to poll more than the 5 percent of votes needed for it to win its first MPs since 1989. It has gained ground recently at the expense of the Party of the Democratic Left, which is part of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda’s highly unpopular 'right-left' coalition government.

Mexico: Workers aim to block private power plan

Mexico’s electricity workers are urging Congress to block a plan by President Vicente Fox that would let foreign firms compete with the state in generating electricity for the domestic market. 'Taking away the state’s income from the big industrial consumers, which is called for in the proposal, would mean the technical bankruptcy' of the state electricity company, the Mexican Union of Electricity Workers said this week in an ad in the weekly newsmagazine, Proceso. Congress has blocked earlier plans to permit more foreign firms to participate. Mexico’s electricity industry was nationalized in 1960.

Indonesia: Workers protest vs. Nike

Some 3,000 workers from PT Doson Indonesia, which makes Nike athletic shoes, demonstrated at the U.S. Embassy Aug. 20 to protest Nike’s plans to end its contract with Doson next month, putting some 7,000 workers out of a job. 'We hope the U.S. diplomats will tell Nike’s management to help its local partner resolve problems related to the workers, like providing severance pay for dismissed workers,' union leader Surono told the press during the demonstration. Though Nike has no legal obligation to workers hired by its subcontractor, Surono said, 'as a multinational corporation which has made large profits from the sweat of workers in the country, Nike has the moral obligation to guarantee the welfare of the laborers.' Nike, the world’s biggest athletic shoe maker, employs up to 60,000 workers at 11 factories in Indonesia. Most of the roughly 50 million pairs of shoes they make each year are sold in the U.S.