People Before Profit blog

RNC protesters come from near and far

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:52:00 +0000

NEW YORK — “I’m traveling by car from Ohio,” said Janice, a mother of three. “I’m going with a few friends and one of my kids, because we have to stand up to Bush and his friends. I would come even if the demonstration was in Alaska.”

Across the nation, thousands of people mobilized to be in New York City Aug. 29 to march against the policies of the Bush administration. The protest, organized by United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), was expected to draw at least a quarter of a million people from as far away as California. It includes a march past Madison Square Garden the day before the convention begins.

Although the New York City labor movement is focusing on its own mobilization Sept. 1, a number of unions are supporting the UFPJ demonstration as well. Among the list of hundreds of groups that endorsed the Aug. 29 demonstration, called “No to the Bush Agenda,” is American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees District Council 37, the largest public employee union in New York City with over 117,000 members. Also on the list is the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), the union that represents staff and professors at the City University of New York

“Our lives are being eliminated and hurt by the Republican administration, and we have to turn that around for all working people,” said Nancy Romer, a psychology professor at Brooklyn College and Senior College Officer of the PSC.

“He’s coming to New York as a ploy to use 9/11. We want the world to know that he’s not welcome,” she said. “He’s hurt New York, made us less secure, not more secure. We’re the targets. We don’t feel safe with him in office.”

The war and the economy are two major issues that are mobilizing people. “The economy is tanking,” continued Romer, “and more and more people are unemployed; our real incomes are plummeting. The war is a moral outrage. It’s a huge economic drain, killing tens of thousands of people in Iraq, and up to almost 1,000 American soldiers, for no reason. Our grandchildren will be paying for it.”

Community groups and individuals from all over the country have been getting involved. According to UFPJ, buses were coming from as far away as Chicago, Akron, Ohio, and California.

Celebrities shine spotlight on wild lands

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:46:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — Musicians Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris, actor Christopher Reeve and artist Maya Lin are lending their faces and voices to a new public service announcement (PSA) effort by the Campaign for America’s Wilderness to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which was signed into law Sept. 3, 1964.

“When I’m not on the road doing concerts, there’s nothing I like more than getting out into the wilderness,” said Raitt in a radio PSA. “In wilderness, you can hear again the truest sounds of this country — “the call of a loon, the growl of a grizzly. In wilderness, you can feel the wind across your face, or dip your toes into clean, cool water from a mountain stream. It’s a part of what we share as Americans.”

The Wilderness Act — the nation’s conservation capstone — established the National Wilderness Preservation System and immediately protected the first 9 million acres of wild public land, including California’s John Muir Wilderness, New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness, Glacier Peak in Washington, Idaho’s Selway-Bitterroot, and North Carolina’s Shining Rock Wilderness.

Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., appears in one of the campaign’s print PSAs. “From skyscraping mountains towering from above, to prehistoric land bridges stretching far and wide — no human structure can ever match the natural magnificence of America’s wilderness. That’s why it’s so vitally important that we protect it.”

More than 106 million acres are in the National Wilderness Preservation System today, but this represents just 2.5 percent of America’s landmass outside of Alaska. While much has been accomplished, the PSA campaign reminds us there are more wild lands that merit protection.

A call to artists and activists: The Art & Democracy National Gathering

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:42:00 +0000

LEXINGTON, Ky. — From Wednesday, Sept. 8 through Sunday, Sept. 12, Appalshop is hosting a “Real-Time Re-creation of Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 Tour of Eastern Kentucky” and “Art & Democracy,” a national gathering of artists and activists.

The tour begins in Lexington, Kentucky. The motorcade will carry you into the mountains — through small coal mining towns, to hearings on poverty (considering social issues then and now).

The Kennedy Tour and the gathering of artists and activists overlap during a “moment in history,” Saturday, Sept. 11, when the Art & Democracy gathering begins at Appalshop in Whitesburg, Ky., and continues on through Sunday, Sept. 12.

“At certain moments in history, an idea catches on that transforms how social change is thought about, discussed and practiced,” organizers said. “The energy produced in these settings is so dynamic that we here at Appalshop — through the Kennedy Performance Project and the American Festival Project — want to capture that energy and carry it on.”

Both Appalshop events — the Kennedy Tour, which has been three years in the making, and the Art & Democracy National Gathering — will provide an opportunity for ordinary citizens to “get into the act” by speaking out in order build democracy from the grassroots up.

The planning for the Art & Democracy meeting is on the drawing board. It includes art works, exchanges of creative processes, community art case studies, as well as sessions on how we relate to changing demographics and social policy, contribute to historic memory, and assist young people who will carry it on.

“Realizing that it is the young people in our nation who will carry on the pursuit of democracy and that ‘who’ attends the gathering will be as important as ‘what’ takes place, we have agreed to especially encourage the attendance of people under 30 years of age,” organizers stressed.

Pre-registration for the Art & Democracy gathering is $30. (Registration at the door will be $50.) Make checks payable to The American Festival Project. No credit cards accepted for pre-registration. Included in the registration fee will be a ticket to the Performance Cabaret on Sept. 11 at the Courthouse Café in downtown Whitesburg. If you want to attend the Art & Democracy gathering and want more information or if you are interested in learning more about scholarship assistance, please contact mkenny@appalshop.org.

Movie Review, Bushs Brain in national release

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:39:00 +0000

Movie Review

NEW YORK — “Bush’s Brain,” the acclaimed feature film documentary that introduces the country to Karl Rove, the man known as “Bush’s Brain,” the most powerful political figure America has never heard of, opened in 12 major cities beginning in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Texas Aug. 20.

The film, detailing the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain of today’s presidential politics, will subsequently open in Austin, New York City, Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Chicago and Milwaukee. Release dates in more cities are expected as well. The film, directed and produced by Joseph Mealey and Michael Paradies Shoob, is based on the best-selling book, “Bush’s Brain” (Wiley, 2003), by journalists James Moore and Wayne Slater.

Karl Rove is President George W. Bush’s closest adviser. He is a brilliant tactician and a ruthless political opponent who has almost single-handedly shaped the policies of our nation. The relationship between Rove and Bush is one of the most unique political marriages in history. Feared and admired by Republicans and Democrats alike, Rove has raised a new and disturbing question for Americans: “Who really runs the country?”

Dubbed “the man with the plan” by “Dubya” himself, Rove boldly conceived and ruthlessly shaped the political career of our current president to a degree never before seen in America. And he continues to be a guiding force within the current Bush White House.

“Bush’s Brain” explores Rove’s remarkable political journey and the extraordinary role he has played in George W. Bush’s rise to the top. From his masterful political skills, to the secret machinations he has carefully orchestrated, to his dramatic influence on foreign policy, the fingerprints of Karl Rove can be found throughout the political process.

“Bush’s Brain” explores the theme of winning and losing and the 21st century obsession with not simply defeating our opponents, but destroying them, so that no one is left standing on the field of battle. But, most significantly, investigates the idea of “Who really has won and lost?” in Rove’s rise to political power. To do that, the filmmakers thoroughly look at the many lives he has touched. And changed forever.

“Bush’s Brain” features interviews with those who covered, worked alongside and have opposed Rove, and whose lives have been altered by him including Slater and Moore, Molly Ivins, Glen Smith, Richard Leiby, Joe C. Wilson, Max Cleland, and more.

“Bush’s Brain” is a thought-provoking film designed to inspire debate and scrutiny about the true cost of winning and provide a glimpse of the inner workings of the current administration’s most savvy player. Currently preview copies of “Bush’s Brain” are available at www.BushsBrain.com.

Universal single-payer health care lets do it!

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:03:00 +0000

“It’s not the money, it’s the system.” Thus Dr. Marcia Angell of Harvard Medical School explains why it is crucial to win universal single-payer health care as embodied in HR 676, sponsored by Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.). The U.S., despite spending more per capita on health care than any other nation, has 44 million uninsured and declining benefits for most of the rest. About 9 million lost their employer-based insurance from 2001 to 2003.

It’s hard to believe that it’s not the money. State after state, facing a deficit budget, is cutting back on care. Some states are dropping certain patients — autistic children or teenagers with mental health crises. It seems like it’s the money, and there isn’t enough of it to pay for the health care we need. But it’s the system.

Workers are laid off when their factory closes. They can maintain health benefits for their families by paying $800 a month — money unemployed workers don’t have. Sure looks like it’s the money. But it isn’t — we’re already paying enough to cover them.

With each contract negotiation, every union faces a threat to cut health benefits. The employer, or the fund, or the insurance company, or the HMO wants more money. To the worker on strike trying to persuade the employer to pay the dough to keep benefits, it certainly feels like it’s the money. To patients confronted by hospital demands for upfront payments or lawsuits for collection of debt, it feels like it’s the money. But it’s not the money, it’s the system.

We put enough into health care to cover us all with excellent care. The U.S. spends $1.7 trillion — $6,200 per person each year — on health care. That’s about double what the Canadians, Australians, Germans, Swedes, and Swiss spend — yet they have universal care and lower death rates. That $1.7 trillion is sufficient to cover all the uninsured and to improve the quality of care for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. Yet the U.S. is 37th in quality of care according to the World Health Organization. There are 18,000 deaths per year in the U.S. solely due to lack of health insurance. Our infant mortality rate is rising. We are falling behind in life expectancy.

We’re paying for the best health care for everyone — so why aren’t we getting it? The problem is that up to 50 percent of what we spend on health care goes to unnecessary administrative costs, profits, advertising, CEO salaries and bonuses, and other wastes. Our health care dollars are channeled through insurance companies and HMOs. Their interests lie in collecting as much as they can while paying out as little as they can. They set up elaborate structures to screen out expensive patients and procedures. They set up preapproval for treatment, second guess physicians, and deny care when they can get away with it. That administrative apparatus devours health care dollars while making no contribution whatsoever to care.

A struggle solely to stop cuts in care or to expand Medicaid cannot bring universal coverage nor prevent the decline in benefits. No matter how much money we pour in, the insurance companies, HMOs, and for-profit hospitals rake off a greater and greater share. That’s why every health care fight should include a focus on universal single-payer health care.

The bill introduced by Rep. Conyers — HR 676 — is simple and inclusive. It is familiar because it is set up like Medicare. It ends insurance payments, health insurance companies, and for-profit HMOs. It converts for-profit hospitals to non-profits. It does away with deductibles and co-payments as impediments to care. It is paid for by a modest payroll tax plus a tax on the very wealthiest and on stock transactions. It will use its power as the sole purchaser of drugs to rein in the drug companies. It will expand coverage to all and include: hospital, home health, rehab, physician care, dental, prescriptions, long-term care, physical therapy, vision, mental health, whatever is medically necessary. It will be with us if we change jobs, lose a job, or retire. It will end the privatization of Medicare. Unlike the recent fraudulent prescription bill, it will really cover seniors and all of us for prescriptions.

HR 676 will allow us to choose our own doctors, and free doctors from the HMO dictators. We just have to build a powerful, bold, gigantic, energetic, determined movement to make it politically possible. We can put millions into motion. We already pay enough to cover great health care for everyone. We deserve to get it. HR 676. Universal single-payer health care. Spread the word. Let’s do it!

Carolyn Taylor is a labor activist in Kentucky. She can be reached at pww@pww.org.

Is Nader a ringer?

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 07:53:00 +0000

There is a riddle today in American politics. Why does Ralph Nader run for president? Is it, as some contend, to prepare the way for a progressive third party? Nader is running as an individual and the party supporting him, the Reform Party founded by billionaire Ross Perot to advance his own political ambitions, is not progressive. Neither are the right-wing Republicans who are funding and working for Nader’s campaign efforts in Michigan, Oregon, and other states.

Does Nader, who has so eloquently denounced the corruption and cynicism of American politics, believe that accepting extensive support from the political right is not cynical and corrupt? Does he think he can use them without being used by them? After the “Patriot Act,” the conquest and occupation of Iraq, the White House partnership with robber barons Halliburton and Enron, and the threat of more to come, does he really believe what he is saying — there is no difference between John Kerry and George W. Bush?

Principles that are blind to changing social relationships and real-life class interests become dogmas. Individuals and groups who apply such principles become sectarians, seeking to impose their will on society. Often such individuals and groups isolate themselves or end up, as Nader is today, objectively aiding the forces that they say they oppose.

Running candidates, forming coalitions, even boycotting elections are never questions of principle but always questions of strategies and tactics within a larger framework of principled working-class and socialist politics.

If, like Nader, you do not have such politics, you run against “corporate privilege” with money and other aid from sectors of big business and the ultra-right who want a Bush victory. They want Bush not because Kerry is an opponent of their class system, but because they understand that they can expand their wealth and class power and weaken working-class interests much more with Bush than with Kerry. They know that because they already have gained so much in tax cuts, military contracts, and attacks on labor with Bush, compared to the previous Clinton administration.

Besides helping to elect Bush, its most important effect, Nader’s campaign undermines genuine movements in the direction of a real third party of the broad left.

Historically, parties organized around individuals, even when their politics and bases of support were much better than Nader’s today, didn’t develop beyond the individual and the campaign. Examples are Robert La Follette’s Progressive Party of 1924 and Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party of 1948.

On the other hand, third parties as different as the Prohibition Party of the late 19th century and the Communist Party USA in the 1920s and ’30s had important aspects of their programs enacted into law — the former through a national policy, prohibition, that failed miserably, the latter through Social Security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, and other New Deal social legislation that made a great contribution to American society. But they accomplished this by building mass organizations and educating people, by keeping one foot outside the political party system and one foot in it.

Nader is not running a third-party campaign in any serious way. His campaign can only strengthen reaction and demoralize progressives. He is not running a principled campaign. His inflexible principles, disregarding actual conditions, are dogmas, and his acceptance of aid from corporate/ultra-right forces for a campaign to fight the influence of big business and the right is very crass opportunism.

I would solve the riddle of Nader’s campaign by saying that he is objectively a ringer, in the tradition of the shadow candidates that political machines fund in primaries and elections to take votes away from candidates they wish to defeat. If Nader can get beyond his ego, show some responsibility to the people who have supported him and his progressive campaigns over the last four decades, he will withdraw his candidacy and join the campaign to end both the Bush administration and the right-wing Republican control of Congress.

Norman Markowitz is a history professor at Rutgers University. He can be reached at pww@pww.org.

The role of the left in these elections

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 07:49:00 +0000

It was no surprise to me that virtually everyone I met during a recent three-week trip across the Midwest was quick to remind me that this election is the most important in their lifetime.

While agreeing that the overriding political task is to defeat Bush and his counterparts in Congress and elect Kerry and a more people-friendly Congress, no one reduced this to simply a contest between the Democratic and Republican parties.

This election, they told me, will continue the nearly 24-year struggle against the forces of extreme political reaction who are now entrenched in the White House, Congress and Supreme Court — but with this difference: Nov. 2 could well mark a turning point for better or worse.

A Bush victory would give the ultra-right a green light to ramp up their project of drastically and unilaterally reshaping the domestic and international landscape in the interests of U.S. imperialism.

On the other hand, a victory by Kerry and the broad democratic movement that supports him would be a body blow to the extreme right, bring some relief on bread and butter issues, and lift the siege on our nation’s constitution.

And it also would create a much more favorable political terrain on which the people’s movement could struggle for its agenda, beginning with an end to the occupation of Iraq.

Thus the stakes are high, and what adds to the drama is that the electorate is so divided that the outcome will depend on which campaign is able to turn out the biggest vote.

Given these circumstances, what should be the role of left and progressive people?

It is not to parse every word, vet every speech, and scrutinize every statement of Kerry. Nor is it to damn Kerry with faint praise. Rather its main task, as I see it, is to bring into sharper focus the differences in the two lines of policy represented by Kerry and Bush, to delineate the vastly improved political playing field that a Kerry victory would bring, and, above all, to become involved in the grassroots efforts to mobilize the vote.

In so doing, the left will help voters gain an understanding of the bigger picture, extend the practical efforts to reach the electorate, and enhance its connections to the main democratic organizations — connections which are critical to post-election struggles.

Across the country there is a growing anti-Bush feeling, but that alone is not enough. To win requires that millions be convinced that the differences between Bush and Kerry are real, substantial and consequential to their lives on the whole range of issues: Social Security, Medicare, health care, overtime, minimum wage, public education, affirmative action, reproductive rights, immigrant rights, gay rights, civil liberties, tax policy, environmental protection, Cuba, preemptive war, and nuclear weapons testing and use.

Even on Iraq, there are differences between the two. But more importantly, the defeat of Bush would be a repudiation of his policies of war and occupation, and that could not be ignored by a Kerry administration.

Thus, the remark heard in some left circles, “I will vote for Kerry but hold my nose,” is counterproductive and demobilizing. It may bring some momentary self-satisfaction to those expressing it. But it will do little to convince swing, undecided, or stay-at-home voters to go to the polls.

In my experience, aside from the right-wing talk show hosts of this world and their loyal listeners, few people believe that Kerry is a candidate of the left and progressive movement. Most know that he is closely tied to the U.S. ruling class, and a defender of capitalism, as is Bush.

That common class affiliation and fondness for the “free enterprise” system, however, doesn’t prevent many voters from understanding that Kerry is a political centrist and espouses different policies than Bush.

Nor does it keep them from realizing that a Kerry victory would give the broader movements political leverage that they do not have now.

The biggest danger in this election is not that millions of people will have unrealistic expectations of a Kerry administration, but rather that a substantial section of voters still believe that it doesn’t make much of a difference who they vote for on Nov. 2.

The responsibility of left and progressive people is not to spend their time bellyaching over Kerry’s shortcomings, but to convince millions that there is a choice and that the outcome of this election will have enormous consequences for our nation’s future.

Sam Webb is chair of the Communist Party USA. He can be reached at swebb@cpusa.org

In health care, class counts

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 07:10:00 +0000

People’s health has to do with social class. But the keepers of official U.S. statistics, alone among their kind in the industrialized world, make no use of class in analyzing health data. Class counts. That’s a reality that might perk up wishful thinkers by providing them with direction, specifically the task of defending the rights and interests of working people.

Last year, Vicente Navarro, public health teacher at Johns Hopkins University, spoke to graduating medical students there. His remarks appeared in the June 2004 issue of Monthly Review. Navarro notes that throughout the world, and especially in the United States, working people and the poor are sicker and more prone to early death than the well off.

Where labor movements are strong, according to Navarro, where socialist political parties contend for power, where policies of income redistribution prevail, that is where universal health care exists and where life expectancy is long and children thrive.

The neglect of class relationships also holds back efforts to broaden physician recruitment. Because physician attitudes can either help with efforts to change the system, or interfere, reformers have seen the need for developing a corps of sympathetic doctors. Navarro notes that new doctors still know much more about cellular, genetic, and microbial causes of rare diseases than they do about the social causes of common illnesses. Many of them lack tools for social analysis, and even motivation.

Progressive medical educators saw affirmative action as a means for attracting and educating students who as physicians would have a social conscience. Minority student enrollment rose from less that 2 percent in 1965 to 10 percent in the early 1970s. The gains then slowed, and enrollment since then has hovered at around 10 to 12 percent. In the face of fierce legal and political assaults, the defenders of affirmative action, however, did not retreat. Yet the minority share of the general population had risen to 22 percent as of the year 2000.

Now, because of affirmative action, Black and Latino students who apply to medical schools have the same likelihood of success as white applicants. Nevertheless, racially oppressed students still face barriers. They are growing up in a class-fractured society, and a disproportionate number of them face discrimination based on class difference. Likely as not, their early schooling is inadequate, and parents, up against economic chaos, focus on immediate survival. The children are deprived of opportunities to dream or prepare themselves educationally for graduate study. They opt out.

In fact, relatively few Blacks, Latinos, or whites of working-class origins are able to study medicine. We examined the income, educational levels and occupations of 96,500 families of white medical school freshmen, and 10,200 families of their Black classmates. The data covered 11 years between 1990 and 2000 and was provided by the American Association of Medical Colleges. The families of 25 percent of the Black students earned $26,000 or less annually. Fifty percent of the Black families earned $49,000 or more, another 25 percent earned $80,000 or more. The families of 25 percent of the white students earned $48,010 or less. Half of them earned $75,000 or more. The top 25 percent earned $120,000 or more. Fifty percent of the Black fathers have completed college, while only 13 to 16 percent of all African-American adults are college graduates. Twenty-five percent of the white students’ parents have doctorate degrees. Over an 11-year period, from 30 to 36 percent of the Black students’ fathers and 16 percent of the white students’ fathers were engaged in working class jobs. Clearly, most medical students, Black and white, have solid middle and upper class identities.

Once the fight for social justice is informed by class analysis, points of struggle intersect. Campaigns for educational equity and universal health care are joined. That way, doctors knowledgeable about working class realities will be on hand to take part in reordering the health system. Health care for the people has to come from the people, and be provided by doctors and nurses who identify with the people.

(See: W.T. Whitney, “Becoming a physician: Class Counts,” Nature, Society, and Thought 15:3, p. 261).

The author can be reached at pww@pww.org.

Philadelphia teachers resisting givebacks

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 07:02:00 +0000

News Analysis

PHILADELPHIA — With only days remaining in the contract between the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) and the Philadelphia School District, a settlement on a new contract seems remote. After spending five months in negotiations with the school district, the PFT on June 29 was handed an 89-page document of 419 proposals by the School Reform Commission (SRC), which manages the Philadelphia schools for the state, and told to “talk to our lawyers.”

The state took over the school district in December 2001. The five-member SRC includes three appointees of former Republican Gov. Mark Schweiker and two of Philadelphia Mayor John Street.

“With less than two months to go, we were back at square one, negotiating with new people and a whole set of new proposals,” said PFT Vice President and chief negotiator Jerry Jordan.

The district proposals cut health care, pay and seniority, while increasing the workday and school year and calling for decreased medical coverage at an increased cost. The administration would also control the PFT Health and Welfare Fund. The PFT’s right to negotiate health plan benefits would be eliminated and negotiated raises would not be guaranteed. The proposals give school principals sole power to hire employees and to accept transfers in and out of their schools.

“These proposals have nothing to do with improving quality education for children,” PFT President Ted Kirsch said. “It’s all about management prerogatives. The SRC wants principals to be able to do whatever they want, when they want, to whomever they want. Senior PFT members walked picket lines in the dead of winter and went to jail over the contract rights the SRC has so casually deleted.” In 2000 the PFT struck for seven days to win a contract.

The assault on Philadelphia’s schools began with the passing of Act 46 by the state Legislature in 1998. This law was passed with pressure from then-Gov. Tom Ridge without hearings or even allowing the legislators to read and discuss the legislation. Act 46, an anti-union law, gives the state power to take over any school district in Pennsylvania that has a deficit and prohibits employees from striking. The PFT filed a lawsuit challenging Act 46 in the state Supreme Court but the court refused to hear the case.

The Philadelphia School District always had a deficit due to the inequities of the state’s funding system and a dependency on real estate taxes. Over 40 percent of the state’s poor live in Philadelphia. The percent of school funding received from the state by the districts has decreased through the years.

As President Bush was signing the No Child Left Behind Act in January 2002, the state takeover of the Philadelphia schools became the national experiment for the sanctions outlined in the act: privatization, restructured schools and charter schools.

Gov. Ridge had planned to privatize all of Philadelphia schools with Edison Schools, Inc. in charge, but the outcry was too strong. Only 45 schools were privatized under several Educational Management Organizations (EMOs) in addition to Edison. The EMOs received between $400 and $800 per student more than the regular schools received.

The Republican-majority Legislature talks about accountability for teachers and schools but has not been accountable for adequate, equitable funding for public schools. It has refused to fund Gov. Ed Rendell’s Education Reform Initiatives or change the way it funds schools. Rendell, a Democrat and former Philadelphia mayor, was elected primarily on his promise of education reform. It seems clear that the purpose of the state takeover was to dismantle Philadelphia’s public school system and destroy the union. PFT members will meet Aug. 31 in their quest for a fair contract in an unfair system.

The author can be reached at phillyrose1@hotmail.com.

Prosperity just around the corner?

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 06:53:00 +0000

“The economy is strong, and getting stronger,” says President Bush, but an AP poll reports that only 10 percent of households making less than $50,000 a year think their economic situation is strong. Jobs are still hard to come by, real wages are falling, health care costs more and covers less, and airline workers are only the latest group to see their pensions disappear.

At the end of July, when he talked about the economy, Bush said, “We are turning the corner, and we’re not turning back.” We should ask, “What corner is he turning, and what’s waiting for us if we follow him?”

The last time the question came up Herbert Hoover was president. “Prosperity is just around the corner,” he said, as the country sank into the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hoover was the last president to oversee a net loss of jobs — until now. There are a million fewer jobs today than when Bush took office. If job growth had kept up with the growth in the workforce, there would be about 7 million more jobs today.

In 1932, when unemployed veterans demanded relief, Hoover met them with tear gas and bullets. The voters kicked him out and elected Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was the beginning of a great social upheaval, when the working class demanded and won job programs, unemployment insurance, Social Security, the 8-hour day with overtime pay, and the right to organize unions.

I can’t predict what will happen if the voters kick Bush out this year — a lot depends, as it did 70 years ago, on the strength and unity of the labor, civil rights, environment, women’s and other people’s movements. But I know what’s waiting around the corner if Bush wins or steals this election. Starting with continued destruction of everything that was won in the Roosevelt administration.

Jobs. The Roosevelt New Deal employed millions, building parks and schools, highways and bridges. Much of our public infrastructure is from that time, and needs renewing, but Bush refuses funds for this kind of work.

Unemployment insurance. This recession has seen record numbers of long-term unemployed. But the Bush administration only allowed 13 weeks of extra benefits, and allowed even that extension to expire last January. As a result, millions have exhausted their unemployment insurance before they could find new jobs.

Social Security. Bush has long supported turning Social Security over to Wall Street, and despite Republican denials, there are signs they are moving toward cutting benefits for current or future retirees.

8-hour day and overtime pay. Bush’s Labor Department changed the rules so 6 million workers can be forced to work overtime without extra pay. Now, Bush wants to do the same to the rest of us, under the guise of promoting “flex time.”

Right to organize unions. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), dominated by Bush appointments, is considering plans to restrict workers’ ability to form a union when a majority signs authorization cards.

Taxes. During World War II, Roosevelt raised income taxes on the richest Americans to 94 percent and imposed an excess profits tax on corporations. But Bush cut taxes for the rich. Now, he is moving toward completely eliminating taxes on the interest and dividend payments that feed the bank accounts of the wealthy, so that only labor income is taxed.

Early this month, President Bush said that our enemies “never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” Most commentators think he simply misspoke. Others think that, for once, he was telling the truth. We report, you decide.

The author can be reached at economics@cpusa.org.

Union Yes! at America West

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 06:50:00 +0000

After many years and multiple attempts, the 3,100 customer service representatives (CSRs) at America West Airlines (AWA) won the right to union representation by the Teamsters. Fifty-four percent, or 1,679, of the CSRs voted “yes,” the National Mediation Board in Washington, D.C., announced Aug. 17.

Two years ago the America West CSRs attempted to organize with the Teamsters. The election was lost after intensive anti-union activity by AWA management. On June 17 this year, the CSRs once again filed for an election under the Railway Act. To win union recognition, they had to garner 50 percent plus one vote of the entire bargaining unit. If AWA management could intimidate enough employees to not vote, those ballots not cast would be counted as “no” votes.

The CSRs are among the most visible public faces of America West. This predominantly female workforce (79 percent) was the largest remaining non-union group of workers at AWA and some of the most underpaid in the industry, with a starting wage of $7.65 an hour. After 9/11, AWA received $110 million in cash and $380 million in loan guarantees from the Air Transportation Stabilization Board as part of the federal government’s bailout during the subsequent collapse of the airline industry.

AWA is one of only four airlines to report a profit in each of the last four quarters. CEO Douglas Parker received a bonus of $1 million in 2003, which amounts to 182 percent of his base salary. Yet, prior to this latest organizing effort, the CSRs had been promised only a 3 percent pay increase annually through 2008.

The Tucson Coalition of Jobs with Justice responded to a call for help by the National Organizing Director of the AFL-CIO, Stewart Acuff, to send a delegation to the largest AWA call center in the United States in Tempe, Ariz. This call center employs 800 CSRs. Tucson Jobs with Justice sent six delegates on the two-hour drive to Tempe July 22. The delegation included Arizona State Sen. Jorge Garcia (D-Tucson).

The goal of the delegation was to encourage the workers and to pressure the company to cease anti-union activities. Only two days earlier, management had begun one-on-one meetings with employees to threaten them with loss of pay and benefits if they voted for the union. Tucson JwJ joined with the East Valley Interfaith Council from the Phoenix area and Teamster organizers to deliver a letter to AWA management demanding that they respect the right of the CSRs to organize.

The delegation was visible to many of the workers as the group entered the building and requested to meet with management. Though management dodged the meeting, the delegation’s goal was accomplished: the workers saw the show of support from the community. As the delegation left the building, they got a standing ovation from employees in the break area.

The struggling CSRs received help from various Jobs with Justice coalitions across the nation during the organizing campaign. Other community groups also joined the effort to lift the workers’ spirits and show them that they were not alone. Community organizations, clergy, students, labor allies and elected officials all demonstrated tremendous solidarity as the America West Airlines CSRs fought to gain a voice at work. As they prepare to enter contract negotiations, they will continue to need on-going support from their community allies to ensure a quick and fair agreement.

The author can be reached at jenkins427@hotmail.com.

International notes

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 05:11:00 +0000

Colombia: ‘Special zone’ = less security

The Colombian government calls part of the province of Arauca, where 30 trade unionists have been killed so far this year, a “rehabilitation and consolidation zone.” But for the region, the result has been repeated sweeps, mass arrests, prolonged detention without charges, harassment, kidnappings and murder — and a net decrease in security for the civilian population.

The London Guardian points out that a reason for the focus on Arauca is the presence of the Cano Limon oilfield, accounting for 30 percent of Colombia’s oil production. The special security zone was imposed only in the three municipalities crossed by the pipeline, The Guardian said, despite the dominance of the illegal far-right paramilitary forces in the other four. The Bush administration and Occidental Petroleum help fund the government’s controversial 18th Brigade, the main army force in the area, and a new mobile unit.

N. Korea: Washington’s stand endangers talks

The government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea said Aug. 16 that Washington’s refusal to alter its “extremely hostile” stance toward the DPRK was undermining expectations for the next round of six-party talks about nuclear issues on the Korean peninsula, expected next month. Citing the recent adoption by the House of Representatives of a “bill on human rights in North Korea,” and the U.S.’ massive shipments of state-of-the-art military equipment to South Korea, a DPRK government spokesperson said there would be “nothing to expect” from negotiations unless Washington changes its stance.

“The DPRK will make sustained efforts for the peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue between the DPRK and the U.S.,” he said. “And the DPRK is ready to render necessary cooperation to this end.”

China, which has mediated the talks that also involve Russia, Japan and South Korea, urged that the talks continue despite “inevitable difficulties.”

S. Africa: Informal settlements to get services

Residents of informal settlements across Johannesburg, South Africa’s main city, can expect to see a major improvement in access to basic social services by 2007, City Council spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane told the UN’s IRIN news service last week. The Johannesburg City Council also plans to eliminate shantytowns by that time, Modingoane said. Last year Johannesburg’s department of housing estimated there were 418,000 backyard shacks in the city, 4,500 people living on the streets, and 170,000 families living in 89 informal settlements scattered across the metropolitan area.

Each informal settlement will be declared a township, Modingoane said. Families will receive individual land allocations, which they can improve over time with the help of government housing subsidies, he said. The government provides a housing subsidy to the unemployed and those earning less than Rand 3,500 ($530) per month.

The government will also address the need for basic services such as running water, sewage and rubbish removal, Modingoane said.

Mexico: VW workers strike

Workers at the VW plant at Puebla, 65 miles southeast of Mexico City, struck Aug. 18 after rejecting the company’s offer of a 4.45 percent wage increase and 1,000 pesos (about $88) in additional benefits. The union seeks an 8.5 percent wage hike for the plant’s 9,600 workers, whose average wage is 291 pesos ($25) a day. The action came despite the union leadership’s recommendation to accept the company’s offer. Workers were reportedly still angry over last year’s cut in the workweek to four days, which was far from compensated by a 5.25 percent pay hike.

The plant at Puebla is the only producer of the New Beetle, and is one of the biggest employers in the Mexican auto industry. The strike shut down daily production of 1.300 Jettas and New Beetles. A previous strike, in 2001, lasted over two weeks and ended with the workers winning a 10.2 percent increase.

Canada: U.S. moves to militarize border

U.S. officials dedicated the first of five planned bases, at Bellingham, Wash., for regular flights along the U.S.-Canadian border Aug. 20, the Associated Press reported. The five bases, ostensibly to look for drug runners and others crossing the border illegally by air or land, will extend from Washington State to upstate New York.

Though similar bases have operated on the border with Mexico for years, the Bellingham base is the first on the Canadian border. The Bellingham base is to have a staff of nearly 70, two helicopters, an airplane and a high-speed boat by the end of the year. A second station, in Plattsburgh, N.Y., is to open by the end of the year. Bases near Detroit, Mich., Grand Forks, N.D., and Great Falls, Montana will follow it.

International notes are compiled by Marilyn Bechtel (mbecthel@pww.org).

Israel says no help for hunger strikers

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 04:59:00 +0000

The declaration by the Israeli Ministry of Health Aug. 19 that it would deny medical attention in Israeli hospitals to Palestinian prisoners on a liquids-only hunger strike drew a scathing denunciation from Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, president of the Palestinian Medical Relief Societies. The following day, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel offered to provide independent medical aid to the strikers.

Palestine Monitor said more than 7,000 prisoners are participating in the strike. They are demanding an end to Israeli authorities’ abusive practices including arbitrary beatings, strip searches and confining of child detainees with adults, withholding of medical attention and food. They are calling for more frequent family visits under better conditions, improved sanitary conditions and restoration of study privileges.

Palestine Monitor quoted Dr. Barghouthi as saying the authorities’ actions reflected the racist nature of the Israeli occupation policies and their blatant disrespect for human life. The Palestinian physician added that he hoped the government’s statements would help show the international community the callous nature of the Israeli government’s response toward all Palestinian demands and proposals.

On Aug. 20, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel offered to send independent medical professionals to aid the strikers, including supporting their right to decide about continued participation in the strike.

“The doctor, in this situation, acts as an intermediary between the striking prisoners and the prison authorities,” PHR-I said in a statement. “The well-being of the prisoner and his expressed wishes regarding his desire to eat, must be the priority of the doctor at all times,” the organization said, adding that it is forbidden to force feed a hunger striker who refused food when he was fully competent. Israeli authorities have threatened to force-feed strikers who become emaciated.

Israeli authorities have said they would try to break the strike by holding barbecues outside prison walls. The World Federation of Trade Unions is urging expressions of solidarity with the strikers.

Argentina rejects IMF intervention

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 04:56:00 +0000

In the face of sharp disagreements between Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Argentine government decided Aug. 8 to temporarily suspend negotiations. The government says the IMF is putting pressure on issues that go beyond its mandate.

Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna said the IMF is interfering unacceptably in Argentina’s internal affairs by insisting that issues with private creditors must be resolved first, before an understanding can be reached on renegotiating goals to manage the country’s foreign debt.

Among the “creditors” who purchased the bonds of Argentina’s private debt are individuals and companies from Europe, Japan and the United States. Lavagna called on the IMF to stop pressing Argentina to repay the private investment sector debt.

Said Alberto Fernandez, head of the Cabinet: “Argentina is clear about its responsibility because it knows that it is in debt to the private creditors, but no international institution or third countries should interfere in that issue.”

Lavagna said many see the IMF as largely responsible for the debacle of the last few years in Argentina because of its “gross errors in the past.”

The IMF backed to the hilt the plan, which established an exchange parity between the Argentine peso and the dollar. This led in 2001 to a traumatic devaluation and, incredibly, to the IMF turning its back on Argentina. The IMF demonstrated that it was weak or ill-intentioned by not immediately taking action in the 1990s when fiscal goals were not met. The IMF was forced to acknowledge these two aspects after an internal audit.

In that context, Argentine President Néstor Kirchner harshly criticized the financial agency by pointing out: “It is very easy for it to talk of Argentina from peaceful salons. But its errors have resulted in us having more than 15 million poor.”

Now the IMF is trying to take what is owed from state reserves. According to The Financial Times, the IMF is demanding that Argentina accelerate structural reforms in the framework of a three-year agreement with the institution. But if it were to do that, the country would be left highly vulnerable and virtually without funds, thus repeating the circumstances of 2001, which resulted in the Argentine economy shrinking by over 20 percent, and brought national bankruptcy and poverty for thousands of people.

The unemployment rate still stands at 14 percent, and some 15 million people have been forced into begging or living on the streets. But the IMF is still demanding payment of $700 million, with the first payment to be completed by the end of this year.

Haiti factions try to rebuild army

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 04:47:00 +0000

In a statement Aug. 20, the Haiti Support Group (HSG) said it continues to be seriously concerned by the power wielded by armed irregular forces in Haiti and by their increasingly bold demands for reestablishment of the Haitian Army.

The London-based Haiti Support Group is a solidarity organization working alongside Haiti’s popular democratic movement since 1992.

“These concerns are heightened in the context of the farcical ‘trial’ and acquittals of former paramilitary group FRAPH leader Louis-Jodel Chamblain and former anti-gang head, Jackson Joanis, and the recent mobilization of former soldiers in Port-au-Prince, Les Cayes, and in the Central Plateau and other parts of the country,” the Haiti Support Group said.

The statement said the interim government headed by Gerard Latortue appears to be increasingly interacting with the illegal armed groups that participated in the U.S.-led coup that deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February, and in some cases has actively engaged former leaders of the Armed Forces of Haiti, disbanded by Aristide.

The Haitian Times newspaper reported Aug. 18 that the interim government appointed Winter Etienne to direct the National Port Authority in Gonaives. Etienne, along with fugitive from justice and former FRAPH member, Jean Tatoune, led the armed uprising that started late last year in Gonaives, HSG said.

Etienne is now coordinator of the new National Reconstruction Front party, headed by former army officer, police commissioner and coup plotter, Guy Philippe. The solidarity group pointed out that at the Ministry of Interior, former Army chief Herard Abraham continues to integrate former high level officers from the Haitian Army into his staff.

A new appointee is former Colonel Williams Regala, once the right-hand man of dictator Henri Namphy and allegedly the main instigator of the Nov. 29, 1987 massacre of voters.

Regala joins a host of other former high command officers at the Ministry of the Interior, HSG said. One of the most notorious is former Colonel Henri-Robert Marc-Charles, who in September 1991 joined General Raoul Cedras in forming a military junta to overthrow Aristide’s elected government. He is now a top advisor to Abraham, although a judicial order requires his imprisonment pending trial for involvement in the March 1990 Piatre peasant massacre

Under Herard Abraham, the Ministry of Interior is busying itself with the tasks of recruiting former soldiers into the National Police Force and preparing to pay 10 years’ back pay and pensions to all members of the Army that was disbanded in 1995, the statement said. Meanwhile, HSG said, in the Central Plateau region, former Army Colonel Remissainthe Ravix claims to lead some 1,800 re-armed soldiers, and has ridiculed the interim’s government’s proposal that they disarm.

This Paige right out of Bushs book

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 04:38:00 +0000

Amistad Academy, in New Haven, Conn., has made the news with exceptionally high test scores in reading, math, and science. Nearly all of the 250 students are Black or Latino at Amistad, a public charter middle school funded by the state of Connecticut. Eighty-five percent of the students qualify for reduced school lunches. Yet their scores surpassed the results in wealthy suburban districts.

Recently, Education Secretary Rod Paige made a grandstand appearance at Amistad Academy to tout George W. Bush’s NCLB, the No Child Left Behind Act. Paige is one of the tiny group of right wing African American elites in the Bush administration. Paige is also infamous for his assault on the National Education Association (NEA) as “terrorist” because it criticized NCLB. The NEA is the nation’s largest school employee union.

In his speech at Amistad Academy, Paige tipped his hat to the goal of overcoming the achievement gap between African American and white students. However, he went on to give a bait-and-switch performance. He assigned the main credit for high test scores to George W. Bush and his seriously flawed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. In contrast, most agree that the students’ achievements were the result of their highly-motivated hard work, enriched curriculum, extended school day and week, and close attention by licensed teachers.

In fact, The New York Times reported earlier this month that newly released federal data clearly show that children attending charter schools are, as a group, performing about a year and a half behind their counterparts in public schools in both reading and math.

Paige’s propagandizing for Bush is not surprising. In his May 2004 column “Paige’s Circle” in the Department of Education’s newsletter, Paige anointed Bush as the successor to Brown vs. Board of Education. In Paige’s words: “with No Child Left Behind I believe the president and the Congress have taken the country one step closer to a race-free society. And with each step we get closer to fulfilling the promise of Brown v. Board of Education.”

Paige’s “race-free society” resembles the “color-blind society,” of right-wing sociologist Abigail Thernstrom. Both try to divert attention from the real racist conditions and the need for affirmative action. Nor is it accidental that Paige and Thernstrom are both apostles of school vouchers.

School funding

Paige attempted, in his speech at the Amistad Academy, to sanitize the $8 billion in underfunding of NCLB-mandated programs as well as shortfalls in educational aid to the states. He argued that Amistad Academy spends less and gets better results than the New Haven public schools. But Amistad is a public school funded by the state of Connecticut to the tune of $7,500 per student.

NCLB and Bush’s education and tax policies have deepened, not lessened, the crises of public education. The budget crisis has forced the layoff of teachers and vital support staff, closing down of schools in Baltimore and Norwich, Conn.

NCLB inflicts punitive cuts in the funding of public schools that do not meet unrealistic 100 percent results in standardized tests, a built-in formula for failure. A recent study by the Civil Rights Project of Harvard University of the first year of NCLB (2002-2003) found that sanctions under the act fall especially hard on urban schools with large racially oppressed populations, while demanding less of rich suburban schools.

Sneaking in vouchers

By using a punitive de-funding approach to public education under NCLB, the Bush administration is then able to re-route public funds for vouchers for private and religious schools. Paige has dipped into a $5 billion voucher fund to bankroll private and religious schools, activating the voucher/privatization elements of NCLB.

Superintendent of New Haven Public Schools Reginald Mayo captured this corrosive feature of NCLB when he said, “The No Child Left Behind Act to us is a sneaky way of easing in a voucher program in this country.” Under Paige, more than $75 million in federal education funding has been diverted to a handful of pro-voucher groups over the past three years, according to People for the American Way.

In February 2003, Paige’s Department of Education sent out a warning, according to Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose in their recent book “Bushwhacked.” Schools could lose their federal aid if they do not allow time for “constitutionally protected prayer.” This cut in federal aid would be at the expense of Title I aid to the poor. Another memo warned schools could lose federal funds if they did not test recently arrived immigrants for proficiency in English.

Why Bush attacks public education

What is the root of the Bush privatization assault on public education? The well-informed Ivins and Dubose provide some insights. Then-Gov. George W. Bush, as an obedient servant to Texas and U.S. big business, got on the educational bandwagon because big business wanted better-trained personnel and wanted to control public schools in their own corporate interests.

Rod Paige fits into this syndrome as Houston’s then-Superintendent of Public Schools. He latched on to something the corporate heads could understand — high test scores as “evidence” of reform.

Ivins and Dubose show how Paige assured high test scores at the 10th grade level. In cold blood, he kept 9th graders with lower test scores from entering 10th grade. The result was a large-scale dropout rate of 9th graders and artificially higher scores by the 10th graders who remained. This was a case of “cooking the books” that brings to mind Enron, another Houston enterprise. Still worse, thousands of 15-year-olds were pushed out of school with little hope of ever finding a job.

The Houston Chronicle reports that Texas has the nation’s highest school dropout rate. “The dropouts became absolutely necessary because what they are trying to do is get the test numbers up, not improve the education of the children,” charged Rice University professor Linda McNeil. And The New York Times reported June 25 that Paige’s closest associates in Houston are resigning amid charges of crony ties to businesses that won profitable contracts with the Houston school system.

The privatization target is the entire pro-people, pro-labor public sector, including Social Security, Medicare, public health programs, and federal government employment. The attack by the Bush White House is coordinated. So is the broad coalition fightback. Struggles gain strength by mutual support, not only upholding the public sector and its workers, but also expanding it to meet the needs and rights of working families and the American people, from living wage jobs programs to a national health service. That struggle at home gains mutual strength by solidarity with the related struggles of people around the world for sovereignty, higher living standards, health, the control of their own resources and world peace.

In his speech at Amistad Academy, Paige was eerily silent about vouchers and privatization, the essence of NCLB. Since then the Republican Party has announced that Paige will be a prime-time speaker at the Republican National Convention. While this rewards Paige for his troubadour role and gives him an opportunity for an encore par excellence, it joins the issue for voters. They do not have to be silent on NCLB, Bush, Paige and the future of the country and world. They can make themselves heard on Nov. 2.

George Fishman is a retired public school teacher. He can be reached at egfishman@earthlink.net.

WHERE DO YOUR TAX DOLLARS GO?

The average household in the United States paid $6,548 in federal income taxes in 2003. Here is how that amount was spent:

Military and Defense: $1,928 Interest on the Debt (Military): $618 Interest on the Debt (Non-military): $677 Health: $1,287 Income Security: $296 Education: $249 Veterans’ Benefits: $233 Nutrition: $176 Housing: $147 Natural Resources: $117 Job Training: $29 Other: 791

National Priorities Project, www.nationalpriorities.org

Americans want a change in direction

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 03:45:00 +0000

Leaders of major U.S. peace organizations say Americans want a fundamental change in U.S. foreign and domestic policy.

“Iraq is on people’s minds across the country,” said Hany Khalil, organizing coordinator for United for Peace and Justice. UFPJ, a coalition of more than 800 local and national groups, is bringing thousands to New York to protest at the Republican National Convention this week. For many Americans, Khalil said, “Iraq symbolizes Bush’s policies of strengthened empire, violation of international law, and disregard of the United Nations.” People want our country to move in an alternative direction, he told the World.

Scott Lynch, Peace Action communications director, said, “It’s very, very clear that Bush and his administration represent a danger not only to our democracy but to the world.” Instead of adding stability to Iraq, they are destabilizing it, he said.

Peace Action got its start as the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy in the 1960s, pushing for nuclear disarmament. Today it describes itself as the nation’s largest grassroots peace group. Like the other peace organizations interviewed, it is non-partisan. But clearly Bush is “far to the right of Kerry,” Lynch told the World. “George Bush could send us all tumbling into the abyss.”

Right now, “we’re so far off in la-la land,” that “priority #1 is getting George Bush out of office,” Lynch said. However people have to understand that our nation’s foreign policy is “not going to turn in one election,” he noted. Even if Kerry is elected, the peace movement and all progressives will need to start working hard on the 2006 “mid-term” elections to elect a Congress that can turn the country in a positive direction. “We need to change how this country interacts with the world,” Lynch said.

Ibrahim Ramey, Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) peace and disarmament coordinator, said, “A radical shift in domestic and foreign policy is needed, away from corporate control, a war system that consumes our young people, and racial and economic violence.” FOR was founded 85 years ago to oppose “the war system,” Ramey told the World. Today, our country is being “gutted by war and corporate globalization that has taken away jobs,” he said. Noting the “frightening growth of inequality in our country,” Ramey urged the peace movement to take up Martin Luther King’s call to oppose the three evils of racism, militarism and economic injustice.

Janice Shields, media relations director for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), told the World, “As a non-partisan organization that abhors violence and values the sanctity of human life, we believe the peace movement must unite in a call to end the policy of preemptive war.”

“We have a big concern about a unilateral, go-it-alone policy, about not listening to the world community,” Shields said.

The AFSC calls for multinational involvement, working through the UN, to bring peace to Iraq. The U.S. occupation has caused chaos and violence, with thousands of civilians and U.S. soldiers killed and wounded, she noted.

UFPJ’s Khalil called the U.S. occupation “the greatest obstacle” to resolving the crisis in Iraq. UFPJ is calling for an immediate end to the occupation and for the UN and other international organizations to assist the Iraqi people if they request such help.

Peace Action calls for “the immediate phased withdrawal of U.S. troops.” Instead of U.S. occupation, a better way to move forward is to increase the role of the UN, and possibly other Middle Eastern countries, Lynch said.

Ramey, of the FOR, said a resolution to the Iraq crisis “can’t be done under the label of U.S. hegemony and U.S. corporate policy.

“The Iraqi people have a right not only to govern their society but also to own it,” he emphasized. “Iraq cannot be a subsidiary of Chevron or Halliburton.”

In addition to bringing the troops home from Iraq, Ramey said the U.S. should pay reparations for the destruction it has caused there.

Shields expressed particular concern about recent FBI intimidation of protesters. An AFSC intern in Denver was one of a number of people questioned by the FBI because they planned to participate in the RNC protests.

Assailing the Bush administration’s post-9/11 “war on dissent,” Shield emphasized the importance of the constitutional right to peaceably assemble. “The First Amendment should not be infringed on,” she said.

The author can be reached at suewebb@pww.org.click here for Spanish text

RIP-OFF Massive pay cuts, longer hours loom for 6 million workers as Bush guts overtime

Fri, 27 Aug 2004 03:40:00 +0000

Women and working parents especially hard hit

Next time you go to Burger King, you may find that the cashier ringing up your order has been promoted to an executive. But just like the BK crown doesn’t make you a king, the cashier’s new title doesn’t get her CEO pay. In fact, the new job title will result in lower pay and longer hours.

New overtime regulations put into effect Aug. 23 by the Bush administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) give employers broad leeway to classify nurses, web designers, chefs and even some factory workers as “executives,” “learned professionals” and “managers.”

The workers pay dearly for the newly bestowed titles; their paychecks will no longer include time-and-a-half for hours worked above 40 a week. Currently, the average worker whose income includes overtime pay takes in $161 a week for those extra hours.

The new rules are a multibillion dollar bonanza for corporate America. Eight of the nation’s largest employer groups submitted wish-lists of jobs they would like exempted. And Bush’s DOL was generous in granting their wishes. Dental hygienists, computer professionals, blue collar “team leaders,” financial services workers and restaurant managers are just a few of the dozens of categories exempted.

The Newspaper Association of America successfully lobbied for reporters to be classified as “learned professionals,” thus exempt from overtime requirements, while the National Restaurant Association wanted to add chefs to that rapidly growing category. According to the Economic Policy Institute, all of the nation’s pre-kindergarten and nursery school teachers, no matter how low their pay, as newly minted “professionals” will no longer be eligible for overtime pay.

Time is money and under the new scheme workers will be giving up both. The average workweek for U.S. workers now exceeds 40 hours in most industries. For those who work overtime, the workweek averages 51.8 hours.

“Millions of families count on overtime pay to make ends meet, a need that has only increased in importance as wage growth continues to stall,” said EPI’s Ross Eisenbrey. But overtime work is a bane to working families, cutting in to the time parents have to spend with their children.

The new regulations have stirred up a storm of protest. “These overtime pay cuts are like a giant new tax on working families by a president who, at the same time, works hard to give tax breaks to millionaires,” says a Utility Workers of America action alert.

On Aug. 23, the day the rules took effect, thousands of workers in Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa and the nation’s capital rallied to demand that Congress overturn them. In the past year, the House voted once and the Senate three times to block the overtime pay cut, but House Republican leaders maneuvered to block final action.

“If he had to work the same kinds of jobs the rest of us do, I wonder how George Bush would feel about somebody taking away his overtime,” James Ware, a Washington, D.C., sous chef said at the Department of Labor (DOL) headquarters, where nearly 1,000 union members gathered to protest.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) authored the three measures to block the new regulations. He promised the crowd when Congress reconvenes in September, Democrats and moderate Republicans will continue the fight to block the pay cut.

The Aug. 23 rallies continued the year-and-a-half-long battle to save overtime pay. Workers have sent more than 1.6 million messages to the White House, Congress and the DOL protesting the assault on the nation’s wage and hour laws, according to the AFL-CIO. The labor federation promises to make the issue a major focus of its Sept. 2 mobilization when 25,000 union members will knock on 1 million doors the evening that the Republican National convention opens.

Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate for non-union workers, offers a lawyer on line on their website, workingamerica.org, to advise workers if their overtime pay is endangered by the new rules.

Other Bush schemes in the hopper include a plan to permit businesses to substitute “comp time” for pay, and to calculate overtime on a two-week, 80-hour basis. Both would increase work hours by making overtime work cheaper, EPI said.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, passed in 1938, workers must be paid one-and-a-half times their hourly rate for every hour over 40 worked in a given week. One of the goals of the FLSA was to eliminate 10- and 12-hour workdays by making employers pay a penalty. With this disincentive gone, the new Bush regulations threaten not only to cut pay, but also bolster the trend of longer hours for American workers.

The author can be reached at rwood@pww.org.

Steelworkers fight for shutdown pensions

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 05:10:00 +0000

CINCINNATI — Steelworkers continued their fight to recover their “shutdown pensions” at a rally here outside the federal courthouse Aug. 11.

The workers, members of the United Steelworkers of America, had negotiated pension benefits when their company, Republic Technologies International (RTI), announced plans to shut down operations and declare bankruptcy in 2002. Later, however, the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., a federal agency, refused to recognize the agreement. No shutdown pension benefits have been paid. About 2,500 workers are involved.

The presence of the 60 or more workers at the Aug. 11 rally brought attention to how the men and women of important industry are mistreated and devalued by employers and agencies uninterested in the workers’ futures. Inside the courthouse, a federal appeals court was hearing the workers’ appeal.

The rally was opened by Sister Monica McGloin of the Cincinnati Interfaith Committee on Worker Justice, who said, “People of faith must support workers. They are the backbone of society.”

Dan Radford from the Cincinnati Labor Council said the way our society treats workers is a reflection of how people treat each other generally, raising the plight of the workers to a moral issue. “We represent the tip of the iceberg,” Radford said. “If we don’t insist upon and receive justice, we will lose faith in government.”

Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio), whose father was a steelworker, echoed this theme when he called the denial of the pension benefits “immoral.” Strickland read a message from presidential candidate John Kerry, expressing solidarity with the workers.

Kerry acknowledged the two-year fight waged by the workers and reminded them that their situation symbolizes George Bush’s disregard for worker rights. He gave full support for the workers in their bid to recover their shutdown pension benefits.

The author can be reached at organizar @ hotmail.com.

Natalie Merchant mobilizes anti-Bush voters

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 05:06:00 +0000

NEW YORK — Singer Natalie Merchant’s second song at her Aug. 5 Town Hall concert here was Florence Reece’s pro-labor song, “Which Side Are You On?” She made it clear why she chose to include the song in her new album, “The Carpenter’s Daughter.”

“I just came from Boston and the Democratic National Convention. I am not exactly sure which side I am on, but I know what I am opposed to, and if they try to steal this election, well, we are going to fight like ... hell!” The sold-out crowd went wild.

During the first intermission, she introduced the head of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ron Daniels. Daniels addressed the importance of protecting the constitutional rights of people in this country as well as the prisoners in Guantanamo and in Iraqi prisons. Despite a few hecklers, the audience listened quietly. Merchant invited the hecklers to join her on stage, but they declined.

She proved herself to be a great entertainer who can combine incredible talent with a strong social conscience and commitment. The concert took place on the same day that Bruce Springsteen and other performers announced a month of rock concerts in October to defeat Bush.

The author can be reached at pww @ pww.org.