Striking Greek Teachers’ Union to attend London Conference
Against Bankster's Austerity1
OLME – the Greek federation of secondary education state school teachers – is to attend the ’Europe Against Austerity Conference hosted by the Coalition of Resistance (CoR) in London this weekend, on Saturday October 1.
OLME is one of the leading Greek unions in dispute with the Government over draconian cuts to public sector pay, higher taxes and lower pension entitlements. Greek unions social and youth organisations have organised a series of protests, mobilizations and strikes against the imposition of cuts in public spending.
The cuts have been imposed by the Greek government in line with the impositions of the ’'Troika’ of the EU/IMF/ECB. These ’austerity’ measures are part of the failed attempt to get Working people to pay for the bail-out of Greece’s bankers and creditors.
Themis Kotsifakis, General Secretary of OLME will be speaking at the conference. He said,“The Greek Government and the Troika (EU-IMF-ECB) have imposed severe austerity measures, slashing our salaries and pensions, destroying public goods (education-health-public transport etc), privatizing public companies and organisations, and selling off the wealth of the country to the Banks and Capital. Greece is the point of departure as similar policies are being implemented or are under implementation across Europe – especially in the countries of the European South. Therefore, we believe that there should be a coordinated reaction of all Workers, youth and social movements across Europe. Together for another Europe without neoliberalism. People first, not profit.”
Andrew Burgin, one of the London organizers of the conference said,“We are extremely pleased to welcome representatives of the Greek workers who have struggled so determinedly against ferocious cuts. They will be joining representatives from political parties, Unions and social organisations across Europe who are uniting in the battle against cuts”
Contact: 07939 242229
Notes to Editors 1. The Coalition of Resistance is a broad national campaign uniting against cuts and privatisation in workplaces, community and welfare services, based on general agreement with the Founding Statement issued by Tony Benn in August 2010.
2. The Founding Statement can be found here
3. The CoR conference takes place on Saturday 1 October, 10am-5pm Camden Centre, London WC1H 9AU
4. OLME is the Federation of state secondary school teachers. It has been involved in a series of strikes this year and last against the cuts, as well as a series of mobilisations, demonstrations and other actions.
5. Other attendees and speakers include elected representatives from the following parties, Trade Unions and social organisations:
The Labour Party (Britain), the European Left Party, Die Linke (Germany), Left Bloc (Portugal), NPA (France), Sinn Fein (Ireland), and others UNITE (Britain), USTEC-STES (Catalonia), CWU (Britain), CADTM (Greece), OLME (Greece), NUJ (Britain), Soldaires (France), COBAS (Italy), (LAB, Basque country), RMT (Britain), CADTM (Belgium), NUS (Britain), August 80 Free trade union (Poland), nUT (Britain) CoR (Britain), Attac (Germany), BARAC(Britain), Transform! Europe, Transform (France), Stop the War Coalition (Britain), Afri – Ireland, Jubilee (Britain), London Living Wage campaign, No-one is illegal (France), CADTM (Poland), Movement for Social Justice (Poland), CND, Disabled People against Cuts (Britain), TUC Disabled members’ council (Britain), War on Want (Britain), G20 Mobilising Committee (France)
As well as a large number of representatives from specific strike actions across Europe.
Our mailing address is:
Coalition of Resistance
Coalition of Resistance c/o Housmans Bookshop
5 Caledonian Road
London, London N1 9DX
Our telephone:
07939 242229
Thursday, September 29, 2011
CWA Phone Workers Stand with Postal Workers
in Fight for Survival of Job and Service
In Nashville, Tenn., CWA Local 3808 members joined the postal workers' march. Local Secretary-Treasurer Bob Cooper and President Rick Feinstein are pictured at left. Below: Local 4108 members support postal workers in Saginaw, Mich. Locals 4008 and 4622 also were among Michigan CWA locals that rallied and marched to save the postal service.
CWA members were among thousands of union activists joining rallies for embattled postal workers at nearly 500 locations Tuesday that covered every U.S. congressional district in every state.
Seven-year-old Ryan Richards, son of Local 4252 Vice President Angel Minnick, marches Tuesday in Joliet, Ill., with CWA members and other unions supporting U.S. postal workers. Behind Ryan is Local 4252 President LaNell Piercy.
Once again using a budget crisis to attack union workers, some members of Congress want to slash 120,000 postal service jobs and close thousands of post offices, among other severe service cuts.
The national "Save America's Post Office" day of action urged lawmakers to save the USPS (US Postal Service) by supporting H.R. 1351. Introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass), the bill would help stabilize the postal service financially by reducing overpayments it is required by law to make to its pension fund.
While conventional wisdom and virtually all media coverage suggest that email and Internet services are mainly to blame for USPS financial woes, postal unions say it has more to do with over-funded pension and retiree health care plans. In 2006, the Republican-led Congress passed a bill giving the post office just 10 years to pre-fund retiree health care for the next 75 years.
No other government agency or private company is required to make such extreme overpayments, which cost USPS $5.5 billion annually. Without the forced payments, USPS could be running a $1.5 billion surplus.
Neither the pension nor health care funds were addressed by the bill Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) pushed through a House subcommittee last week, with all eight Republicans voting for the devastating postal service cuts and all five Democrats voting against them.
"This is a brazen attempt to dismantle the United States Postal Service and render it ripe for privatization," APWU (American Postal Workers Union) President Cliff Guffey said.
Friday, September 23, 2011
POSTAL WORKERS PROTEST
On Tuesday, September 27, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (local time), members of the four employee Unions of the
United States Postal Service—
• American Postal Workers Union
• National Association of Letter Carriers
• National Postal Mail Handlers Union
• National Rural Letter Carriers' Association
—will join forces with members of our communities to send a message to the nation and its Congress.
We are proud to announce the participation of the National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS) in the effort to Save America's Postal Service. Click here to read their entire statement.
During these informational rallies, we will visit the home office of each member of the House of Representatives.
We will thank those members who have signed on as 200 co-sponsors of H.R. 1351, a bill that addresses the financial crisis facing the Postal Service.
And we will encourage those who have not signed as co-sponsors of H.R. 1351 to do so.
Join us!
United States Postal Service—
• American Postal Workers Union
• National Association of Letter Carriers
• National Postal Mail Handlers Union
• National Rural Letter Carriers' Association
—will join forces with members of our communities to send a message to the nation and its Congress.
We are proud to announce the participation of the National Association of Postal Supervisors (NAPS) in the effort to Save America's Postal Service. Click here to read their entire statement.
During these informational rallies, we will visit the home office of each member of the House of Representatives.
We will thank those members who have signed on as 200 co-sponsors of H.R. 1351, a bill that addresses the financial crisis facing the Postal Service.
And we will encourage those who have not signed as co-sponsors of H.R. 1351 to do so.
Join us!
NURSES STRIKE for SAFETY
Watch our rallies on Live stream http://www.ustream.tv/channel/national-nurses-united
For Immediate Release
23,000 California RNs on One-Day Strike Today
Nearly 23,000 registered nurses are a one-day today at 34 Northern and Central California hospitals saying they will not accept attacks on RN rights to speak out for patients or cuts in healthcare or retiree coverage for nurses or other hospital workers.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke earlier at a rally with striking nurses – it can be viewed live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/national-nurses-united.
The walkout affects two of the biggest and wealthiest hospital chains in California, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente, as well as Children’s Hospital in Oakland. The RNs are members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. The strike ends at 7 a.m.
Friday though Sutter and Children’s have announced plans for a punitive lockout of nurses to extend the dispute. RNs on the picket line at Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit hospital in Oakland Sutter nurses will be protesting up to 200 sweeping demands for concessions that they say would, among other concerns, restrict their ability to effectively advocate for patients against the budget focused priorities of Sutter managers and effectively force nurses to work when sick, dangerously exposing extremely ill patients to infection.
Additionally, Sutter RNs oppose Sutter management’s bid to reduce nurses’ healthcare coverage and retiree health benefits, and a broad array of other contract concessions. The Sutter RNs are also protesting years of widespread cuts in patient care services that they say have restricted access to needed medical care for thousands of Northern California communities and left a trail of broken promises by Sutter executives. NNU has long challenged this market-based program of cuts in patient services, one reason Sutter has singled out RNs for retaliation with the draconian demands it has made to nurses, charges CNA. “Nurses will never be silenced in standing up for our patients and our communities, or our members and our families,” says Children’s Oakland RN Martha Kuhl. RNs picketing at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Sacramento At Kaiser, the RNs are walking out in a sympathy strike to support Kaiser co-workers who are facing management demands for deep cuts in their health coverage and retirement plans. Children’s Oakland RNs will be on strike for the third time in a year over what they call punitive management efforts to cut their health coverage as well with demands they say would make it prohibitively expensive for nurses to bring their own children to get care at the hospital where they work.
Children’s has also refused to address the safe staffing issues of charge nurses not having a patient assignment and providing break relief at times when it does not interfere with patient care needs in the professional judgment of the nurse. Speaking for many striking RNs, Kuhl, notes, “They are taking advantage of the economic times and trying to roll back improvements we have won over many years through our CNA contract. Everyone deserves healthcare and if nurses can't afford healthcare, who will be able to? I am a caregiver and patient advocate and that extends into my community as well."
“Everyone deserves high quality health care, and retirement security, whether you are a registered nurse, another caregiver, or any other American, that should be the hallmark of a humane and caring society,” adds CNA Co-President Zenei Cortez, RN who heads the Kaiser CNA Joint Bargaining Council. “We staunchly refuse to be silenced on patient care protections,” said Sharon Tobin, a RN at Sutter Mills-Peninsula in Burlingame. “A common theme throughout management’s proposals is removing our presence on committees that address important patient care issues and nursing practices. As nurses, we speak up, and we insist on standards that safeguard our patients, but Sutter doesn’t want to hear about anything that might cut into their huge profits.” Like Sutter, Kaiser is extremely wealthy, and hardly needs to be exacting severe cuts from employees, reporting over $1.9 billion in profits last year alone.
“When we are all struggling to keep our head above water it is unconscionable for Kaiser Permanente to attempt to extract cuts from direct healthcare workers,” said Catherine Kennedy, who is a neonatal intensive care nursery RN at Kaiser Roseville. “If Kaiser wants to cut, it should be from the 14 Kaiser executives who are making over $1 million dollars a year, not the healthcare employees who have devoted themselves to the patients and the community.”
--
Dr. Bill Honigman
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)
www.pdamerica.org
California State Coordinator
and Orange County Chapter Leader
PDA Healthcare For All Issue Organizing Team (IOT)
For Immediate Release
23,000 California RNs on One-Day Strike Today
Nearly 23,000 registered nurses are a one-day today at 34 Northern and Central California hospitals saying they will not accept attacks on RN rights to speak out for patients or cuts in healthcare or retiree coverage for nurses or other hospital workers.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke earlier at a rally with striking nurses – it can be viewed live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/national-nurses-united.
The walkout affects two of the biggest and wealthiest hospital chains in California, Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente, as well as Children’s Hospital in Oakland. The RNs are members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. The strike ends at 7 a.m.
Friday though Sutter and Children’s have announced plans for a punitive lockout of nurses to extend the dispute. RNs on the picket line at Sutter’s Alta Bates Summit hospital in Oakland Sutter nurses will be protesting up to 200 sweeping demands for concessions that they say would, among other concerns, restrict their ability to effectively advocate for patients against the budget focused priorities of Sutter managers and effectively force nurses to work when sick, dangerously exposing extremely ill patients to infection.
Additionally, Sutter RNs oppose Sutter management’s bid to reduce nurses’ healthcare coverage and retiree health benefits, and a broad array of other contract concessions. The Sutter RNs are also protesting years of widespread cuts in patient care services that they say have restricted access to needed medical care for thousands of Northern California communities and left a trail of broken promises by Sutter executives. NNU has long challenged this market-based program of cuts in patient services, one reason Sutter has singled out RNs for retaliation with the draconian demands it has made to nurses, charges CNA. “Nurses will never be silenced in standing up for our patients and our communities, or our members and our families,” says Children’s Oakland RN Martha Kuhl. RNs picketing at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Sacramento At Kaiser, the RNs are walking out in a sympathy strike to support Kaiser co-workers who are facing management demands for deep cuts in their health coverage and retirement plans. Children’s Oakland RNs will be on strike for the third time in a year over what they call punitive management efforts to cut their health coverage as well with demands they say would make it prohibitively expensive for nurses to bring their own children to get care at the hospital where they work.
Children’s has also refused to address the safe staffing issues of charge nurses not having a patient assignment and providing break relief at times when it does not interfere with patient care needs in the professional judgment of the nurse. Speaking for many striking RNs, Kuhl, notes, “They are taking advantage of the economic times and trying to roll back improvements we have won over many years through our CNA contract. Everyone deserves healthcare and if nurses can't afford healthcare, who will be able to? I am a caregiver and patient advocate and that extends into my community as well."
“Everyone deserves high quality health care, and retirement security, whether you are a registered nurse, another caregiver, or any other American, that should be the hallmark of a humane and caring society,” adds CNA Co-President Zenei Cortez, RN who heads the Kaiser CNA Joint Bargaining Council. “We staunchly refuse to be silenced on patient care protections,” said Sharon Tobin, a RN at Sutter Mills-Peninsula in Burlingame. “A common theme throughout management’s proposals is removing our presence on committees that address important patient care issues and nursing practices. As nurses, we speak up, and we insist on standards that safeguard our patients, but Sutter doesn’t want to hear about anything that might cut into their huge profits.” Like Sutter, Kaiser is extremely wealthy, and hardly needs to be exacting severe cuts from employees, reporting over $1.9 billion in profits last year alone.
“When we are all struggling to keep our head above water it is unconscionable for Kaiser Permanente to attempt to extract cuts from direct healthcare workers,” said Catherine Kennedy, who is a neonatal intensive care nursery RN at Kaiser Roseville. “If Kaiser wants to cut, it should be from the 14 Kaiser executives who are making over $1 million dollars a year, not the healthcare employees who have devoted themselves to the patients and the community.”
--
Dr. Bill Honigman
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)
www.pdamerica.org
California State Coordinator
and Orange County Chapter Leader
PDA Healthcare For All Issue Organizing Team (IOT)
Thursday, September 8, 2011
LIFEBOAT Option
F o r t H o p eby William Floyd, PDWAmerica
In the middle of the 1930s Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt took the United States off the Gold Standard. 10 million workers were unemployed for 4 or more years. Neither mom and pop businesses nor conglomerates had customers.
FDR started the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the National Recovery Administration (NRA), and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The Federal government directly hired 11 million unemployed (and starving) Citizens.
To pay for this crisis emergency, Roosevelt doubled the currency of the United States.
After WWII, these US dollars were retired and the Gold Standard was re-adopted.
However, decades later, after killing over 1 million Vietnamese, 58,000 Americans dead, and years sinking trillions of dollars into the Vietnam quicksand, President Richard Nixon took the United States off the Gold Standard once and for all in 1973.
Today, our Gold sits in FORT KNOX performing no government function. Our Gross Domestic Product, central role in global trade less our Debt are the basis for the Dollar's fluctuation.
The British sold half of their “Strategic Gold Reserves” in 1999. At it's current stratospheric level, our Fort Knox Gold is worth about $6.5 trillion dollars. $6,500,000,000,000.
President Obama as Executive in Chief can sell a portion of this Fort Knox Gold. Our President could directly hire 20 million long term unemployed Americans for about $450 Billion per year. He can continue this growingly popular “Obama's Hire America First Program” for 2 to 3 years, if necessary, without raising Taxes. Excuse our repetition: “Without-raising-taxes,” or tea party cloned faxes.
It might be prudent to pay down the Cheney War deficits, and chronic damage from Bush's wealthy tax breaks with a 2nd small portion of our Fort Knox Gold.
This Fort Hope program is presented as the “Lifeboat Option” by Union leaders, shop stewards, and Democratic Party leaders of
Progressive Democratic Workers for America, 9/5/11.
http://PDWAmerica.blogspot.com
JUSTICE Option
Justice Option
by William Floyd, PDWA
Temporary Income Maximum Excise - T.I.M.E.
Whereas the majority of Republicans in the 212th Congress signed allegiance to the Club for Growth's rejection of all Revenue sources for Federal government expenses. This is a violation of their Oath of Office to Defend the Constitution (raise necessary funds for the U.S. Government).
Be it resolved, that for a temporary period of two (2) years, all personal income and capital gains in excess of $2,000,000. (2 million dollars) annually, shall enjoy an Income/Capital gains Tax rate of 100%.
Furthermore, all pay, salaries, or bonuses, stock option payouts, foreign delivery schemes, as well as any other future compensation, stock, pay or bonus, intended or unintended to circumvent this timely Law, shall be punishable as a 20 year felony under the United States Code.
This T.I.M.E. legislation is submitted to the Progressive Caucus 9-5-11 as the
'Justice Option'
by Union executives, shop stewards and Democratic Party leaders of the
Save the Post Office
Fixing the United States Postal Service
by William Floyd, NALC Shop Steward, ret.
The first Postal roads connected Boston to New York and then to on to Philadelphia, in the late 1600s. President George Washington established the first Postmaster General to oversee all the village Post Offices and Post Roads in 1789. Today, we can choose from Fed Ex or United Parcel, or dozens of other delivery options. However, for over 100 million Americans, the NALC Mail Carrier brings important personal family messages and cards. At the same time, the Union carrier often represents the only friendly contact people have with their Government. The secure careers in the Postal Service have been favored by War Veterans. Especially Veterans of color. The Post Office was a safe haven from discriminatory practices, and whites-only rules and Laws in too many small towns and private businesses.
Congress and US Postal Service claim USPS is in the red for $4+ Billion.
Liquidate ONE Hundred Billion Dollars of Fort Knox Gold 1
Absolutely NO Layoffs of NALC, APWU, nor any other Union workers
Raise Retirement/Health benefits 22% from last NALC/APWU contracts
Co-Sponsor House bill HR 1351 – Stephen Lynch, 193 Co-Sponsors
Hire Two million Youth under 25: New Postal Assistants (NPAs)
Longest unemployed Youth hired first, inner cities, barrios, suburbs
NPAs deliver Christmas packages, Special Delivery, Registered mail
NPAs Ride Bicycles (where, and when practical)
NPAs learn to fix, and later maintain their own, and Team Bikes
One third of NPA income can be diverted to Parents-in-poverty,
separated spouses with children, or disabled family members.
Saturday and Half-Sunday delivery, clerical duties by the new NPAs
*******************************************************
Initiate new Postal Service SAVINGS ACCOUNTS for the general public, and possible 'victims-of-banking-by-phony-mortgage-papers'.
Fund Postal Service MICRO-LOANS to Micro businesses, Women's and small businesses for the poor, Senior Art or Activity centers, and Centers for our maimed heroes from the Wars, and their children.
PAY – GO
PDWAmerica is committed to paying for each and every program. No risky private stock accounts for Social Security or Medicare crucial to blind, deaf, IED flamed Vets, and Iraq/Afghanistan para / quadriplegics.
Liquidate ONE Hundred Billion Dollars of Fort Knox Gold
1 - Please see “Lifeboat Option” by W. Floyd PDWA
Submitted by AFL-CIO unions, NALC shop stewards, and Veterans of Progressive Democratic Workers for America
FORD Unemployed Hunger March of 1932
The FORD unemployed workers proceeded across the Baby Creek Bridge, and gathered at the corner of Fort Street and Miller Road. A dense throng around a waiting truck.
[The marchers numbered about 3000. They were led by progressive Union leaders Albert Goetz, Tony Gerlach, and William Reynolds from the Union and the Detroit Unemployed Council. -pdwa]
They were still in Detroit. Albert Goetz swung up on the truck and began to speak. He restated the purpose of their march: to have a committee present their demands to the FORD Motor Company. He called on the workers to form an orderly and disciplined march.
“We don't want any violence,” he said sharply. “Remember, all we are going to do is to walk to the FORD Employment Office. No trouble. No fighting. Stay in line. Be orderly.”
Goetz paused a moment. The crowd was silent. “I understand,” he continued, “the Dearborn Police is planning to stop us. Well, we will try to get through somehow. But remember, no trouble.”
A tremendous cheer greeted his remarks and the march began.
Eight abreast, singing and cheering, the marchers proceeded toward the Dearborn City limits.
50 Dearborn and FORD Police, in uniform, were lined up across the road. An Officer yelled, “Who are your leaders?”
“We are all leaders,” the marchers shouted back.
“Stop, or we’ll shoot,” threatened the cops, and immediately they fired large amounts of tear gas into the ranks of the marchers.
The marchers hesitated. Blinded and choked by the tear gas, they retreated. Some ran up a railroad trestle on one side of the road. The officers now came forward with their night sticks and attacked others as they were standing, some alone, and some in small groups.
The workers fought back. A group rescued one marcher from an officer on the trestle. One of the officers shot at the workers as they ran from the trestle…
The workers filled the air with a hail of stones. The police were pushed back, and when their tear gas ran out, the police turned and ran.
For almost a half-mile the marchers continued down the highway toward the plant. The police retreated before them.
Then they reached the first street intersection, where they were confronted with two fire engines equipped with ladders and hoses. The Firemen were frantically trying to make the hose connections. Before they succeeded, the workers reached them, and they joined the police in retreat.
This retreat was continued for another half-mile until the employment gate – Gate 3 of the plant, was reached.
At this point the Fire Department units made their water connections. About 30 feet above the road and extending across it was a bridge used for the passage of workmen into the factory without interference by traffic.
Stationed on the road below the bridge were a large number of police officers. From the top of the bridge the Firemen poured streams of icy water on the workers below. From the bridge and from the road below came a steady rain of tear gas bombs.
According to the marchers, it was at this bridge that the Dearborn Police were joined by a large number of FORD Motor Company private police, by a strong force of officers from the Detroit Police Department, and by the State police.
A regular siege developed. The workers, now grimy with sweat and dust, their eyes red from gas fumes, kept up a regular barrage of stones they had carried from the field.
The police drew their pistols. Suddenly they began shooting into the crowd. It was here that 19-year old Joe York was shot and killed, then Coleman Lenny, and Joe DeBlasio.
The police were shooting left and right. Besides the 3 fatalities, they were 22 workers known wounded by gunshot. Perhaps 50 more were hit, escaping to their homes or places of hiding for medical attention.
In the face of the downpour of icy water and the rain of bullets. almost all the marchers withdrew. It was then that the leaders of the Union and Unemployed Council decided to call off the demonstration.
A Union speaker mounted the back of a car and yelled that “the tear gas, clubbing and shooting were FORD’s bloody answer to the demands of the unemployed workers.”
Written by Maurice Singer - Heroic U.A.W. leader
American Civil Liberties Union’s Report
on the FORD Hunger March
on the FORD Hunger March
“Such of the FORD and Dearborn police as were injured appear, without exception, to have been injured by stones. There are among the police no injuries whatsoever by any bullet or firearm.”
“The acts of violence of the paraders consisted of the use of sticks and stones, apparently in defense of what they regarded as their right to parade, and demonstrate and in self-defense.”
“The injuries of the paraders were inflicted by FORD Company and City police. They consist of gunshot wounds almost without exception in the sides and backs of the paraders. We cannot too strongly emphasize the difference between the injuries sustained by the paraders and those admitted by the police...”
“As a matter of public policy, the Highways of the State, - and Miller Road, where this shooting occurred, was a State Highway - should be open to parades and demonstrations of this kind….the police provoked such violence…by refusing to accord them their right to parade on a State Highway…It appears the workers were peaceful until they were attacked...” -- Roger Baldwin and Walter Nelson, ACLU 1932
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Profiteers of Multiple Wars
FedEx and Pepsi Are Top Defense Contractors? 5 Corporate Brands Making a Killing on America’s Wars
In 2001, the massive arms dealers Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman ranked one, two and five among Department of Defense contractors, raking in $14.7 billion, $13.3 billion and $5.2 billion, respectively, in contracts. Last year, Lockheed’s contract dollars were almost double their pre-9/11 level, clocking in at $28 billion, while Boeing’s had jumped to almost $19 billion and Northrop Grumman, still in the five spot, had more than doubled its 2001 take, with $12.8 billion in contracts.
America’s recent wars have obviously been good to these companies. On September 10, 2001, Lockheed’s share price was $38.32. Today, it tops $70 per share. In 2001, the company’s net sales reached $24 billion. Last year, they were almost $46 billion. Likewise, Northrop Grumman’s net income has more than quadrupled in the last decade, according to the investment analysis website, Seeking Alpha. Still, these corporations are just a fraction of the story when it comes to the massive sums of money made by the military contractors since September 11, 2001.
Chris Hellman of the National Priorities Project, writing recently at TomDispatch.com, noted that since the 9/11 attacks, the United States has spent about $8 trillion on national security. Even accounting for all the funds paid out for troop salaries, overseas base construction and the training and equipping indigenous allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, among many other costs, it’s clear that vast sums of Pentagon money are flowing somewhere other than to the top weapons-makers. Unknown to most U.S. taxpayers and even many Pentagon-watchers, some of the largest and most recognizable corporations in the world have also been getting rich on America’s wars. Below are five examples of “civilian” companies that have reaped major rewards from the Pentagon during its last decade at war:
1. BP (British Petroleum): The UK foreign oil giant, perhaps most famous for dumping 206 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico last year, is also a perennial power when it comes to Pentagon contracts. Back in 2001, BP nabbed a cool $357 million in contracts from the Department of Defense. Last year, the number hit $1 billion and it’s no secret why. As defense-tech writer Noah Shachtman noted at Foreign Policy last year, the U.S. military burns “22 gallons of diesel [fuel] per soldier per day in Afghanistan, at a cost of more than $100,000 a person annually.” (Why is our Pentagon buying foreign oil?-PDWA ed)
2. FedEx: The overnight shipping giant is a long-time defense-contracting powerhouse that has also seen an exponential increase in contract dollars since September 10, 2001, when its stock was trading at just under $40 per share. By the end of that year, FedEx had been awarded about $211 million in contracts from the Pentagon. In 2010, the company received $1.4 billion from the Department of Defense and this year, with its stock closing in on $80 per share, has already passed the $1 billion mark, again. This includes a $182 million deal, inked in August, to pack and ship fresh fruit and vegetables to U.S. military bases overseas and a joint agreement, which also includes United Parcel Service (UPS) and Polar Air Cargo, which could last up to five years and potentially net the companies a combined $853 million. (No wonder the Post Office is bankrupt and canceling Saturday delivery-ed PDWA)
3. Dell: If you’re in the military and you want to pilot a drone, transfer supplies or write a memo, you need a computer. That’s just what Dell provides. The desktop- and laptop-maker has been plying the Pentagon with computers for many years and, just like Lockheed, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, has done especially well by the Department of Defense since 2001. That year, Dell was awarded $65 million in Pentagon contracts. By 2009, that number had jumped to $731 million and, over the course of the decade, has added up to a total of $4.3 billion in contracts for the PC manufacturer.
4. Kraft – From A-1 steak sauce, their signature mayonnaise and Oreo cookies to Oscar Meyer hot dogs, Planters peanuts and Wheat Thins crackers, this company ranks as one of the largest and best known food concerns in the world. Not surprisingly, it also does a brisk business with the Pentagon which has grown ever larger during the last decade. Back in 2001, Kraft inked $148 million in deals with the Department of Defense, by 2010, its yearly take had risen to $373 million.
5. Pepsi – Once upon a time it was the “choice of a new generation.” These days, it’s the choice of the Pentagon. In 2010, PepsiCo washed down $217 million in Defense Department contract dollars, compared to the mere $61 million in deals it inked back in 2001. Earlier this year, the company continued the trend by signing a multi-million dollar deal to provide the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps with “bag-in-box beverages.” (That very same day, Coca-Cola also received a slightly larger contract to provide drinks for the military.)
Other big-name firms that are regularly awarded large, lucrative deals from the Defense Department include tire titans Goodrich and Goodyear, oil giants Shell and Exxon Mobil, big food suppliers like Nestle, General Mills, Tyson, ConAgra and Campbell's Soup, and tech and telecom stalwarts including AT&T, Oracle, Sony and Verizon.
A decade of waging wars abroad, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Pakistan and Libya to Yemen and Somalia hasn’t been kind to average Americans.
As the United States poured nearly $8 trillion into national war and security spending, and the national debt ballooned from $6 trillion to $14.3 trillion, the official unemployment rate has more than doubled -- from 4.5% to 9.1%.
The number of children living in poverty in the U.S. has jumped nearly 20% since according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. And for older Americans, the risk of hunger has spiked almost 80% since 2001, according to recent report by AARP. From car companies to candy makers and even the biggest brands in organic food, so many of the world’s favorite companies have, over these years, cashed in on America’s wars.
As the United States poured nearly $8 trillion into national war and security spending, and the national debt ballooned from $6 trillion to $14.3 trillion, the official unemployment rate has more than doubled -- from 4.5% to 9.1%.
The number of children living in poverty in the U.S. has jumped nearly 20% since according to the National Center for Children in Poverty. And for older Americans, the risk of hunger has spiked almost 80% since 2001, according to recent report by AARP. From car companies to candy makers and even the biggest brands in organic food, so many of the world’s favorite companies have, over these years, cashed in on America’s wars.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
CORPORATIONS in the “Gilded Age”
“The Corporation is a convenient cloak for the rascality of the individual. It is also his protection. His share in the Profits has no limits...”
“These Corporations are the Federal Barons of this Century. Their Directors live in lordly Palaces and Castles. Their Yachts are on the sea, their Parlour Cars on the rails. They spread feasts that would feed a starving factory town. They throw away on the decorations on a Ball Room enough to clothe the children of a City.
(Corporations)...They keep bans of Militia to do their fighting. In Pennsylvania, it is called the “Coal and Iron Police”. In New York and Illinois it is called the “Pinkerton Detective Agency”. At the word of command, the hireling assassins will shoot down men, women and children. Time and again they have made the streets run red with the blood of innocent people. The Murderers are never punished. They are spirited away on the trains.”
“Not only do the Corporations keep armed Retainers: they keep oily and and servile Courtiers to do their bidding in other walks of life. Their paid Lobby bribes the Voter. Their paid Editor feeds the Public with lies. Their corrupt Lawyers and Judges peddle out Justice to the highest bidder. Their Attorneys go on the bench, or into Senates to vote the will of their Masters.”
“To restore the Liberties of the People, the rule of the People, the equal rights of the People is our Purpose; the Revolution of the old system must be complete...”
Written in 1892 by Tom E. Watson (a Populist Party leader)
Populist Platform in the Gilded Age
Progressive Populists at the Turn of the Century
The “Omaha Platform,” “People's Party,” later “Populist Party,” Omaha, Nebraska
“The conditions which surround us best justify our CO-OPERATION: we meet in the midst of a Nation brought to the verge of moral, political and material Ruin.”
“Corruption dominates the Ballot-box, the (State) Legislatures, the (US) Congress, and touches even the ermine of the Bench. The People are demoralized, most of the States have been compelled to isolate the Voters at the polling-places to prevent universal intimidation or bribery. The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled; public opinion silenced; business prostrated; our homes covered with Mortgages; Labor impoverished; the Land concentrating in the hands of the Capitalists.”
“The urban Workmen are denied the right of Organization for self protection; imported pauperized Labor beats down their Wages; a hireling standing Army, unrecognized by our Laws, is established to shoot them down. They are rapidly degenerating into European conditions. The fruits of the toil of Millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a Few, unprecedented in the History of Mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger Liberty. From the same prolific womb of Governmental injustice we breed tbhe two great Classes - Tramps and Millionaires...”
“We declare therefore ----”
“First. That the Union of Labor forces of the United States this day consum-mated shall be permanent and perpetual; may its Spirit enter all hearts for the salvation of the Republic and the unplifting of Mankind.”
“Second. Wealth belongs to him who Creates it, and every dollar taken from Industry without equivalent is Robbery. 'If any will not work, neither shall he eat.'
The interests of rural and civic Labor are the same; their Enemies are identical.”
“Third. We believe that the time has come when the Railroad corporations will either own the People, or the People will own the Railroads; and, should the Government enter upon the work of owning and managing all Railroads, we should favor an Amendment to the Constitution by which all persons engaged in the government service shall be placed under a Civil Service regulation of the most rigid character, so as to prevent the increase of the power of the National administ-ration by the use of such additional government Employees.”
“First, Money. We demand a national Currency, safe, sound and flexible, issued by the general Government only, a full legal tender for all debts public and private, and that, without the use of Banking corporations, a just, equitable, and efficient means of distribution direct to the People, at a tax not to exceed two percent per annum, to be provided as set forth in the sub-treasury plan of the Farmers' Alliance, or a better system; also, by payments in discharge of its obligations for Public improvements.”
a) “We demand free and unlimited coinage of Silver and Gold at the present legal ratio of sixteen to one.
b) We demand that the amount of the circulating medium be speedily increased to not less than 50 dollars per capita.
c) We demand a graduated Income Tax.
d) We believe that the money of the Country should be kept as much as possible in the hands of the People, and hence we demand that all State and National revenues be limited to the necessary expenses of the government economically and honestly administered. e) We demand that Postal Savings Banks be established by the government for the Safe deposit of the earnings of the People and to facilitate exchange.”
“Second, Transportation. Transportation being a means of exchange and public Necessity, the Government should own and operate the Railroads in the interest of the People.
a) The Telegraph and Telephone, like the Post-Office system, being a Necessity for the transportation of News, should be owned and operated by the Government in the interest of the People.”
“Third, Land. The Land, including all the natural sources of Wealth, is the Heritage of the People, and should not be Mono- polized for Speculative purposes, and alien ownership of Land should be prohibited.”
“All Land that is now held by Railroads or other Corporat- ions in excess of their actual needs, and all Lands now owned by aliens, should be reclaimed by the Government and held for actual Settlers only.”
The Omaha Platform - 1892
Los Angeles Labor Day Parade - September 5, 2011
Honor Labor on Labor Day - Richard Trumka
This Labor Day, please join me in taking a little time to recognize the value of work and all who do it.
It’s a time to honor the transit workers who get us where we need to go every day. The teachers who will spend their Labor Day getting classrooms ready for our children. The firefighters and caregivers whose work is so much more than a job. The engineers, construction workers, manufacturing workers, mathematicians and scientists who are building America now and for the future. The nurses, doctors and EMTs who keep us healthy.
It’s also a time to honor the millions of people who want to work but are unable to find jobs—working people didn’t cause the economic crisis, but they certainly have paid a heavy price for it.
Today, jobless people have become all but invisible to politicians and much of the public. As activists, it’s our job to change that.
So this Labor Day season, I hope you will commit to being even more active than you’ve been in the past, and to help lead a massive America Wants to Work campaign to demand that all our elected leaders focus their efforts on putting America back to work.
Sign the America Wants to Work pledge to help lead the movement for good jobs.
Working men and women have been suffering through a dire jobs crisis. But too many politicians have engaged in extreme partisan brinkmanship and opportunistic over-reaching. Their goal: to transfer even more wealth and power from low-income and middle-class Americans to the CEOs who bankroll elections and offshore jobs.
That’s why we’re calling on Congress and the White House for leadership on big, bold and timely ideas to put America back to work and rebuild the U.S. economy.
Some will say America can’t afford to invest big to create jobs. You and I know we can’t afford not to.
Some say there’s nothing we can do to turn the economy around—we just have to wait it out. I say anyone who believes that either lacks imagination and a knowledge of history or is just plain afraid of hard work.
There’s plenty our leaders can do—right now. Yes, it will take courage and that’s something, quite frankly, a lot of politicians seem to lack when we need it most. So you and I will have to be their backbone, their conscience.
Click now to pledge to help lead the America Wants to Work campaign for good jobs.
I’m proposing a six-point agenda to create good jobs that will put millions of people back to work and restore our communities, our states and the country.
Can you help? America needs you.
Here’s our Six-Point Agenda for Good Jobs:
- Rebuild America’s schools, roads, ports, airways and energy systems.
- Revive U.S. manufacturing and stop exporting good jobs overseas.
- Put people to work in communities doing work that needs to be done by directly creating millions of jobs.
- Help state and local governments avoid more layoffs and service cuts by increasing federal Medicaid funding during periods of high unemployment. Ensure that we have our priorities straight so we can fund essential federal government functions—not slash them to the bone.
- Help fill the massive shortfall of consumer demand by extending unemployment benefits and keeping homeowners in their homes.
- Reform Wall Street so it helps Main Street create jobs by encouraging lending to small businesses, enacting a financial speculation tax and ending Wall Street cheating and fraud.
Please sign the America Wants to Work pledge to be more active than you’ve ever been before to help create jobs. Just click on this link.
Thank you—and happy Labor Day to you and your working family.
Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO
P.S. Have you told the world yet which workers you ❤ this Labor Day? If not, do it now at www.aflcio.org/iheart.
NURSES Strike Wall Street Speculators
(Photo Right: NNU Tax Wall Street Speculators Message in Times Square)
From the Atlantic to the Pacific, an estimated 10,000 Nurses and community participants joined actions in 21 states today demanding immediate attention to the economic crisis to heal America.
They called on Senators and Congress members in their local district offices to pledge to "support a Wall Street transaction tax that will raise sufficient revenue to make Wall Street pay for the devastation it has caused on Main Street."
Events from soup kitchens to feeding the hungry, to community speak outs, to street theater took place from urban centers including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Orlando, to smaller towns, such as Corpus Christi, TX, Marquette, MI, and Dayton, OH. National Nurses United, the largest U.S. union of nurses with 170,000 members, sponsored the actions.
VIRGINIA:
In Richmond, VA, 120 RNs and allies descended on the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and were greeted by a squadron of police. The RNs responded with singing and a large picket line. Cantor's office invited a delegation to meet with his chief of staff. Fifteen constituents lead by NNU nurses held the meeting.. Cantor's staff heard moving testimony and said the congressman would "respond." The local CBS and NBC stations filmed outside, as they were not allowed in. A "Lady Liberty" character greeted the delegation on Cantor's office lawn as it exited the meeting, and heard stories of the pain caused on Main Street by Wall Street.
"America's nurses every day see broad declines in health and living standards that are a direct result of patients and families struggling with lack of jobs, un-payable medical bills, hunger and homelessness. We know where to find the resources to bring them hope and real solutions," said NNU Co-president Karen Higgins, RN, outside Cantor's office.
MASSACHUSETTS:
Ringing a bell and shouting "Oye Oye," a town crier dressed in colonial attire drew a crowd of nearly 200 nurses, activists and passersby as he decried the reckless actions of Wall Street and its impact on the working people of Boston's Main Street in front of the office of Senator Scott Brown.
Watch and share a video of the Boston town crier here.
COLORADO:
In Pueblo, CO, a pledge delivered to Senator Udall asked "which side is the senator on: Wall Street or Main Street?" Nurses also criticized Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado, a Democrat, for collected $2,409,806 in campaign contributions from Wall Street interests while his state languishes in the top 10 in foreclosures, has 184,689 children in poverty, 116,941 people dependent on food stamps, and 13,390 homeless.
One hundred people attempted to enter Senator Toomey's office near Philadelphia but were blocked by security guards. At Rep. Peter King's Long Island, New York office, 50 nurses and supporters entered his office to serve up the pledge but were kept out.
ILLINOIS:
Chicago's nurses sang the "Economic Blues" as hundreds of nurses and others gathered in support of the pledge.
Watch and share this NNU video of Chicago RNs battling the "Economic Blues"
FLORIDA:
The staff of Senator Rubio in Orlando, FL is accompanying nurses to feed local homeless.
CALIFORNIA:
In downtown San Francisco a soup kitchen was assembled to feed the hungry and drew more than 500.
And outside the office of Rep. Darryl Issa, north of San Diego, a crowd of 300 nurses, including members of other unions and area residents, expressed outrage at allegations of self dealing by the congressman. An RN delegation entered his office and delivered the pledge. Outside, community members shared stories of enduring economic hardships. See picture below.
San Diego, CA RNs with NNU Executive Director RoseAnnDeMoro in white above center.
California Nurses visited home offices of Republicans and Democrats throughout the day with a common message – American families are hurting, and they need jobs, healthcare, housing, quality education, nutrition, and a secure retirement.
In addition, the RNs are releasing data where available contrasting contributions the legislators have received from Wall Street with the plummeting economic conditions in their districts that has left substantial numbers of their constituents in crisis.
WISCONSIN:
Rep. Paul Ryan, for example, a Wisconsin Republican, has accepted $2,417,672 in campaign contributions from Wall Street financial institutions the past 12 years, as a champion for Wall Street interests. But the payoff has been small for his district where 69,241 people are uninsured, 22,884 are dependent on food stamps, and 20,394 children and 7,939 seniors live in poverty.
MORE...
NNU will also be calling for the establishment of Main Street commissions to push real solutions for Main Street communities, such as the Wall Street financial tax, in comparison to what NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro calls "the Wall Street 'super committee' set up in the recent debt ceiling deal whose main goal seems to be more cuts in programs that help people to funnel more resources to Wall Street and foreign banks and investors."
A tax on Wall Street trading of stocks, derivatives, currencies, credit default swaps, and futures – which many other nations have now adopted – could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for programs that "are desperately needed to reduce the pain and suffering felt by so many who feel abandoned across this nation," says NNU Co-President Deborah Burger, RN.
"It's time for Wall Street financiers, who created this crisis and continue to hold much of the nation's wealth, to start contributing to rebuild this country, and for the American people to reclaim our future," says DeMoro.
The $2.4 trillion in government bailouts to financial and other institutions already spent, noted DeMoro, alone would have funded 63 million jobs at the national median level of about $39,000 a year. "Instead we have over 25 million people who are unemployed or underemployed, and in the past decade U.S. based corporations added 2.4 million jobs in foreign countries while divesting in America, cutting 2.9 million jobs in the U.S."
"We need to reallocate the money back to our communities, and our actions on September 1 are going to raise the demand to a new level to heal our nation," said NNU Co-president Jean Ross.
(Photo Right: NNU Tax Wall Street Message in Times Square)
From the Atlantic to the Pacific, an estimated 10,000 nurses and community participants joined actions in 21 states today demanding immediate attention to the economic crisis to heal America.
They called on Senators and Congress members in their local district offices to pledge to "support a Wall Street transaction tax that will raise sufficient revenue to make Wall Street pay for the devastation it has caused on Main Street."
Events from soup kitchens to feeding the hungry, to community speak outs, to street theater took place from urban centers including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Orlando, to smaller towns, such as Corpus Christi, TX, Marquette, MI, and Dayton, OH. National Nurses United, the largest U.S. union of nurses with 170,000 members, sponsored the actions.
VIRGINIA:
In Richmond, VA, 120 RNs and allies descended on the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and were greeted by a squadron of police. The RNs responded with singing and a large picket line. Cantor's office invited a delegation to meet with his chief of staff. Fifteen constituents lead by NNU nurses held the meeting.. Cantor's staff heard moving testimony and said the congressman would "respond." The local CBS and NBC stations filmed outside, as they were not allowed in. A "Lady Liberty" character greeted the delegation on Cantor's office lawn as it exited the meeting, and heard stories of the pain caused on Main Street by Wall Street.
"America's nurses every day see broad declines in health and living standards that are a direct result of patients and families struggling with lack of jobs, un-payable medical bills, hunger and homelessness. We know where to find the resources to bring them hope and real solutions," said NNU Co-president Karen Higgins, RN, outside Cantor's office.
MASSACHUSETTS:
Ringing a bell and shouting "Oye Oye," a town crier dressed in colonial attire drew a crowd of nearly 200 nurses, activists and passersby as he decried the reckless actions of Wall Street and its impact on the working people of Boston's Main Street in front of the office of Senator Scott Brown.
Watch and share a video of the Boston town crier here.
COLORADO:
In Pueblo, CO, a pledge delivered to Senator Udall asked "which side is the senator on: Wall Street or Main Street?" Nurses also criticized Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado, a Democrat, for collected $2,409,806 in campaign contributions from Wall Street interests while his state languishes in the top 10 in foreclosures, has 184,689 children in poverty, 116,941 people dependent on food stamps, and 13,390 homeless.
One hundred people attempted to enter Senator Toomey's office near Philadelphia but were blocked by security guards. At Rep. Peter King's Long Island, New York office, 50 nurses and supporters entered his office to serve up the pledge but were kept out.
ILLINOIS:
Chicago's nurses sang the "Economic Blues" as hundreds of nurses and others gathered in support of the pledge.
Watch and share this NNU video of Chicago RNs battling the "Economic Blues"
FLORIDA:
The staff of Senator Rubio in Orlando, FL is accompanying nurses to feed local homeless.
CALIFORNIA:
In downtown San Francisco a soup kitchen was assembled to feed the hungry and drew more than 500.
And outside the office of Rep. Darryl Issa, north of San Diego, a crowd of 300 nurses, including members of other unions and area residents, expressed outrage at allegations of self dealing by the congressman. An RN delegation entered his office and delivered the pledge. Outside, community members shared stories of enduring economic hardships. See picture below.
San Diego, CA RNs with NNU Executive Director RoseAnnDeMoro in white above center.
California Nurses visited home offices of Republicans and Democrats throughout the day with a common message – American families are hurting, and they need jobs, healthcare, housing, quality education, nutrition, and a secure retirement.
In addition, the RNs are releasing data where available contrasting contributions the legislators have received from Wall Street with the plummeting economic conditions in their districts that has left substantial numbers of their constituents in crisis.
WISCONSIN:
Rep. Paul Ryan, for example, a Wisconsin Republican, has accepted $2,417,672 in campaign contributions from Wall Street financial institutions the past 12 years, as a champion for Wall Street interests. But the payoff has been small for his district where 69,241 people are uninsured, 22,884 are dependent on food stamps, and 20,394 children and 7,939 seniors live in poverty.
MORE...
NNU will also be calling for the establishment of Main Street commissions to push real solutions for Main Street communities, such as the Wall Street financial tax, in comparison to what NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro calls "the Wall Street 'super committee' set up in the recent debt ceiling deal whose main goal seems to be more cuts in programs that help people to funnel more resources to Wall Street and foreign banks and investors."
A tax on Wall Street trading of stocks, derivatives, currencies, credit default swaps, and futures – which many other nations have now adopted – could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for programs that "are desperately needed to reduce the pain and suffering felt by so many who feel abandoned across this nation," says NNU Co-President Deborah Burger, RN.
"It's time for Wall Street financiers, who created this crisis and continue to hold much of the nation's wealth, to start contributing to rebuild this country, and for the American people to reclaim our future," says DeMoro.
The $2.4 trillion in government bailouts to financial and other institutions already spent, noted DeMoro, alone would have funded 63 million jobs at the national median level of about $39,000 a year. "Instead we have over 25 million people who are unemployed or underemployed, and in the past decade U.S. based corporations added 2.4 million jobs in foreign countries while divesting in America, cutting 2.9 million jobs in the U.S."
"We need to reallocate the money back to our communities, and our actions on September 1 are going to raise the demand to a new level to heal our nation," said NNU Co-president Jean Ross.
Longshore President Pours Scab Grain into Sea
Longshore Union Workers Dump
Anti-Union Grain to Protect Jobs
(Reminiscent of Boston Tea Party)
Anti-Union Grain to Protect Jobs
(Reminiscent of Boston Tea Party)
Evan Rohar and Jane Slaughter
| September 8, 2011
ILWU President Bob McEllrath was detained by police as Longshore Workers massed on railroad tracks to stop a shipment of grain to a non-ILWU terminal.
Photo: Dawn DesBrisay.
The confrontation between West Coast Longshore Workers and an anti-union exporter exploded as Pickets massed on railroad tracks by the hundreds yesterday to block grain shipments.
Police used clubs and pepper spray on Protesters in Longview, Washington, as they made 19 arrests.
Early this morning a terminal there was invaded and hoppers holding about 10,000 tons of grain were opened onto railroad tracks.
Ports in Washington shut down completely Thursday as hundreds of Longshore workers rushed to Longview, in the state’s southwestern corner.
Bill Proctor, a Longshore Union (ILWU) retiree, was with fellow retirees and active workers on an early morning picket line at a Seattle grain terminal. He said, “If that facility is allowed to go non-ILWU, other facilities will be tempted to follow suit. And the grain terminals on the coast are all going into contract bargaining next month.”
A foreman came out to politely assure the picketers that no one would do their work.
EGT Development, a consortium of three companies, wants to operate its new $200 million grain terminal in Longview using non-ILWU labor, despite a contract with the port requiring it to do so. When the ILWU protested, the company signed up with an Operating Engineers local.
Every other major grain terminal on the West Coast is operated by ILWU Labor, and the Union asserts that EGT’s goal is to go non-union altogether, ending generations of good jobs.
Defied Restraining Order
In a series of protests since July, ILWU members and supporters sat down on train tracks and occupied the new terminal, resulting in 100 arrests. As picketing continued, no trains had attempted to bring in grain shipments since July. But last week a Federal judge issued a temporary restraining order at the request of the National Labor Relations Board, which said ILWU pickets had harassed EGT workers.
Once the restraining order was in place, the BNSF railroad decided to try once more to ship grain. Justin Hirsch, a Seattle Longshore worker, said grain terminals are major customers for the rail companies, who might move 500 trains a year through a terminal.
Pickets in Vancouver, Washington, 40 miles from Longview, delayed the BNSF train yesterday morning, until police cleared rotesters away.
That afternoon, hundreds of Port Workers stood on railroad tracks at Longview to block the mile-long train. Nineteen were arrested and ILWU International President Bob McEllrath was detained briefly—as talk spread up the coast that police had broken McEllrath’s arm. Riot police used clubs and pepper spray on some protesters.
Union officers eventually urged the blockaders to let the train through. But while it sat overnight inside the terminal gates, the word went out. Workers in Seattle left their jobs before the shift ended. Proctor reported that members of Local 19 gathered at 2 a.m. to head the two-and-a-half hours to Longview.
“Overnight people started flooding into Longview,” said Hirsch. AP reported that before dawn, 500 people broke down terminal gates, prevented security guards from interfering, and cut the train’s brake lines.
Noting that a train could hold 107 carloads, Hirsch said the mess on the tracks would be “time-consuming to clean up” and noted “somebody’s not getting paid.”
Proctor said, “This struggle is central to our future because grain work accounts for 20 percent of the financing of our pension and welfare funds.”
Not the First Time
Longshore workers have a history of militant action to defend their jobs. In the 1980s a company called Pier Q tried to use non-union labor to move lumber through the small port of Vancouver, Washington. ILWU Members organized a rally at the port, drawing longshore workers from as far away as Los Angeles. International President Jimmy Herman spoke to a crowd of 2,000 or 3,000 assembled in a warehouse, recalled Doug Rollins, now a clerk at the Port of Tacoma.
The crowd marched out and surrounded the terminal, and Longshore Workers with wire cutters ran toward the lumber bundles sitting on the pier.
“Every time you cut the bands off the lumber, the bundle would just explode and it would be like toothpicks shooting up in the air and coming down in a big pile,” said Rollins. Ten minutes after the start of the action, millions of board feet of lumber covered the terminal.
Rollins reported that a policeman asked Herman who led the action. “I don’t know, we don’t know,” Herman said. The International President was there, but the ranks were in charge, Rollins said. Since there were too many Workers to arrest, the police stood by and watched as the thousands dispersed and went home.
Will It Restrain?
The restraining order, issued by a Federal judge, lasts 10 days. Both sides are back in court today, when the judge will decide if the order should be made permanent.
ILWU spokesman Craig Merrilees said, “There is no formal action at either the Local or International level, but large numbers of individuals appear to have taken action on their own.” He stressed that no arrests were made at this morning’s action and called the AP’s report of security guards taken hostage “ridiculous.”
“When corporations and the government turn their backs on working families,” Merrilees said, “it shouldn’t surprise anyone to see people step forward and try to fight back.”
Ports in Tacoma and Seattle are closed today, though the International said no job action has been called. One worker said work would resume at 3 a.m. Friday—unless it doesn’t.
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