Profiteers of Multiple Wars

FedEx and Pepsi Are Top Defense Contractors? 5 Corporate Brands Making a Killing on America’s Wars

Chances are, if you’ve ever sent a package overnight, bought a PC or a can of soda, you’ve paid your hard-earned money to a major Pentagon contractor. While large defense corporations that make fighter jets and armored vehicles garner the most attention, tens of thousands of “civilian” companies, from multi-national corporations hawking toothpaste and shampoo to big oil behemoths and even local restaurants scattered across the United States, all supply the Pentagon with the necessities used to carry on day-to-day operations and wage America’s wars. And they’ve made a killing doing it since 9/11.

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.

In his famous 1961 farewell address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned of the "acquisition of unwarranted influence" by what he called the "military-industrial complex.” Today, however, the "large arms industry" that Eisenhower warned about is only part of the equation. Civilian firms such as FedEx and PepsiCo form the backbone of what more accurately can be described as a military-corporate complex of “civilian” businesses that enable the Pentagon to function, to make War and to carry out foreign occupations.

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:

1. Rebuild America’s schools, roads, ports, airways and energy systems.
2. Revive U.S. manufacturing and stop exporting good jobs overseas.
3. Put people to work in communities doing work that needs to be done by directly creating millions of jobs.
4. 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.
5. Help fill the massive shortfall of consumer demand by extending unemployment benefits and keeping homeowners in their homes.
6. 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)

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.

---

UK TUC (AFL-CIO) General Strike

The British Trades Unions Congress (TUC.org.UK) yesterday (Sept. 11, 2011) instructed the TUC General Council to support and coordinate Joint Strike Action against attacks on jobs, pensions, pay and public services.

Composite Motion Nine: Public Services and Their Importance to the Economy warned: ‘All services are already in danger with the increasing threat of Privatisation evidenced by the Open Public Services White Paper.’

'(TUC) Congress notes that the combination of Public services cuts, Wage freezes, Benefit cuts, growth in unemployment, changes to the calculation for pensions and other benefits from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to Consumer Price Index (CPI) and unchecked inflation amount to the biggest attack upon living standards in this country since the 1920s.’

The motion states: ‘In order to expand the campaign against the government’s austerity agenda, both in the public and private sectors, Congress supports a national day of action with pensioners organisations, youth and student groups and other local community campaigns.’

It states: ‘Congress instructs the General Council to: Support and Coordinate campaigning and Joint Union Industrial Action against attacks on jobs, pensions, pay or public services.’

Mover Jane Carolan of Unison condemned the attack on youth services and the cut in university places, saying: ‘What a time it is to be 17.’ She warned: ‘The Welfare State is no longer a safety net and the NHS is no longer safe.’ She added: ‘Cuts are only part of the agenda, the other part is privatisation.’

She said that with ‘Capitalism in action - there is no time for caring.’

Seconder Janice Godrich of the PCS union said: ‘We say austerity is not the answer.’
She added: ‘Evidence tells us that cuts make the economy worse.’

She said the aim of the government is to roll back the Welfare State. She warned:
‘The NHS will no longer be free at the point of need under the government’s plans.
‘Every cut creates a victim. This composite rejects all cuts.’

She called for ‘biggest industrial action since the General Strike’ and ended by urging everyone to ‘resist’ the cuts.

CWU delegate Tony Kearns, speaking in support, said: ‘We shouldn’t be afraid to say as Trade Unionists that Capitalism has failed.’

He added: ‘We have to stand up for public services.’ He reminded delegates: ‘Our conference called for a 24-hour General strike. We don’t accept cuts.’

Terry Hoad, of the UCU union, said: ‘The government wants to introduce changes that will see a lecturer on a £20,000 pension lose £6,000. ‘Our battle has to be for decent pensions that will see people not in poverty but in dignity in their old age.’

FBU delegate Andy Noble said: ‘Our message to (Conservative Party Prime Minister) Cameron and the government is to stop calling us heroes while making cuts to our jobs, our pensions and trying to privatise the Fire service.’ He condemned the sell-off of London’s fire engines to a private company.

UK Sources: The Guardian, TUC.org.uk