From: the Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) joins with the world in denouncing the coup d’etat this morning against the legally elected president of the Republic of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, by the Honduran military, in which, according to a statement by the president’s wife, Mr. Zelaya was threatened and beaten before being sent into exile in Costa Rica.
• The CPUSA denounces alarming reports of physical attacks by troops against the ambassadors of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua in Tegucigalpa, and calls for protection of all diplomatic personal; and, if the reports of the attacks are confirmed, punishment of all the responsible parties for this gross violation of Honduran and international law.
The CPUSA further:
• Demands that president Zelaya and other members of his government be returned to power immediately, and that the troops return to their barracks.
• Demands the immediate release of all labor, community and student leaders who have reportedly been rounded up by the army, and the restoration of freedom of the press.
• Recognizes that the Obama administration has repudiated the coup, and insists that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton hold firm to this position, refusing diplomatic recognition and any military aid to Honduras until President Zelaya is restored to power.
• Calls upon unions and other people’s organizations in the United States to actively support our brothers and sisters in Honduras in resisting this brutal military coup d’etat.
Monday, June 29, 2009
EMERGENCY RALLY IN SUPPORT OF HONDURAS
From: The Official YCL Facebook group
END THE COUP NOW! RESTORE DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED MANUEL ZELAYA TO POWER!
NO TO US INTERVENTION! YES TO SELF DETERMINATION FOR THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS AND ALL OF THE AMERICAS!
WHEN: Monday, June 29, 2009, from 3-6 PM
WHERE: In front of the Honduran Mission to the United Nations, 866 UN Plaza (to the east of 1st Avenue, between 48th and 49th streets), Manhattan, NYC
WHY:
At 6 AM on Sunday, June 28, 2009, Honduras’ popular president Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped, removed from power, and brought to Costa Rica, where he remains at this moment. It is no coincidence that this is the day that millions of Hondurans were preparing to vote on whether they wanted to reform their constitution – similar to what the people of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia have done in recent years.
Manuel Zelaya is backed by a majority of labor unions and social movements in Honduras. This coup was carried out in a way that mirrors the removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti and the attempted coup against President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who was brought back to power by the Venezuelan people. Clearly, this is an act of economic and political elites in Honduras, the US, and elsewhere who are desperate to prevent Honduras from continuing to unify with the more leftist and socialist countries in Latin America.
Following the kidnapping of Zelaya, Honduras’ foreign minister and ambassadors from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua have also been kidnapped – in clear violation of international laws. Now, the people of Honduras of taken to the streets in protest and Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, and others have made public statements condemning the coup d'etat in Honduras and calling on the international community to react to ensure democracy is restored and the constitutional president is reinstated. Washington, on the other hand, remains silent as of now.
JOIN THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN CONDEMNING THE COUP D’ETAT AND DEMANDING THAT MANUEL ZELAYA AND THE KIDNAPPED FOREIGN MINISTER AND AMBASSADORS BE REINSTATED.
(Some of the information above is excerpted from an article by Eva Golinger at http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/4554 . Additional information is available at http://www.venezuelanalysis.com)
This rally is sponsored called by the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY and other progressive organizations and movements throughout NYC. For more information, email cbalbertolovera@gmail.com.
END THE COUP NOW! RESTORE DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED MANUEL ZELAYA TO POWER!
NO TO US INTERVENTION! YES TO SELF DETERMINATION FOR THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS AND ALL OF THE AMERICAS!
WHEN: Monday, June 29, 2009, from 3-6 PM
WHERE: In front of the Honduran Mission to the United Nations, 866 UN Plaza (to the east of 1st Avenue, between 48th and 49th streets), Manhattan, NYC
WHY:
At 6 AM on Sunday, June 28, 2009, Honduras’ popular president Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped, removed from power, and brought to Costa Rica, where he remains at this moment. It is no coincidence that this is the day that millions of Hondurans were preparing to vote on whether they wanted to reform their constitution – similar to what the people of Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia have done in recent years.
Manuel Zelaya is backed by a majority of labor unions and social movements in Honduras. This coup was carried out in a way that mirrors the removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti and the attempted coup against President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who was brought back to power by the Venezuelan people. Clearly, this is an act of economic and political elites in Honduras, the US, and elsewhere who are desperate to prevent Honduras from continuing to unify with the more leftist and socialist countries in Latin America.
Following the kidnapping of Zelaya, Honduras’ foreign minister and ambassadors from Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua have also been kidnapped – in clear violation of international laws. Now, the people of Honduras of taken to the streets in protest and Presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, and others have made public statements condemning the coup d'etat in Honduras and calling on the international community to react to ensure democracy is restored and the constitutional president is reinstated. Washington, on the other hand, remains silent as of now.
JOIN THE PEOPLE OF HONDURAS AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY IN CONDEMNING THE COUP D’ETAT AND DEMANDING THAT MANUEL ZELAYA AND THE KIDNAPPED FOREIGN MINISTER AND AMBASSADORS BE REINSTATED.
(Some of the information above is excerpted from an article by Eva Golinger at http://www.venezuelanalysi
This rally is sponsored called by the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of NY and other progressive organizations and movements throughout NYC. For more information, email cbalbertolovera@gmail.com.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
YCL weekly update
I. Register for the YCL National Marxism-Leninism School
Registration is open for the YCL National Marxism-Leninism School happening on August 15th-23rd in NYC. Join with other young people from around the country in discussing the current economic crisis, the Obama Administration, the fights against racism and sexism, what does socialism mean for young people today and more! You can sign up with our online registration form!
II. In the News: Iranian Presidential Elections
On Friday, June 12th, 2009 Presidential elections were held in Iran. The election polls predicted the presidency going to Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a refortmist candidate, by a significant majority. Incumbent President Mahoud Ahmadinejad however, claimed victory by 66% of the votes with Mousavi receiving only 33% of the votes. Some reports have claimed that Ahmadinejad won because of rural votes, contradicting the reality that only 32% of the population is rural. Millions of Iranians, from all over the country, have been protesting in city squares, at universities and in main streets over the last week demanding a new election. Read the Tudeh Party's Statement.
1. What is the difference between the two candidates?
2. Would the election of a reformist candidate allow for fundamental change in the Iranian governemt?
3. Why do people on the left support Ahmadinejad?
III. Mass Action: National (and local) D.R.E.A.M. Act Graduations and rallies.
The D.R.E.A.M. Coalition is holding a national graduation for many senators and other elected officials. The D.R.E.A.M. Act that, if passed, would allow undocumented immigrants the right to instate to instate tuition and a path way to citizenship. Dreamactivist.org lets us know, "The D.R.E.A.M. Act has four basic requirements which are: You entered the country before the age if 16; You graduate high school or obtain a GED; You have good moral character (no criminal record); and You have at least five years of continuous presence in the US. Find a "graduation" or rally in your area and learn more at dreamactivist.org
IV. Green Workers Cooperative Struggles for a Green Economy
NYU-YCL club member, Andrew King, with a group of other students from the New School developed a youtube video about the Green Workers Cooperative in the South Bronx. This organizatio, along with others, is working to combat environmental racism and unemployment in the South Bronx Community. King says, "Let us look to them as a model for building a new green-collar economy nationwide, because, as their slogan states, Your work should not kill you, your community or the earth..." Want to watch the video? Click on this link or go to youtube.com, type in monimiddle, then click on "Green Worker Cooperative Presentation".
Saturday, June 20, 2009
In Poll, Wide Support for Government-Run Health
From: The New York Times
Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the health care system and are strongly behind one of the most contentious proposals Congress is considering, a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
The poll found that most Americans would be willing to pay higher taxes so everyone could have health insurance and that they said the government could do a better job of holding down health-care costs than the private sector.
Yet the survey also revealed considerable unease about the impact of heightened government involvement, on both the economy and the quality of the respondents’ own medical care. While 85 percent of respondents said the health care system needed to be fundamentally changed or completely rebuilt, 77 percent said they were very or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their own care.
That paradox was skillfully exploited by opponents of the last failed attempt at overhauling the health system, during former President Bill Clinton’s first term. Sixteen years later, it underscores the tricky task facing lawmakers and President Obama as they try to address the health system’s substantial problems without igniting fears that people could lose what they like.
Across a number of questions, the poll detected substantial support for a greater government role in health care, a position generally identified with the Democratic Party. When asked which party was more likely to improve health care, only 18 percent of respondents said the Republicans, compared with 57 percent who picked the Democrats. Even one of four Republicans said the Democrats would do better.
The national telephone survey, which was conducted from June 12 to 16, found that 72 percent of those questioned supported a government-administered insurance plan — something like Medicare for those under 65 — that would compete for customers with private insurers. Twenty percent said they were opposed.
Republicans in Congress have fiercely criticized the proposal as an unneeded expansion of government that might evolve into a system of nationalized health coverage and lead to the rationing of care.
But in the poll, the proposal received broad bipartisan backing, with half of those who call themselves Republicans saying they would support a public plan, along with nearly three-fourths of independents and almost nine in 10 Democrats.
The poll, of 895 adults, has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Mr. Obama and many Democrats have argued that a public plan would be essential, in the president’s words, to “keep insurance companies honest.” But Mr. Obama has also signaled a willingness to compromise for Republican support, perhaps by establishing member-owned insurance cooperatives instead.
It is not clear how fully the public understands the complexities of the government plan proposal, and the poll results indicate that those who said they were following the debate were somewhat less supportive.
But they clearly indicate growing confidence in the government’s ability to manage health care. Half of those questioned said they thought government would be better at providing medical coverage than private insurers, up from 30 percent in polls conducted in 2007. Nearly 60 percent said Washington would have more success in holding down costs, up from 47 percent.
Sixty-four percent said they thought the federal government should guarantee coverage, a figure that has stayed steady all decade. Nearly six in 10 said they would be willing to pay higher taxes to make sure that all are insured, with four in 10 willing to pay as much as $500 more a year.
And a plurality, 48 percent, said they supported a requirement that all Americans have health insurance so long as public subsidies are offered to those who cannot afford it. Thirty-eight percent said they were opposed.
In a follow-up interview, Matt Flurkey, 56, a public plan supporter from Plymouth, Minn., said he could accept that the quality of his care might diminish if coverage was universal. “Even though it might not be quite as good as what we get now,” he said, “I think the government should run health care. Far too many people are being denied now, and costs would be lower.”
While the survey results depict a nation desperate for change, it also reveals a deep wariness of the possible consequences. Half to two-thirds of respondents said they worried that if the government guaranteed health coverage, they would see declines in the quality of their own care and in their ability to choose doctors and get needed treatment.
“It is the responsibility of the government to guarantee insurance for all,” said Juanita Lomaz, a 65-year-old office worker from Bakersfield, Calif. “But my care will get worse because they’ll have to limit care in order to cover everyone.”
When asked their opinion of specific changes being considered in Washington, three-fourths of those surveyed said they favored requiring health insurers to cover anyone, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. Only a fifth supported taxing employer-provided health benefits to help pay the cost of coverage for the uninsured. And there was deep uncertainty about whether employers should be required to either help insure their workers or pay into a fund for covering the uninsured.
Three of four people questioned said unnecessary medical tests and treatments had become a serious problem, suggesting that they would support calls by health researchers for a payment system that would better reward appropriate care. But an even higher number, 87 percent, said the inability of people to have the needed tests and treatments was a serious problem. One in four said that in the last 12 months they or someone in their household had cut back on medications because of the expense, and one in five said someone had skipped a recommended test or treatment.
The poll found that Americans were far less satisfied with the cost of health care than with the quality of it. Mr. Obama, who has emphasized the need to reduce costs, has found an audience for his argument that health care legislation is vital to economic recovery. Eighty-six percent of those polled said rising costs posed a serious economic threat.
Yet only a fifth of those with insurance said the cost of their own medical care posed a hardship. And only a fourth said that keeping health costs down was a more urgent need than providing coverage for the country’s nearly 50 million uninsured. That was a notable change from a Times/CBS poll taken in early April, when 40 percent said that controlling costs was more pressing.
Marina Stefan and Dalia Sussman contributed reporting.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Elena Mora on CNN discussing Cuba
National organizing director of the Communist Party Elena Mora talks with CNN's Rick Sanchez about normalizing relations with Cuba. Skip to about 1:06 on this video clip.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
New religion commission begins work
Reprinted from the People's Weekly World
CHICAGO — The Communist Party USA has established a new Religion Commission to strengthen its work among religious people and organizations. In its leadership are activists representing various religious traditions from around the country. Tim Yeager, a Chicago trade unionist and a member of the Episcopal Church, serves as its chair.
“We want to reach out to religious people and communities, to find ways of improving our coalition work with them, and to welcome people of faith into the party,” Yeager said. “We invite questions and responses from people who would like to dialogue with us on matters pertaining to religion, Marxism and the struggle for more peaceful, just and secure world.”
There is a common misconception concerning the position of the Communist Party USA about religion, Yeager noted. Many who are unfamiliar with the party wrongly assume that all Communists are atheists, or that the party requires its members to be atheists. Nothing could be farther from the truth, he said. Religious people are welcome to join. The party’s Constitution specifically states that membership is open to “[a]ny person living in the United States, 18 years of age or over, regardless of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, or religious belief…”
Yeager acknowledged that relations between some Marxist parties and religious institutions in other parts of the world have been marked by conflict. In tsarist Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church had been an arm of the state, and its leadership was opposed to the Revolution. The Bolsheviks adopted an official atheist position, and for many years waged a struggle against organized religion. Elsewhere, such as in Latin America, Marxist parties and religious progressives have worked together against repressive regimes and imperialist intervention.
“There has been no state church in the United States since shortly after we gained our independence, and we have a tradition of religious diversity,” Yeager said. “The so-called Christian Right in recent years has certainly made progress, but some of the greatest leaders in our history have been men and women of faith, and our party has been proud to work with them. The best known example, of course, would be the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
The Religion Commission will be producing articles on matters pertaining to religion and social progress, he said. Its goal is to share with the broader people’s movement the party’s thinking on the religious aspects of current struggles, taking up theoretical questions, and discussing the relationships, contradictions and commonalities among science, Marxism and religion. The commission also announced plans to hold a series of gatherings around the country, open to the public, to discuss how people from religious traditions and the party can better work together, building toward a national conference in 2010.
“As Marx said, the goal is not merely to explain the world, but to change it. We hope that the new Religion Commission will help build greater unity toward that end,” Yeager said. “We welcome people from faith communities to join us.”
For more information, contact Tim Yeager at rtyeager @ gmail.com
Monday, June 15, 2009
Israelis and Obama
Two videos with two very different opinions of President Obama:
Feeling the Hate In Jerusalem on Eve of Obama's Cairo Address
Israelis to Obama: "Save Us From Ourselves!"
Feeling the Hate In Jerusalem on Eve of Obama's Cairo Address
Israelis to Obama: "Save Us From Ourselves!"
Tiananmen Square Is None of Your Business, Congress
I know, a tad late, but it's a great article.
From: Hands Off China
From: Hands Off China
Statement by Congressman Ron Paul before the US House of Representatives, June 3, 2009
I rise to oppose this unnecessary and counter-productive resolution regarding the 20th anniversary of the incident in China’s Tiananmen Square. In addition to my concerns over the content of this legislation, I strongly object to the manner in which it was brought to the floor for a vote. While the resolution was being debated on the House floor, I instructed my staff to obtain a copy so that I could read it before the vote. My staff was told by no less than four relevant bodies within the House of Representatives that the text was not available for review and would not be available for another 24 hours. It is unacceptable for Members of the House of Representatives to be asked to vote on legislation that is not available for them to read!
As to the substance of the resolution, I find it disturbing that the House is going out of its way to meddle in China’s domestic politics, which is none of our business, while ignoring the many pressing issues in our own country that definitely are our business.
This resolution “calls on the People’s Republic of China to invite full and independent investigations into the Tiananmen Square crackdown, assisted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross…” Where do we get the authority for such a demand? I wonder how the US government would respond if China demanded that the United Nations conduct a full and independent investigation into the treatment of detainees at the US-operated Guantanamo facility?
The resolution “calls on the legal authorities of People’s Republic of China to review immediately the cases of those still imprisoned for participating in the 1989 protests for compliance with internationally recognized standards of fairness and due process in judicial proceedings.” In light of US government’s extraordinary renditions of possibly hundreds of individuals into numerous secret prisons abroad where they are held indefinitely without charge or trial, one wonders what the rest of the world makes of such US demands. It is hard to exercise credible moral authority in the world when our motto toward foreign governments seems to be “do as we say, not as we do.”
While we certainly do not condone government suppression of individual rights and liberties wherever they may occur, why are we not investigating these abuses closer to home and within our jurisdiction? It seems the House is not interested in investigating allegations that US government officials and employees approved and practiced torture against detainees. Where is the Congressional investigation of the US-operated “secret prisons” overseas? What about the administration’s assertion of the right to detain individuals indefinitely without trial? It may be easier to point out the abuses and shortcomings of governments overseas than to address government abuses here at home, but we have the constitutional obligation to exercise our oversight authority in such matters. I strongly believe that addressing these current issues would be a better use of our time than once again condemning China for an event that took place some 20 years ago.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Union flag flies from Mt. Everest
From: PWW
Reposted from http://www.bwint.org
Bro. Dorje Khatri, Union of Trekking, Travel & Rafting Workers –UNITRAV (Nepal), successfully conquered Mt. Everest fourth time and hoisted BWI flag on top of the world. BWI have hearty congratulated Com. Dorje Khatri for his successful expedition.
One more page of History has been made at 5:30 AM of May 26, 2009, BWI flag has been hoisted in top of the world- the Mt. Everest. It is first time that International Trade Union's flag has been hoisted in the highest peak of the world.
After successfully succeeding Mt. Everest, news had been informed to BWI Nepal Affiliates Committee office through satellite phone from the peak. "I make my victory on Mt. Everest and BWI flag is waving" Bro. Dorje Khatri informed.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The fall of GM — new thinking needed
From: People's Weekly World
How did this giant corporation, which once commanded 54 percent of the U.S. market (now under 20 percent), come to be in this situation?
* The company focused on building big gas-guzzling SUVs. While they were a source of big profits, they fell out of favor when gas prices went up.
* For several decades, GM and its fellow domestic auto companies have fought government regulations and fuel efficiency standards — even when those same kinds of regulations made them profitable in Europe and elsewhere.
* An emphasis on employer-based health care and pension plans, instead of fighting for universal plans that covered everyone, eventually caused the Big Three auto companies to be responsible for the benefits of hundreds of thousands of retirees and their dependents. The non-union “transplants” — foreign automakers like Toyota and Honda who have opened plants in the U.S. — with a much younger workforce and shorter history of operation do not have these costs.
* What once happened within the borders of the U.S., with GM either absorbing or out-competing and forcing the closure of other domestic auto manufacturers to become the country’s largest manufacturer, is now played out on a world scale. Worldwide there are multiple producers of autos for the U.S. and world market, and there has been a growth of non-union auto production in the South.
* Of course, the economic crisis has been the final nail in the coffin. But this is a worldwide contraction affecting auto producers throughout the world.
A deadly ripple effect
In announcing its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, GM said it would be closing 14 plants. Some 21,000 hourly workers will be losing their jobs. An estimated 2,100 dealerships will be closing. Seven of those shuttered plants will be here in Michigan.
Chrysler is closing eight plants —three in Detroit, and almost 900 dealerships.
The combined loss of dealerships will be approximately 3,000. With an average of 50 employees per dealership, total job loss from the dealer closings will be in the neighborhood of 150,000.
Parts suppliers will be closing and shedding employees, and white collar workers at GM and Chrysler are seeing huge job losses.
It has been said that every job at an auto assembly plant supports tens of others. That explains why Midwest states see their entire economy taking a hit.
For example, a steelworker from Pittsburgh said recently that 125,000 steel jobs have been lost in the recent period due to the crisis in auto, which is why steelworkers have been organizing rallies to protest the shutdown of auto plants. “When you don’t make cars, you don’t make steel” a steelworker told me at a recent rally.
Michigan — with seven times the auto jobs of the next highest state, Ohio — currently has a 12.9 percent unemployment rate.
Plant closures are taking place in cities like Pontiac, Flint, Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids in addition to Detroit.
The plants are often the largest or second largest taxpayer in town. For example in Pontiac, GM is the largest taxpayer and the city will lose one-fifth of its revenue for its general fund. A poor city already struggling with its finances will now see the ripple effect with more cutbacks in city services, public schools, fire, police and more.
Plunging pay, health care at risk
A question being asked is who is going to have the money to buy the new, green cars of the future? The 2007 contracts between the UAW and GM, Chrysler and Ford ushered in a two-tier wage system where new hires would be paid about one-half of the regular wage — $14 an hour instead of $28.
The bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler further deteriorated the bargaining power of autoworkers, and the new union concessions include: a no-strike pledge until 2015, work rule changes such as shorter break times and elimination of job classifications, and changes to how the union-administered Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA) that handles health care for retirees will be funded.
The VEBA was created in the 2007 contract and was to be mostly funded with cash from the company, $20 billion in the case of GM. Now it will mainly be funded with stock from the new, post-bankruptcy, reconstituted GM. The fund will have a 17.5 percent interest in GM. At Chrysler the fund will be similarly financed but will have a more than 50 percent stake in the new company.
At GM and Chrysler the UAW will appoint half of the VEBA board but an independent fiduciary, not the union, will run the fund for the benefit of the retirees. This is not union control of a company.
Back in 2007, many said the VEBA would be under-funded, considering how quickly health care costs skyrocket. Last week a commentator predicted, “Now it will fail in six years instead of 15.” Whatever the scenario, it is evident that the fight for national health care is today more critical than ever.
In exchange for its concessions the UAW was given assurances that GM will not propose terminating its pension plans. And the union was given assurances that a sub-compact originally scheduled for production in China would be made here at home.
The president’s auto task force also insisted that the new Fiat-Chrysler alliance build a new small car in a U.S. factory if they intend to sell the car in the United States.
Big political risk
Bankruptcy is a big political risk and gamble for the president and one which Republicans are waiting to pounce on.
However if Sen. McCain had won the election, there would have been no government loans, and a chapter 7 bankruptcy — a complete liquidation of GM and Chrysler — would likely have taken place. The companies would have been ripped apart, sold piecemeal, with even more job losses. Health care and pension assurances would have been non-existent.
And while you do hear acknowledgement here that the president has intervened to keep this industry going, those losing their jobs are not going to enjoy the benefits and if in the end bankruptcy does not result in a viable company, there is danger that anger will be directed at the president. Some already is.
There is also anger that money is going to GM but plants are closing here while production increases are planned for GM plants in Mexico, Korea, China and elsewhere. The UAW did press for GM to agree to build a sub-compact in the U.S. and received a commitment that may keep one plant running.
The Obama administration, wrongly I believe, is taking the view that it will not get involved in the day-to-day management and so far has not demanded that the taxpayer money received by GM be used for keeping production here (an exception being the sub-compact).
Yes, it is good the administration’s auto task force is meeting with communities that are facing job losses to assess their needs, but more — much more — needs to be done.
New thinking needed
A fundamental problem is that plants are being closed without a well-thought-out alternative plan to retool for other production, whether that is mass transit, high-speed rail cars, green products such as wind turbines and solar panels, or any number of products needed to rebuild our infrastructure.
It is an old way of thinking that has a plan for saving the corporation but not the workers and not the needs of the country as a whole, a country that needs a manufacturing base.
While the government now has a majority stake in GM, this is not socialism as the right maintains.
The “Save Jobs, Reinvest in America” rallies that have been taking place across the Midwest are being organized by the Steelworkers union. The UAW, for whatever reason, has not endorsed them. Many feel that a strong push by the UAW, that unites all of labor and the community, is needed to rally the forces necessary to keep manufacturing in Michigan and in the U.S.
Two reactions to the crisis that are gaining ground will not fundamentally alter the outcome and may prolong it. One is “Buy American” and the other is a focus on erecting trade barriers.
Both approaches take the heat off the companies for exporting jobs and lowering working standards throughout the world. GM has operations in some 30 countries as it seeks to pay the lowest wages possible, avoid union representation and pit workers in one country against those in another.
The popular Ford Fusion is made in Mexico and is just one example of American nameplates that are not “made in America.”
It is right to demand that most taxpayer money given to the companies should be used for production here, and we do need to rid ourselves of trade pacts like NAFTA that have made it easier for capital to exit the country. But it is important to remember that the loyalty of the auto companies is to profits, not to the workers.
The impact of the auto crisis in the main urban areas of Michigan and the Midwest falls heavily on African American, Latino and all racially oppressed.
The unemployment rate in these areas is 30 percent and higher. mmediate help is needed.
While Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke worries about the future effect of an increasing deficit, the real worry is who is going to feed, clothe, house, educate, train and give medical care to the millions who have no future?
And this danger far outweighs Bernanke’s concerns. We are most likely facing a prolonged downturn. In the past, manufacturing helped the country come out of a recession (every job in auto driving 10 others shows why). It will not be able to have that same effect for this downturn.
As good as President Obama’s first stimulus was, we need a second stimulus to insure that those in our urban core, and other communities devastated by this crisis, have a future at all.
jrummel @ pww.org
DETROIT — It was a little more than 30 years ago that General Motors had 395,000 United Auto Workers hourly employees. Two years from now, GM will have 38,000 union workers, a decline of over 90 percent.
How did this giant corporation, which once commanded 54 percent of the U.S. market (now under 20 percent), come to be in this situation?
* The company focused on building big gas-guzzling SUVs. While they were a source of big profits, they fell out of favor when gas prices went up.
* For several decades, GM and its fellow domestic auto companies have fought government regulations and fuel efficiency standards — even when those same kinds of regulations made them profitable in Europe and elsewhere.
* An emphasis on employer-based health care and pension plans, instead of fighting for universal plans that covered everyone, eventually caused the Big Three auto companies to be responsible for the benefits of hundreds of thousands of retirees and their dependents. The non-union “transplants” — foreign automakers like Toyota and Honda who have opened plants in the U.S. — with a much younger workforce and shorter history of operation do not have these costs.
* What once happened within the borders of the U.S., with GM either absorbing or out-competing and forcing the closure of other domestic auto manufacturers to become the country’s largest manufacturer, is now played out on a world scale. Worldwide there are multiple producers of autos for the U.S. and world market, and there has been a growth of non-union auto production in the South.
* Of course, the economic crisis has been the final nail in the coffin. But this is a worldwide contraction affecting auto producers throughout the world.
A deadly ripple effect
In announcing its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, GM said it would be closing 14 plants. Some 21,000 hourly workers will be losing their jobs. An estimated 2,100 dealerships will be closing. Seven of those shuttered plants will be here in Michigan.
Chrysler is closing eight plants —three in Detroit, and almost 900 dealerships.
The combined loss of dealerships will be approximately 3,000. With an average of 50 employees per dealership, total job loss from the dealer closings will be in the neighborhood of 150,000.
Parts suppliers will be closing and shedding employees, and white collar workers at GM and Chrysler are seeing huge job losses.
It has been said that every job at an auto assembly plant supports tens of others. That explains why Midwest states see their entire economy taking a hit.
For example, a steelworker from Pittsburgh said recently that 125,000 steel jobs have been lost in the recent period due to the crisis in auto, which is why steelworkers have been organizing rallies to protest the shutdown of auto plants. “When you don’t make cars, you don’t make steel” a steelworker told me at a recent rally.
Michigan — with seven times the auto jobs of the next highest state, Ohio — currently has a 12.9 percent unemployment rate.
Plant closures are taking place in cities like Pontiac, Flint, Ypsilanti and Grand Rapids in addition to Detroit.
The plants are often the largest or second largest taxpayer in town. For example in Pontiac, GM is the largest taxpayer and the city will lose one-fifth of its revenue for its general fund. A poor city already struggling with its finances will now see the ripple effect with more cutbacks in city services, public schools, fire, police and more.
Plunging pay, health care at risk
A question being asked is who is going to have the money to buy the new, green cars of the future? The 2007 contracts between the UAW and GM, Chrysler and Ford ushered in a two-tier wage system where new hires would be paid about one-half of the regular wage — $14 an hour instead of $28.
The bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler further deteriorated the bargaining power of autoworkers, and the new union concessions include: a no-strike pledge until 2015, work rule changes such as shorter break times and elimination of job classifications, and changes to how the union-administered Voluntary Employee Benefits Association (VEBA) that handles health care for retirees will be funded.
The VEBA was created in the 2007 contract and was to be mostly funded with cash from the company, $20 billion in the case of GM. Now it will mainly be funded with stock from the new, post-bankruptcy, reconstituted GM. The fund will have a 17.5 percent interest in GM. At Chrysler the fund will be similarly financed but will have a more than 50 percent stake in the new company.
At GM and Chrysler the UAW will appoint half of the VEBA board but an independent fiduciary, not the union, will run the fund for the benefit of the retirees. This is not union control of a company.
Back in 2007, many said the VEBA would be under-funded, considering how quickly health care costs skyrocket. Last week a commentator predicted, “Now it will fail in six years instead of 15.” Whatever the scenario, it is evident that the fight for national health care is today more critical than ever.
In exchange for its concessions the UAW was given assurances that GM will not propose terminating its pension plans. And the union was given assurances that a sub-compact originally scheduled for production in China would be made here at home.
The president’s auto task force also insisted that the new Fiat-Chrysler alliance build a new small car in a U.S. factory if they intend to sell the car in the United States.
Big political risk
Bankruptcy is a big political risk and gamble for the president and one which Republicans are waiting to pounce on.
However if Sen. McCain had won the election, there would have been no government loans, and a chapter 7 bankruptcy — a complete liquidation of GM and Chrysler — would likely have taken place. The companies would have been ripped apart, sold piecemeal, with even more job losses. Health care and pension assurances would have been non-existent.
And while you do hear acknowledgement here that the president has intervened to keep this industry going, those losing their jobs are not going to enjoy the benefits and if in the end bankruptcy does not result in a viable company, there is danger that anger will be directed at the president. Some already is.
There is also anger that money is going to GM but plants are closing here while production increases are planned for GM plants in Mexico, Korea, China and elsewhere. The UAW did press for GM to agree to build a sub-compact in the U.S. and received a commitment that may keep one plant running.
The Obama administration, wrongly I believe, is taking the view that it will not get involved in the day-to-day management and so far has not demanded that the taxpayer money received by GM be used for keeping production here (an exception being the sub-compact).
Yes, it is good the administration’s auto task force is meeting with communities that are facing job losses to assess their needs, but more — much more — needs to be done.
New thinking needed
A fundamental problem is that plants are being closed without a well-thought-out alternative plan to retool for other production, whether that is mass transit, high-speed rail cars, green products such as wind turbines and solar panels, or any number of products needed to rebuild our infrastructure.
It is an old way of thinking that has a plan for saving the corporation but not the workers and not the needs of the country as a whole, a country that needs a manufacturing base.
While the government now has a majority stake in GM, this is not socialism as the right maintains.
The “Save Jobs, Reinvest in America” rallies that have been taking place across the Midwest are being organized by the Steelworkers union. The UAW, for whatever reason, has not endorsed them. Many feel that a strong push by the UAW, that unites all of labor and the community, is needed to rally the forces necessary to keep manufacturing in Michigan and in the U.S.
Two reactions to the crisis that are gaining ground will not fundamentally alter the outcome and may prolong it. One is “Buy American” and the other is a focus on erecting trade barriers.
Both approaches take the heat off the companies for exporting jobs and lowering working standards throughout the world. GM has operations in some 30 countries as it seeks to pay the lowest wages possible, avoid union representation and pit workers in one country against those in another.
The popular Ford Fusion is made in Mexico and is just one example of American nameplates that are not “made in America.”
It is right to demand that most taxpayer money given to the companies should be used for production here, and we do need to rid ourselves of trade pacts like NAFTA that have made it easier for capital to exit the country. But it is important to remember that the loyalty of the auto companies is to profits, not to the workers.
The impact of the auto crisis in the main urban areas of Michigan and the Midwest falls heavily on African American, Latino and all racially oppressed.
The unemployment rate in these areas is 30 percent and higher. mmediate help is needed.
While Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke worries about the future effect of an increasing deficit, the real worry is who is going to feed, clothe, house, educate, train and give medical care to the millions who have no future?
And this danger far outweighs Bernanke’s concerns. We are most likely facing a prolonged downturn. In the past, manufacturing helped the country come out of a recession (every job in auto driving 10 others shows why). It will not be able to have that same effect for this downturn.
As good as President Obama’s first stimulus was, we need a second stimulus to insure that those in our urban core, and other communities devastated by this crisis, have a future at all.
jrummel @ pww.org
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Biden refuses to cross fire fighters picket line
From: PWW
Original source: AFL-CIO Now
What’s the difference between a president who supports working families and their unions and one beholden to corporate and anti-worker interests? As President Obama has shown, there’s a lot, but last Friday the Obama administration did something the Bush administration would never have imagined doing.
The White House announced that Vice President Joe Biden and a delegation of top administration officials—including Labor Secretary Hilda Solis—will not cross a Fire Fighters (IAFF) picket line to attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting scheduled to begin Friday in Providence, R.I.
Providence Mayor David Cicilline has waged a nearly seven-year campaign against the men and women of IAFF Local 799, refusing to bargain a fair contract, forcing the union into arbitration over each contract, and even going so far as to introduce anti-union ordinances and calling for similar state legislation.
Local 799—along with the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and several other unions—plans to picket the mayors’ conference when its gets underway to highlight Cicilline’s anti-worker actions and lack of a fair contract.
Says IAFF President Harold Schaitberger:
The administration deserves credit for its full support of our members in this fight. And by refusing to attend this high-profile conference, they have sent a strong message to the entire country—that unions and workers rights matter, too.
Providence Fire Fighters have fought a long battle with city officials who forced contract talks into arbitration for several years before Cicilline took office. He was propelled into office in 2002 with strong support from Local 799 after he promised to end years of stalemate and negotiate a fair contract. But the last contract expired in 2005, and the local has been forced back into binding arbitration each year.
Says Local 799 President Paul Doughty:
We tried to settle our differences with the mayor, but he continues to antagonize the hard-working firefighters of Local 799, so we will use this opportunity to shed light on the mayor’s epic mismanagement and his disdain for workers.
Along with the lack of a fair contract, Fire Fighters say Cicilline has sought to cut jobs, implemented “adverse and demeaning internal policies and conditions” and spent more than $1 million of taxpayer money on legal fees to fight the union.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters:
Because of the circumstances surrounding the conference, administration officials will not be participating in this year’s meeting….We have always respected picket lines, and administration officials will not cross this one.
The Obama administration’s action, says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney,
is an important statement in support of the firefighters, police and teachers who go to work every day in order to help others. In supporting them, and respecting the picket line, the Obama administration supports all working families in Providence
Specter tells labor: You're gonna like my EFCA vote
From: PWW
Congressional backers of the Employee Free Choice Act are closer than ever to the 60 Senators they need to break a planned Republican filibuster after Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) told a crowd of trade unionists in Pittsburgh June 6, “I believe you’ll be satisfied with my vote on this issue.”
Specter made his statement to activists demonstrating outside a meeting of the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee that he attended.
U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, Specter’s potential challenger in his Senate re-election contest next year, also addressed the demonstrators, pledging to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is denying reports that she had said she was opposed to the bill. Feinstein is one of a handful of Democratic senators who were quoted as saying they could not support the bill in its original form.
“She will not vote for the bill,” Jeri Shaffery, vice president of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, told the press last week.
Reached by phone, Gil Duran, an aide to Feinstein, said, “This guy does not speak for the senator. This must be his first rodeo because the story has not changed. It has remained the same. She is looking for a compromise. And anyone who says otherwise is engaging in wishful thinking.”
The World has reported that senators are discussing at least five possible compromises on one of the bill’s key provisions, majority sign-up. The discussions were confirmed last week by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the leader of the effort to win Senate passage.
The Press Associates Union News Service told the World today that it has received confirmation from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that a mail-in ballot is one option being considered.
If the ballot provision becomes part of the bill, workers would vote by mail to authorize a union as their representative. The cards would be mailed to the National Labor Relations Board. If the union receives a majority of the votes it would be automatically recognized.
The majority sign-up clause of the original bill says that the union must get signed cards from an absolute majority of workers at a shop. The union could then demand and get automatic recognition or it could choose to go through the NLRB elections process.
Sen. Brown has confirmed that still another compromise is on the table. This one would shorten the length of time between the submission of authorization cards and an election for representation. The argument goes that shorter campaigns would give companies less time to engage in illegal intimidation, harassment, spying, threats and firings that they now use to fight union organizing.
In addition to Specter and Feinstein, the discussions are designed to win over the two Democratic senators from Arkansas.
While some labor leaders say they could accept mail-in ballots for majority sign-up, two union presidents – Communications Workers President Larry Cohen and Steelworkers President Leo Gerard – told the World at the America’s Future Now conference in Washington last week that they are still pushing for the original provision.
Cohen noted, “The problem with courting the wavering senators is that they want to water down the bill before deciding how to vote on the filibuster. We also have to contend with the Chamber of Commerce putting a lot of pressure on them.”
Harkin said that if all the compromises fall through he has the assurances of Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, that the bill would come to the floor in its original form for a straight up or down vote that will allow voters to see where everyone really stands.
Cohen received a standing ovation at the America’s Future Now conference when he declared, “We need to say to every Democratic senator: ‘Which side are you on?’”
jwojcik @ pww.org
Congressional backers of the Employee Free Choice Act are closer than ever to the 60 Senators they need to break a planned Republican filibuster after Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) told a crowd of trade unionists in Pittsburgh June 6, “I believe you’ll be satisfied with my vote on this issue.”
Specter made his statement to activists demonstrating outside a meeting of the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee that he attended.
U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, Specter’s potential challenger in his Senate re-election contest next year, also addressed the demonstrators, pledging to support the Employee Free Choice Act.
Meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is denying reports that she had said she was opposed to the bill. Feinstein is one of a handful of Democratic senators who were quoted as saying they could not support the bill in its original form.
“She will not vote for the bill,” Jeri Shaffery, vice president of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, told the press last week.
Reached by phone, Gil Duran, an aide to Feinstein, said, “This guy does not speak for the senator. This must be his first rodeo because the story has not changed. It has remained the same. She is looking for a compromise. And anyone who says otherwise is engaging in wishful thinking.”
The World has reported that senators are discussing at least five possible compromises on one of the bill’s key provisions, majority sign-up. The discussions were confirmed last week by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the leader of the effort to win Senate passage.
The Press Associates Union News Service told the World today that it has received confirmation from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) that a mail-in ballot is one option being considered.
If the ballot provision becomes part of the bill, workers would vote by mail to authorize a union as their representative. The cards would be mailed to the National Labor Relations Board. If the union receives a majority of the votes it would be automatically recognized.
The majority sign-up clause of the original bill says that the union must get signed cards from an absolute majority of workers at a shop. The union could then demand and get automatic recognition or it could choose to go through the NLRB elections process.
Sen. Brown has confirmed that still another compromise is on the table. This one would shorten the length of time between the submission of authorization cards and an election for representation. The argument goes that shorter campaigns would give companies less time to engage in illegal intimidation, harassment, spying, threats and firings that they now use to fight union organizing.
In addition to Specter and Feinstein, the discussions are designed to win over the two Democratic senators from Arkansas.
While some labor leaders say they could accept mail-in ballots for majority sign-up, two union presidents – Communications Workers President Larry Cohen and Steelworkers President Leo Gerard – told the World at the America’s Future Now conference in Washington last week that they are still pushing for the original provision.
Cohen noted, “The problem with courting the wavering senators is that they want to water down the bill before deciding how to vote on the filibuster. We also have to contend with the Chamber of Commerce putting a lot of pressure on them.”
Harkin said that if all the compromises fall through he has the assurances of Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, that the bill would come to the floor in its original form for a straight up or down vote that will allow voters to see where everyone really stands.
Cohen received a standing ovation at the America’s Future Now conference when he declared, “We need to say to every Democratic senator: ‘Which side are you on?’”
jwojcik @ pww.org
Employee Free Choice will pass without gutting main thrust
From: PWW
Reposted from http://www.laborradio.org
AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel says labor’s number one priority – the Employee Free Choice Act labor law reform – will become law. It makes it easier for workers to join unions by taking employer intimidation out of the picture. And Samuel says the bill won’t be gutted by compromise that destroys its original intent.
[Samuel]: “Yes, I think the Senate Democrats and particularly those in the leadership understand that this bill has to be meaningful. Although a very small number have said they might not be able to support the bill as it’s currently crafted, that’s really code for suggesting that there may need to be some small changes. But not changes that would undermine the basic thrust of the bill.”
Business has mounted a strong effort to derail the labor law reform, but Samuel says once Minnesota’s Al Franken is seated in the U.S. Senate Democrats will pass the legislation despite business opposition.
[Samuel2]: “Clearly the business community is going to spend more money than us, they have more money and they’re determined to protect their privilege and their right to block workers from exercising this basic right. But I think at the end of the day we’re gonna pass this bill and Democrats are going to be proud to be on the side of working families.”
Reposted from http://www.laborradio.org
AFL-CIO Legislative Director Bill Samuel says labor’s number one priority – the Employee Free Choice Act labor law reform – will become law. It makes it easier for workers to join unions by taking employer intimidation out of the picture. And Samuel says the bill won’t be gutted by compromise that destroys its original intent.
[Samuel]: “Yes, I think the Senate Democrats and particularly those in the leadership understand that this bill has to be meaningful. Although a very small number have said they might not be able to support the bill as it’s currently crafted, that’s really code for suggesting that there may need to be some small changes. But not changes that would undermine the basic thrust of the bill.”
Business has mounted a strong effort to derail the labor law reform, but Samuel says once Minnesota’s Al Franken is seated in the U.S. Senate Democrats will pass the legislation despite business opposition.
[Samuel2]: “Clearly the business community is going to spend more money than us, they have more money and they’re determined to protect their privilege and their right to block workers from exercising this basic right. But I think at the end of the day we’re gonna pass this bill and Democrats are going to be proud to be on the side of working families.”
Friday, June 5, 2009
GM bankruptcy spurs demand to ‘reinvest in America’
Reprinted form the People's Weekly World
LANSING, Mich. — The General Motors bankruptcy, announced Monday, was expected, having been predicted for weeks if not months. But the enormity of how far this once mighty giant of U.S. monopoly capitalism has fallen is shocking nevertheless. For many it seems like not so long ago when GM was not only the leader of all auto producers with a commanding 54 percent of the U.S. market, it was also the undisputed dominant corporation in the country’s economy.
In filing for bankruptcy yesterday, GM said it will close 14 plants in the U.S., half of them here in Michigan. It will leave less than 40,000 GM autoworkers nationwide, a tiny fraction of the 395,000 employed by the company in its heyday in the 1970s.
Nowhere is the shock greater than Michigan, GM’s birthplace. Today, the state has an official unemployment rate of almost 13 percent, and because it has seven times the auto jobs of the next highest state, Ohio, people here fear things will only get worse as the job loss in auto ripples through the economy.
At a “Keep the Dream Alive — Reinvest in America” rally that drew several thousand here yesterday, Jim Chapman a steelworker at Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Mich., which makes steel for auto bodies, said he is a victim of that rippling effect. This father of five has been laid off for six months. “If you’re not selling cars, you’re not making steel,” he said. “It trickles down.”
Lansing, Mich., rally demands, "Keep the Dream Alive — Reinvest in America."
Under a plan announced by President Obama on Monday, the federal government will provide up to another $30 billion to keep GM afloat while it emerges, restructured, out of bankruptcy. That is on top of $19 billion in federal money the company received earlier. The Canadian government will chip in another $9 billion as part of the deal. The downsized company will have 60 percent U.S. government ownership, with smaller portions of its stock held by the United Auto Workers union, bondholders and the Canadian government.
Ron Bloom, who heads Obama’s auto task force, told reporters the government will be a “reluctant shareholder” and will not get involved in day-to-day management. But, he said, with taxpayer money now keeping GM afloat, the government “has to demand something in return for this capital."
In exchange for the new government aid, GM agreed to go through bankruptcy to eliminate more than $27 billion in debt held by bondholders. It also agreed to build a new small car in idled UAW factories and to increase the share of U.S.-based production from 66 percent to 70 percent, the White House said. The union has agreed to a no-strike pledge until 2015.
The White House noted that "the UAW has made important concessions on compensation and retiree health care that, while difficult, will help save jobs for active employees, pensions and health care for retirees."
UAW leaders pointed out in a press statement that "the biggest sacrifices will be made by the tens of thousands of workers who will lose their jobs as a result of the numerous plant closings that GM is announcing in its restructuring plan."
Addressing yesterday’s rally here, Lansing Mayor Verg Bernero said, “D-Day for GM is a sad day.” He said he was “grateful for an administration that is grappling with a problem it did not create, but certainly inherited.”
Many at the rally were angry that GM, while receiving bailout money which may total $50 billion or more, is shutting down 14 plants at home while it increases production outside the country.
“When you offshore jobs, you export the American Dream,” said Bernero.
Bill Parker, president of UAW Local 1700 at Chrysler’s Sterling Heights, Mich., Assembly plant, which is also scheduled to close, said workers are outraged that Chrysler wants to close an additional five plants. His plant employs about 1,400 workers and produces the Sebring sedan and convertible, along with the Dodge Avenger. He asked the crowd of several thousand to join him in calling on the Obama administration to demand that Chrysler reverse its decision.
“Chrysler got the money but they did not get the message,” said Parker, referring to the more than $7 billion in federal bailout money the company has received. The intent of that government assistance was to help people, Parker said. Now, he declared, “our sons and daughters face the prospect of doing worse than we are.”
Referring to GM’s export of jobs to low-wage countries, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow told the crowd that she is “tired of talking about the race to the bottom. I have been doing it for 10 years. We have to raise others up, and not keep pushing us down.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson emphasized the effect the bankruptcy and closing of GM plants will have on communities. When you close 14 plants and hundreds of dealers, you also close auto suppliers; you cut off a town’s tax base, you close their schools, and cause their teachers, police and fire departments to also shut down, he said.
As details of the GM bankruptcy plan emerged, some 3,000 labor and progressive activists were meeting at the America’s Future Now conference in Washington.
“Loss of jobs and the economic devastation that has spread across this country results from corporate greed,” Change to Win labor federation chair Anna Burger said there. Economic recovery means “more than just companies making a profit,” she said. Echoing Lansing Mayor Bernero, Burger said, “It means good secure jobs, decent incomes and the prospect of a secure retirement — in short, the American Dream.”
Another labor leader, speaking informally, noted that the auto union was caught “between a rock and a hard place” and was able to come out of the bankruptcy negotiations with a few things including a little less pain for some active workers and retirees. But, he said, “Once again, we have workers making the sacrifices while companies close plants and ship operations overseas. Once again we are doing what the finance industry says we should be doing to make a company 'viable' even if that means more massive job loss and continued de-industrialization.” This is a continuation of an approach that “just doesn't cut it,” he said.
“The problem with doing business this way is that it leads to disaster for workers and in the end it doesn't do much for GM either — by doing it their way they ended up deep in debt,” the labor leader said.
“What we really need,” he said, “is a bold new approach that retools our old plants to build mass transit, light rail, green cars and all the things we need for the future. Globalization is here to stay. We need to make it work for the majority, not just for the few, by creating a real plan to keep good paying manufacturing jobs and green jobs here in America. Let’s use our leverage to fight for this approach.”
John Rummel is the Chair of the Michigan District of the CPUSA. jrummel @ pww.org. Joel Wendland and John Wojcik contributed to this story.
LANSING, Mich. — The General Motors bankruptcy, announced Monday, was expected, having been predicted for weeks if not months. But the enormity of how far this once mighty giant of U.S. monopoly capitalism has fallen is shocking nevertheless. For many it seems like not so long ago when GM was not only the leader of all auto producers with a commanding 54 percent of the U.S. market, it was also the undisputed dominant corporation in the country’s economy.
In filing for bankruptcy yesterday, GM said it will close 14 plants in the U.S., half of them here in Michigan. It will leave less than 40,000 GM autoworkers nationwide, a tiny fraction of the 395,000 employed by the company in its heyday in the 1970s.
Nowhere is the shock greater than Michigan, GM’s birthplace. Today, the state has an official unemployment rate of almost 13 percent, and because it has seven times the auto jobs of the next highest state, Ohio, people here fear things will only get worse as the job loss in auto ripples through the economy.
At a “Keep the Dream Alive — Reinvest in America” rally that drew several thousand here yesterday, Jim Chapman a steelworker at Great Lakes Works in Ecorse, Mich., which makes steel for auto bodies, said he is a victim of that rippling effect. This father of five has been laid off for six months. “If you’re not selling cars, you’re not making steel,” he said. “It trickles down.”
Lansing, Mich., rally demands, "Keep the Dream Alive — Reinvest in America."
Under a plan announced by President Obama on Monday, the federal government will provide up to another $30 billion to keep GM afloat while it emerges, restructured, out of bankruptcy. That is on top of $19 billion in federal money the company received earlier. The Canadian government will chip in another $9 billion as part of the deal. The downsized company will have 60 percent U.S. government ownership, with smaller portions of its stock held by the United Auto Workers union, bondholders and the Canadian government.
Ron Bloom, who heads Obama’s auto task force, told reporters the government will be a “reluctant shareholder” and will not get involved in day-to-day management. But, he said, with taxpayer money now keeping GM afloat, the government “has to demand something in return for this capital."
In exchange for the new government aid, GM agreed to go through bankruptcy to eliminate more than $27 billion in debt held by bondholders. It also agreed to build a new small car in idled UAW factories and to increase the share of U.S.-based production from 66 percent to 70 percent, the White House said. The union has agreed to a no-strike pledge until 2015.
The White House noted that "the UAW has made important concessions on compensation and retiree health care that, while difficult, will help save jobs for active employees, pensions and health care for retirees."
UAW leaders pointed out in a press statement that "the biggest sacrifices will be made by the tens of thousands of workers who will lose their jobs as a result of the numerous plant closings that GM is announcing in its restructuring plan."
Addressing yesterday’s rally here, Lansing Mayor Verg Bernero said, “D-Day for GM is a sad day.” He said he was “grateful for an administration that is grappling with a problem it did not create, but certainly inherited.”
Many at the rally were angry that GM, while receiving bailout money which may total $50 billion or more, is shutting down 14 plants at home while it increases production outside the country.
“When you offshore jobs, you export the American Dream,” said Bernero.
Bill Parker, president of UAW Local 1700 at Chrysler’s Sterling Heights, Mich., Assembly plant, which is also scheduled to close, said workers are outraged that Chrysler wants to close an additional five plants. His plant employs about 1,400 workers and produces the Sebring sedan and convertible, along with the Dodge Avenger. He asked the crowd of several thousand to join him in calling on the Obama administration to demand that Chrysler reverse its decision.
“Chrysler got the money but they did not get the message,” said Parker, referring to the more than $7 billion in federal bailout money the company has received. The intent of that government assistance was to help people, Parker said. Now, he declared, “our sons and daughters face the prospect of doing worse than we are.”
Referring to GM’s export of jobs to low-wage countries, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow told the crowd that she is “tired of talking about the race to the bottom. I have been doing it for 10 years. We have to raise others up, and not keep pushing us down.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson emphasized the effect the bankruptcy and closing of GM plants will have on communities. When you close 14 plants and hundreds of dealers, you also close auto suppliers; you cut off a town’s tax base, you close their schools, and cause their teachers, police and fire departments to also shut down, he said.
As details of the GM bankruptcy plan emerged, some 3,000 labor and progressive activists were meeting at the America’s Future Now conference in Washington.
“Loss of jobs and the economic devastation that has spread across this country results from corporate greed,” Change to Win labor federation chair Anna Burger said there. Economic recovery means “more than just companies making a profit,” she said. Echoing Lansing Mayor Bernero, Burger said, “It means good secure jobs, decent incomes and the prospect of a secure retirement — in short, the American Dream.”
Another labor leader, speaking informally, noted that the auto union was caught “between a rock and a hard place” and was able to come out of the bankruptcy negotiations with a few things including a little less pain for some active workers and retirees. But, he said, “Once again, we have workers making the sacrifices while companies close plants and ship operations overseas. Once again we are doing what the finance industry says we should be doing to make a company 'viable' even if that means more massive job loss and continued de-industrialization.” This is a continuation of an approach that “just doesn't cut it,” he said.
“The problem with doing business this way is that it leads to disaster for workers and in the end it doesn't do much for GM either — by doing it their way they ended up deep in debt,” the labor leader said.
“What we really need,” he said, “is a bold new approach that retools our old plants to build mass transit, light rail, green cars and all the things we need for the future. Globalization is here to stay. We need to make it work for the majority, not just for the few, by creating a real plan to keep good paying manufacturing jobs and green jobs here in America. Let’s use our leverage to fight for this approach.”
John Rummel is the Chair of the Michigan District of the CPUSA. jrummel @ pww.org. Joel Wendland and John Wojcik contributed to this story.
Impressively massive and vibrant pre-election rally of KKE in Athens A strong message for a powerful KKE
From: The Communist Party of Greece
A strong message for a powerful KKE
A strong message for a powerful KKE
In an impressively massive and vibrant rally, the Secretary General of the CC of KKE, cde Aleka Papariga, addressing the party's main election rally in Athens on Wednesday evening, stressed the need for its strengthening in the Euroelections. She underlined that "with KKE's ticket in the ballot box, now is the time for the people to take the case in their hands."
Aleka Papariga spoke of an "EU’s massive attack against social security, health and welfare from the day after the elections, based on the EU decisions taken in Prague," while noting that those are issues to which neither the government nor the main opposition PASOK party refer to.
KKE, she further said, "remains an irreconcilable rival of the bourgeoisie political system which is rotten, not only due to the scandals but above all because this system organises the accumulation of capital, strengthens monopolies everywhere. It legalises antilabour and antipopular laws that lead to the continuous worsening of day-to-day life."
Papariga went on to say that a strong radical pole must be created that will constitute the rival awe for the dominant policy, the monopolies, in cooperation with every radical movement in European countries and even further.
"In KKE we are not alone, we are many, let us show our strength on June 7 an as of June 8 we shall go for new and more effective struggles," she concluded. On behalf of the Portuguese Communist Party, cde Rosa Rabiais, member of the CC of PCP transferred a warm greeting message and the best wishes of the Portuguese communists for the reinforcement of KKE in the Elections for the European Parliament.
A greeting speech was delivered in the rally by the head candidate of the list of KKE, cde Thanasis Pafilis, member of the CC of KKE. The opening was made by a young Greek immigrant in Germany, MEP candidate in the list of KKE, Anna Grigoriadou.
After the big success of this rally Greek communists intensify all their efforts until the last moment, for a powerful KKE in the ballot box of the June 7th.
A strong message for a powerful KKE
 |
In an impressively massive and vibrant rally, the Secretary General of the CC of KKE, cde Aleka Papariga, addressing the party's main election rally in Athens on Wednesday evening, stressed the need for its strengthening in the Euroelections. She underlined that "with KKE's ticket in the ballot box, now is the time for the people to take the case in their hands."
Aleka Papariga spoke of an "EU’s massive attack against social security, health and welfare from the day after the elections, based on the EU decisions taken in Prague," while noting that those are issues to which neither the government nor the main opposition PASOK party refer to.
KKE, she further said, "remains an irreconcilable rival of the bourgeoisie political system which is rotten, not only due to the scandals but above all because this system organises the accumulation of capital, strengthens monopolies everywhere. It legalises antilabour and antipopular laws that lead to the continuous worsening of day-to-day life."
Papariga went on to say that a strong radical pole must be created that will constitute the rival awe for the dominant policy, the monopolies, in cooperation with every radical movement in European countries and even further.
"In KKE we are not alone, we are many, let us show our strength on June 7 an as of June 8 we shall go for new and more effective struggles," she concluded. On behalf of the Portuguese Communist Party, cde Rosa Rabiais, member of the CC of PCP transferred a warm greeting message and the best wishes of the Portuguese communists for the reinforcement of KKE in the Elections for the European Parliament.
A greeting speech was delivered in the rally by the head candidate of the list of KKE, cde Thanasis Pafilis, member of the CC of KKE. The opening was made by a young Greek immigrant in Germany, MEP candidate in the list of KKE, Anna Grigoriadou.
After the big success of this rally Greek communists intensify all their efforts until the last moment, for a powerful KKE in the ballot box of the June 7th.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Assassin part of shadow anti-choice terror network
From: PWW
The assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas, this week has sent waves of revulsion across the country, renewing fears of escalating violence at reproductive health care clinics across the nation. It has also prompted a fresh look at the network of anti-abortion activists who have long used violence in their efforts to make abortion, if not illegal, then at least effectively inaccessible to most American women.
After the shooting, President Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, immediately took the unprecedented step of offering federal marshal protection to targeted clinics, though at the time of this writing, it was unclear whether even clinics with a long history of violence were eligible for such protection.
Dr. Tiller was one of three doctors in the United States known to offer late-term abortions. His Wichita clinic has its own security regimen, and despite being the target of “Operation Rescue” actions in the past, and despite himself surviving previous armed assaults, Dr. Tiller refused to be intimidated. He was known for wearing a button that said “Attitude Is Everything.”
His assassin, 51-year-old Scott Roeder of Merriam, Kansas, was known to associate with Randall Terry’s Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group famous for its systematic targeting of clinics with mass sit-ins designed to deny access. His associations with the shadowy fringe beyond Operation Rescue, such as the Kansas City-based “Army of God,” who are known to advocate the assassination of reproductive healthcare workers, sometimes on internet “hit lists” that offer demographic information on clinic workers to potential assassins, is less well known so far. However, Roeder’s links to militia-type, hard right anti-government elements are already being reported.
Nevertheless, most of the corporate press has continued to propagate a “lone gunman” theory, choosing to ignore the well-known, bloody history of violence on the part of a network of violent anti-abortion activists, a network to which Roeder seems to have had connections.
Dr. Tiller’s assassination has further resonated in the public consciousness because America is several years into a “war on terror” that has seen us invade two countries with the ostensible goal of curbing religious fundamentalist-based terrorism against U.S. interests. The cognitive dissonance of locking up and torturing random Afghan Muslims in Guantanamo, and other more secretive prisons around the world, while simultaneously ignoring a long and deep history of such violence conducted by self-described “Christians” in the United States, has been difficult for the authorities to ignore for long. Progressive activists have called for a deeper investigation by the Obama Justice Department of possible terror networks and criminal conspiracies underlying repeated anti-clinic violence.
President Obama has been walking a political tightrope on the abortion issue. While he is clearly pro-choice, he has taken tentative steps to call for a de-escalation of rhetoric around the abortion polemic in American politics. His inclusive approach has made him hesitant to seem too partisan for choice, and an investigation of the hard-right anti-abortion terrorist network would almost surely uncover a whole wing of the reactionary movement in America that has long used violence and supremacist rhetoric to rally its forces and to try to intimidate progressive Americans. To prosecute and incarcerate such elements is to play with fire, since they are quietly tolerated by hard right forces in American society, as evidenced by the support such spokespeople as Bill O’Reilly publicly offer the likes of Scott Roeder.
Whether President Obama’s Department of Justice is willing or able to finally turn the tide against anti-abortion violence by bringing the full weight of federal law enforcement down on the network of “Christian” terrorists that have fought a low-level but very real war against American reproductive health care clinics remains to be seen. If it were to do so, though, it would transform the atmosphere of siege surrounding our clinics. Such enforcement would strike a powerful blow against the American hard right, in a place it is very vulnerable and in which it has a hard time defending itself from accurate accusations of being soft on terrorism, at best.
Not least, it might lend meaningful federal support to the right to access reproductive health care services, securing not only the right to abortion, but self-determination for all women in a way that perhaps no law, in itself, unenforced, ever might.
Daniel Frontino Elash has been active in the struggle for reproductive rights since the 1970s.
‘Card check’ remains on table, Senate leader of free choice battle says
From: PWW
WASHINGTON — Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) told the World today that he is holding onto majority sign-up as a key component of the Employee Free Choice Act, in rounds of “intense negotiations” with senators whose support is needed for passage of the landmark labor law reform measure. Although Harkin would not specify the precise form in which majority sign-up might emerge from the negotiations, he said “there are about five versions of it that are being talked about.”
The senator made the statement as he emerged from a panel discussion on the Employee Free Choice Act this morning at the America’s Future Now conference here.
Former Michigan Rep. David Bonior, now chair of American Rights at Work, reminded several thousand progressive leaders and activists who attended the panel discussion that majority sign-up (also known as “card check”) is already widely used. “It is an efficient, fair and democratic organizing process whereby a majority of employees sign cards to demonstrate their desire to form a union.”
Labor Department records show that since 2003, more than half a million American workers have formed unions through majority sign-up.
Bonior explained how under current labor law, management can refuse to recognize a union even when 100 percent of employees have signed union authorization cards, and even if the employer has no reason to doubt the validity of the cards.
Instead, employers can insist on an election process that enables them to take advantage of weak labor laws and launch a one-sided campaign to intimidate workers out of supporting a union.
“When workers try and form unions,” Bonior said, “90 percent of employers force employees to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with their supervisors, 50 percent coerce workers into opposing unions with bribes and special favors, and 30 percent fire pro-union workers. These elections don’t measure up to the most fundamental standards of democracy.”
Harkin, who took responsibility for shepherding the Employee Free Choice Act through the Senate after Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) became ill, also told the World that he would not allow a bill to go to the floor of the Senate if it “in any way compromises core principles."
"There will be a card check compromise but the form it takes must give workers real freedom to choose a union," Harkin said. "The final bill must incorporate, for workers who form a union, strict deadlines for companies to agree to a contract and there must be meaningful penalties levied against those who violate labor laws.”
Although the senator said he did not want to jeopardize ongoing talks by specifying what the “card check compromises” look like, PWW sources have described several versions. One involves workers mailing completed authorization cards to the National Labor Relations Board, rather than handing them to a union organizer. Another involves checking a box on the card that expresses the individual’s preference for a secret ballot election, and still a third involves workers checking off a box that says “union” or one that says “no union” and mailing that card to the NLRB. In all three scenarios the company would be required to respect the choice of the workers.
Harkin warned that “if, in the final analysis, the negotiations don’t work and some senators refuse to compromise, I have the assurances of Harry Reid (leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate) that the Employee Free Choice Act will go to the floor of the Senate in its original form for a straight up or down vote. Then the voters will see for themselves who in the Senate is really with them or against them.”
The Employee Free Choice Act would put the decision of how to form a union in the hands of workers, not employers. Under the measure, if a majority of workers sign cards voting for a union, and if those cards are validated by the National Labor Relations Board, the agency will certify the workers as a union. The employer would be legally required to recognize the union and bargain with it. Employees could still choose to use their signed cards to petition for an NLRB election.
Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, brought the crowd at the America’s Future Now conference to its feet when he said every Democratic senator must be made to answer the question, “Which side are you on?” (With the expected seating of Al Franken from Minnesota the Democrats will have the 60 votes that could stop a Republican filibuster.) Cohen said, “Either you are for the Chamber of Commerce which makes the same anti-labor arguments now that it made back in the 1930s or you are for the working Americans you represent.”
Cohen said he expected that the Republicans in the Senate would vote “in lockstep” against the bill, “as they voted in lockstep against Social Security in the 1930s.”
jwojcik @ pww.org
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
New Study Confirms Intense Employer Opposition to Workers' Unions
From: American Rights at Work
Findings Highlight Need for Employee Free Choice Act
Overall, 16.1 million, or 12.4% of U.S. workers are represented by unions, though polling indicates tens of millions more want a union to represent them. In fact, studies have shown that if workers’ preferences were realized, as much as 58% of the workforce would have union representation.
In the private sector just 8% of workers belong to unions. It’s not that private sector workers are less likely to want to be in unions, it’s that their employers are intensifying their opposition to them joining unions.
Employers Continue to Punish Workers for Supporting a Union
Compared to the 1990s, employers are now more than twice as likely to use 10 or more tactics in their anti-union campaigns, with a greater focus on more coercive and punitive tactics designed to intensely monitor and punish union activity.
- 63% of employers interrogate workers in mandatory one-on-one meetings with their supervisors about support for the union;
- 54% of employers threaten workers in such meetings;
- 57% of employers threaten to close the worksite;
- 47% of employers threaten to cut wages and benefits; and
- 34% of employers fire workers.
Employers have increased their use of these more punitive tactics while being less likely to offer “incentives,” such as unscheduled raises, positive personnel changes, bribes, special favors, social events, promises of improvement, and employee involvement programs.
Many Employers Resist Collective Bargaining Long After Their Workers Form Unions
Even if employees make it through a hostile employer campaign it can take years before they ever obtain a collective bargaining agreement. And some never do. The reasons include an absence of penalties or fines for employers who bargain in bad faith and the fact that employers can legally replace strikers permanently – effectively firing them if they strike for a first contract.
- One year after a successful election, 52% of workers’ unions had no collective bargaining agreement.
- Two years after an election, 37% of workers’ unions still had no contract.
Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act Would Restore Workers’ Rights
These statistics highlight how broken our current labor law system is for workers, and why reform is critically needed. The bipartisan Employee Free Choice Act would enable working people to bargain for better benefits, wages, and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union. It would:
- Give workers a free choice and a fair path to choose to form a union, free from intimidation
- Ensure real penalties exist for employers who break the law
- Prevent companies from engaging in endless delays and stall tactics to deny workers a collective bargaining agreement
Based on new research from Dr. Kate Bronfenbrenner, No Holds Barred: The Intensification of Employer Opposition to Organizing. For more, read the fact sheet and full report.
Chavez: My Next Gift For Obama Will Be Lenin Book
From: The Huffington Post
In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gesture during his radio and television show "Hello President" in Maracaibo, Venezuela, Thursday, May 28, 2009. Chavez began what he says will be a marathon four-day television and radio program as he marks the 10th anniversary of his program. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press Office)
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez says he has a new book for President Barack Obama: "What is to be Done?" by communist Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Soviet state.
Chavez says he'll "give it to Obama at the next meeting."
"What is to be Done?" is Lenin's political treatise on the role of intellectuals and the proletariat in promoting revolution, written more than a decade before he led the Bolshevik takeover of Russia in 1917.
Chavez gave Obama a copy of "Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent" by Eduardo Galeano at an April summit.
The book jumped the next day to the No. 2 seller on Amazon.com.
Chavez spoke Friday on a marathon, anniversary edition of his "Hello President" television show.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
