Bush wages war on unions

BUSH WAGES WAR ON UNIONS:
INVOKES ANTI-LABOR LAW IN NAME OF "NATIONALSECURITY"

By Milt Neidenberg

On Oct. 7, President George W. Bush took the government's first step to force the 10,500 members of the International Longshore Workers Union to work under a slave-labor, anti-union Taft-Hartley injunction.

Bush appointed a three-member board of inquiry to rubber- stamp the appeals of the Pacific Maritime Association and those who represent the powerful interests of transnational corporations. The board was ordered to report back in one day--an unprecedented demand--in support of the government's contention that the situation on the West Coast docks poses
a "threat to the national health and safety."

These are the code words required to get a federal court to quickly issue an 80-day injunction under the Taft-Hartley Act--which it did on Oct. 8.

The Bush administration and its big-business allies pushed the button for more repression at home and war abroad. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld sent a statement to the injunctive hearing saying that a prolonged port closure could "degrade military readiness, hinder the department's ability to prosecute the global war on terrorism, and undercut other defense needs and worldwide commitments."

Billions of dollars in profits are at stake because the
companies have deliberately kept inventories low under the cost-saving "on-time" delivery system. As the holidays approach, the merchandise remains far from its destinations.

That's what makes it a "national emergency."

The Bush administration has been marching in lockstep with the merchants of global profit and plunder ever since Bush stole the presidential election two years ago.

The declaration of war against dock workers was prepared long in advance. Even before the union's contract with the PMA expired on July 1, ILWU President Jim Spinosa reported that Tom Ridge, director of Homeland Security, threatened
the union that any job action, strike or slowdown would be viewed as a threat to national security.

The Bush administration backed up that threat by creating a special task force from the departments of labor, transportation and commerce to work out of Ridge's office.

If there is a crisis, the blame rests with the PMA and the West Coast Waterfront Coalition, a powerful group of transnational corporations that created the gridlock that has paralyzed ship-to-shore operations.

They have locked out the workers to punish them for working according to the safety codes after five longshore workers died over the last year.

'NO-STRIKE' LAW INVOKED --
BUT THERE ISN'T ANY STRIKE!

The ILWU isn't on strike. It hasn't even polled its
membership to take a strike authorization vote.

This makes it a particular mockery of justice to invoke Taft- Hartley, which has only been used in the past when unions were on strike. That's bad enough, but now the Bush administration is saying it can intervene against the workers even when they have been locked out by the bosses.

The Bush administration is hell bent on breaking the defiant will of the 10,500 ILWU members, which has grown stronger as they fight to win economic and social justice.

Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao said on Oct. 7: "Ordinary Americans are being seriously harmed. ... Factory workers are being laid off because they can't get vital parts delivered."

Her concerns about workers' welfare would be better served by demanding the PMA guarantee the union jobs that are threatened by technological changes. Since the 1950s, the ILWU has lost over 90,000 jobs.

The war against the ILWU and the labor movement is part of the plan to make workers, the poor and the oppressed, organized and unorganized, pay for a full-scale war on the Iraqi people. The Bushadministration has now opened up a war on two fronts. It's time for the AFL-CIO to recognize both threats and oppose them, the way the Albany Central Labor Council did with a recent resolution.

The ILWU and its members have stood side by side with the labor movement and supported other progressive struggles too numerous to count. Now it's payback time--time for the rest of labor to stand with the ILWU. The AFL-CIO knows the dangers of the Taft-Hartley Act all too well. The organized labor movement has been opposed to this law ever since it was passed in 1947.

Recently these leaders have spoken, writ ten and passed resolutions demanding Bush butt out of the ILWU negotiations. "The federal government has tipped the balance of power in the employer's favor by intervening today," said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka in response to Bush's move to invoke Taft-Hartley.

Now is the time for the labor movement to act. A coordinated National Safety Day, with workers everywhere working according to strict safety rules, would be an appropriate response, similar to the tactics of the ILWU. It would save lives, reduce injuries and send a strong message to the Bush
administration: An injury to one is an injury to all.

Hands off the ILWU--and Iraq.

-- END --

(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww [at] wwpublish.com. Subscribe wwnews-on [at] wwpublish.com. Unsubscribe wwnews-off [at] wwpublish.com. Support the voice of
resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)