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Introduction: Welcome
to the labor page of the Lake Superior Socialist Action website. We believe that the unions are the only mass organizations
that working people have to fight on their behalf at this point in
history, and it’s crucial that they be up to the task. With the bosses waging an
ever-increasingly fierce war on working people, we need a labor movement
that can fight back and win. That is why we believe in working within the
unions to try and win them to a class struggle program. We call for the
labor movement to break from the Democratic Party and form a labor party,
to uphold the principle of an injury to one is an injury to all, to adopt
an internationalist perspective, to organize the unorganized, oppose
government intervention in the unions, and to establish genuine rank
& file control.
We’ve set up this page to report on developments in the local and
national labor movements, post articles on the lessons of past labor
struggles, and explain the role that Marxists believe the working class
will play in the coming revolution.
This Month’s
Feature:
 Report on
the UAW Convention: Below is a two-part report on the recent national
convention of the United Auto Workers union by Bill Onasch. This report originally appeared on the
KC Labor website.
 Part One
Part Two
Labor News
& Views:
Theft at the Pump: Consumers angered at steep price hikes since last year's
hurricanes and the resulting well and refinery damage—including prices at
the pump of over $3 a gallon—were shocked when Big Oil's latest profit
reports came out. In January, Exxon Mobil reported the highest profit
ever made by any U.S. company: $36 billion in 2005, up 43 percent from
the year before. continued
Taking
Sides on the Guest Worker Debate: The
wind behind the movement for immigrant rights had reached gale force by
May Day 2006. Millions of immigrant workers and students took to
the streets and dealt the first direct blow to U.S. capital in recent
memory. But the hand on the tiller -- belonging to a coalition of
unions, churches, and nonprofit advocacy groups -- has steered the boat
into the shoals of bipartisan immigration "reform" and
collaboration with capitalists in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Stern's union of mostly immigrant workers finds itself in the perverse
position of supporting a bill to turn back the clock on immigrant rights
more than 40 years. He is joined in this questionable endeavor by
the Laborers' International Union of North America and UNITE-HERE, both
unions in industries that employ large numbers of undocumented
workers. continued
NWA
Mechanics Reject Return to Work Offer: The Aircraft Mechanics
Fraternal Association (AMFA), which is the union that represents striking
mechanics at Northwest Airlines, rejected an offer to return to
work. This means the strike is
still on, and we call on all of our supporters readers to support the
strike by refusing to fly Northwest, and by helping to staff the union
picket lines which are up every day at the Duluth International Airport.
Mass Upsurge of Immigrant Workers: Seemingly overnight, a mass
movement of immigrants demanding their rights has sprung up in the United
States. It is mass in the real sense of the word, bringing millions into
the streets—striking workers, students walking out of schools,
grandparents, babies in strollers, all with their relatives and neighbors
in tow. continued
WI &
the ATC Gang Up on Workers & Farmers: For
years the American Transmission Company has been trying, with a lot of
success, to intimidate and bribe local governments, courts and regulatory
bodies to approve the Arrowhead-Weston line. The Arrowhead-Weston,
if built, will be a massive 345 Kilovolt bulk transmission line that will
allow ATC to sell cheap electricity from the Manitoba Hydro project in
Canada to the Chicago area, where it could make a handsome profit
underselling existing electric providers.
continued
The Real
Deal on the ‘New Deal’: In the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, some Democratic Party politicians and even conservative
newspapers like the New York Daily News were calling for a “new New Deal”
to deal with the destruction wrought, and with the broader social problems
exposed in its wake. Some pundits
even claimed the reaction against Bush’s apathy toward Gulf residents’
needs would help shift the country’s politics back to the left. continued
UAW Defeat
at General Motors: Twenty-three years ago when Continental Airlines CEO
Frank Lorenzo used U.S. bankruptcy laws to gut union contracts, he was
portrayed as the bad guy exception in the ranks of the corporate
hierarchy. Demonstrating a blatant contempt for workers, Lorenzo was
corporate America's front man in pioneering the slash-and-burn tactics
that obliterated Continental's union contracts. Thousands of flight
attendants and pilots were laid off and replaced with scabs who worked
longer hours at half the union rate.
continued
AMFA Stands
Up to Concessions at Northwest: On Oct. 14, almost two months
into their strike against Northwest Airlines, the officers of the
Aircraft Mechanics
Fraternal Association (AMFA) agreed to let members vote on a new offer
from management. AMFA officials said there was nothing good in the
offer, and in fact it was so horrendous it’s likely they were being
sincere when they said that presenting it for a vote was not a sell-out
but rather a chance for the members to tell the company that they
remained united. continued
UAW
Capitulation Leaves Us All Vulnerable: The bosses,
their media, their politicians--and union bureaucrats with no fight in
them–will ensure it’s a big deal. When organized labor, above all the
pace-setting UAW, won big gains from the end of the last world war into
the Seventies, millions of other workers, including the unorganized,
indirectly benefited as well. All wages steadily increased. Most
employers started offering benefits such as health insurance and pension
plans for the first time. continued
The United
Airlines Pension Default: On May 10 Judge Eugene Wedoff
gave bankrupt United Airlines the right to terminate its pension
plans. This is the biggest pension default in U.S. history, and the Pension Benefits
Guaranty Corporation now assumes responsibility for these plans—which
means a bailout for the bosses and severely slashed pensions for workers.
Of course, management pensions have enjoyed special protection, often
through the establishment of special funds that are protected from
Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. continued
AFL-CIO
Splits on its Golden Anniversary: In 1955 two rival union
federations came together here to form the AFL-CIO. Fifty years later, in
the same city, this Golden Anniversary became the occasion for a new
split. It was not unexpected. When
the AFL-CIO executive council met a few days after Bush’s reelection,
SEIU Pres. Andy Stern issued a public ultimatum: if the federation didn’t adopt the proposals of what
was then called the New Unity Partnership, and if they failed to replace
the present executive officers, beginning with President John Sweeney,
then SEIU and its allies would leave the "house of labor" and
start a whole new subdivision of their own. continued
Jobs &
Health Care to be Slashed in Auto Industry: General Motors bosses hit the
United Auto Workers with a double-whammy in early June. First they
announced they were cutting 25,000 jobs, then they demanded billions in
health-care cost savings from both active and retired workers by the end
of June—savings which they threatened to implement unilaterally if an agreement
wasn’t reached. continued
Lessons
From the Million Worker March: Virtually
no one expected that one million workers would attend the Million Worker
March (MWM), which took place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 17. But
Clarence Thomas, an official of the initiating International Longshore
and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 and co-chair of the mobilization,
announced at a press conference shortly before the event that 100,000
participants were in the MWM Organizing Committee’s sights. Others
associated with the effort projected an even higher number. continued
Cuts in Duluth’s Housing Subsidies: According to the U.S. Census
Bureau almost 40 million Americans live below the poverty line. And as
hundreds of thousands of workers get laid off from closing plants,
downsizing and outsourcing, that number is likely to climb. But despite
the massive levels of poverty that pervade this country, the powers that
be have decided that now is the time to cut federal housing subsidies
that millions of low income people depend upon to pay their rent each
month. continued
Duluth City Council Turns on Airport Workers: These
days more and more people admit that there are no real differences
between the Democratic and Republican parties. That they both receive
millions in corporate donations, pursue reactionary policies and are in
no way responsive to the will of the people is becoming more and more a
recognized fact. However, many who admit this make an exception when it
comes to local politics – arguing that it is still possible to work
within the mainstream parties at the city level, and that decent,
progressive candidates and officials can be found in local government. continued
Duluth Airport Workers Struggle: For
a certain number of folks who travel to Duluth, the first thing they see
is the International Airport. While not the largest airport, and not
equipped with all of the bells and whistles of major city airports, the
quaint atmosphere and laid back pace one finds there says something about
the city travelers have just arrived at. In fact living in an era when
Duluth's powers that be are gambling the city's future on tourism, one
would think that the airport's quaintness, and its workers' hospitality
to visitors, would be something that should be built upon and amplified
as much as possible. An airport that personifies "Minnesota Nice"
for a city that hopes to personify the same. continued
A Look @ the Fight Over Steel Tariffs: Following a campaign waged by
a group called Stand Up for Steel, which as made up of the United
Steelworkers, the AFL-CIO and a number of iron and steel industry
corporations, President Bush imposed increased tariffs on foreign steel
imports. The argument of those who fought for these tariffs was that
other countries, like Brazil and China, were subsidizing their respective
steel industries, allowing them to then "dump" cheap steel on the
U.S. market at prices below that which U.S. iron and steel corporations
could match. The Stand Up for Steel campaign argued that without
increased tariffs, the iron and steel industry would continue to
hemorrhage jobs, as mines and mills either reduced their workforce, or
closed down entirely. continued
500 Rally for Canal Park Hotel
Workers: Between 400 and 500 workers
rallied in Duluth, MN on August 20 in support of the struggle by hotel
workers to organize. Assembling at the Duluth Entertainment &
Convention Center, where the Minnesota AFL-CIO was holding its annual
convention, the protesters marched through Canal Park – the city’s
tourist district. Hundreds of tourists looked on as protesters and
members of dozens of different unions chanted out calls for justice and
solidarity with the underpaid and super-exploited workers that form the
backbone of the region’s tourist economy. continued
Canal Park Hotel Workers Organizing
Drive: Hotel workers are paid only
$6.50 hour for back-breaking work, and are generally only allowed to work
around 30 hours a week. Turn over is huge, since most workers either find
they can't live on that, or get fired for resisting management's
speed-ups or abuse. Many workers
in Duluth's hotels though have had enough, and have decided to fight back
by getting organized. Workers at the Inn on Lake Superior, Hawthorne
Suites, Comfort Suites, Hampton Inn and the Canal Park Inn have hooked up
with Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 99 to try to
win union wages and working conditions. continued
HERE Local 17 Resolution on Mumia: WHEREAS,
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an outstanding African-American journalist and member
of the National Writers Union-UAW who campaigned against police abuses
and who, with no previous criminal record, has been on Pennsylvania's
death row since 1981, convicted of shooting a police officer in a trial
in which there was compelling evidence of his innocence and of gross
misconduct on the part of the police, prosecutor and judge; continued
Statement by Mumia to Canal Park Workers: Regarding
organizing hotel employees, I am fully in support of such a necessary
effort. I think it’s both noble and necessary; I salute the brave people
who are working to organize several hotels in Duluth, under HERE Local
99. I know it’s not easy, but it is necessary. continued
How to Save the Iron Range: On
July 5, over a thousand northern Minnesota workers rallied in front of
the Virginia High School in Virginia, MN. They came from all over the
Iron Range to demand of a U.S. Department of Commerce panel that the
government intervene to stop the closing of the northern iron mines, and
to save the precious jobs they provide. 900 workers and supporters signed
up to testify before the Dept. of Commerce panel (only a handful got to
speak), and well over a thousand attended an afternoon rally held under
the United Steelworkers banner. continued
[labor donated by union labor]
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