Selections from the left press...
Ford contract talke
THE MILITANT Texas oil workers
Libya vs. imperialiem The Militant, weekly newspaper reflecting the views of the Socialist Workers
Party of the United States, one of the founding parties of the Fourth International, August 27.
Militant correspondents Mary Nell
Bockman and Michael Carper report from
Dakota City, Nebraska:
"It looks like there's a war going on here. It's just like Vietnam." The young woman who said this looked around at the tanks, armed troopers, and the planes
She doesn't live in Beirut or El Salvador but in Dakota City, Nebraska. She and the 2,450 members of Local 222
United Food and Commercial Workers
(UFCW) on strike at Iowa Beef Processors
(IBP) have learned what it's like to come up against an army.
A PRIVATE ARMY 27, Governor Charles
Thone sent two National Guard units to
Dakota City to supplement the 100 state show of force amounts to a private army for IBP, the largest meat processing com-
At a cost to Nebraska taxpayers of 20,000 dollars per day, troopers have used pepper gas, mace, and clubs against union members and their supporters. On the day the Militant visited the picket line, 50 troopers and five tanks were deployed around the plant to "defend it" against the 12 picketers....
This strike, which has received international attention, was forced by IBP when the company demanded that the workers accept a four-year wage freeze, a permanent end to all cost-of-living raises, reduction in pay for new hires, and other concessions.
UFCW Local 222, in negotiations before the strike began, agreed to a two-year wage freeze and no cost-of-living raises for three years.
As one union member said, "That two-year wage freeze, which is really a wage cut for us, would give 25 million dollars back to IBP." But IBP, which made 57.8 million dollars in profits last year, wants more. Since June 7, the day the strike began, there has been one negotiating session between IBP and the union. Since July 30, talks have been suspended indefinitely. 26
Like the giant auto and steel companies, the IBP, which is owned by Occidental Petroleum, contends it needs major concessions from workers to be competitive in the industry. Threats of layoffs and plant closings are being used throughout the meat processing industry in an attempt to force wage cuts. Hormel, American Stores, and John Morell, all major meat processors, are currently trying to renegotiate contracts on this basis.
STAKES FOR OTHER WORKERS Workers and management at these companies are watching the IBP strike closely. But as auto and steel workers have learned, concessions don't save jobs, only profits. The members of UFCW
Local 222 understand this very well....
IBP is operating at about 25 percent of its capacity, having recruited scabs from South Dakota, Kansas, and
Although IBP has managed to re open the plant, the morale of strikers is determined to through the winter if they have to, they said, because they're fighting for food on the table and a decent life for their kids.
As these reporters left the picket line the words of one of the strikers never
He said, "Some people say you're crazy when you talk about revolution. But workers in this country are getting sick of this."
Socialist Buzzing
Buzby Challenge
Start the finht L--
Socialist Challenge is a weekly socialist newspaper sponsored by the International Marxist Group, British section of the Fourth International.
In issue no 259, September 4, 1982, Marie Louise Irvine reported from Aberdeen on the growth of the solidarity campaign for health workers, presently taking action to demand higher wage increases:
*This rally pledges its continuec support in defence of the NHS and its staff. It agrees to send a telegram to the Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Scotland and the secretaries of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) to inform them that Aberdeen is ready and prepared to play its part in a general strike to restore justice and humanity to Britain.'
The above resolution was passed unanimously by hundreds of trade unionists at a rally in the Aberdeen Music
Hall in support of the health workers, 28
August.
The rally followed the biggest demonstration Aberdeen has seen for 30 years. Over three thousand marched in support of the health workers. There were shipyard workers, dockers, seamen, fishworkers, waterworkers, firefighters, traindrivers and local government workers who had all gone on strike to show their solidarity.
The rally was addressed by Walter
Watt, a plater in Hall Russel shipyard and a member of the boilermakers union.
said 'we shipyard workers don't want the
National Health Service (NHS) to die, we need the NHS. We are all going deaf and blind because of our work. I've been a shipbuilder for 39 years and I've seen some horrible accidents. In the old days before NHS, we had to put coppers in a box for a hardship fund for workers who had suffered accidents. We don't want to go back to that'.
Bob Middleton, leader of the Labour group in the Grampian regional council said: "Many of us here today remember standing on the picket lines with
ASLEF (train drivers union) a few weeks ago. That defeat was an indictment of the trade union leadership. I've come to realise that any attack on any section of the workforce is an attack on the whole labour movement. That is why I feel we have to intensify the present action amongst those unions outwith the health service and if necessary call for a general strike....Those union leaders that are not prepared to defend the living conditions of the workers they represent should go.
A woman speaker said: 'One of the most important aspects of this struggle is that it is mainly women workers that are involved. This is important because the Tories have launched a specific attack on womens rights. Women still only earn two thirds of mens wages and are being made redundant at twice the rate. Cuts in the NHS mean that it is women who will be expected to look after the old, the sick and the handicapped when there are no hospital places for them.
"The government saw health workers as a weak section of the labour force, because women workers are traditionally supposed to be submissive, well behaved and not interested in unions. You've proved them wrong on all counts. You have asserted that women have the right to work and should be well paid for the important work that they do. You've shown that when it comes to defending living standards, women workers can lead the whole trade union movement. Your struggle is an excellent example of the kind of unity we need to get rid of Tories.'