programme for labour fightback flow of dues money despite the unpopularity of their policies among the ranks. Arbitration by a so-called neutral third party was used to resolve differences on the interpretation of contracts without any input from the membership. Antilabor laws such as the Taft-Hartley and Landrum-Griffin acts that imposed harsh
A Business Week survey of the top 500 US corporations reports that profits in 1983 - adjusted for inflation - increased 82 percent. flation has been significantly reduced, and US corporations are regaining their competitive edge in the world market. Major executives are receiving fat bonuses for achieving this dramatic turnaround. Carl FINAMORE
But in reality the recovery is no mystery. Losing ground against their international competitors, US capitalists have sought to strengthen their position in the world market by squeezing workers harder in this country. In 1982 one-third of all workers represented in contract negotiations were forced to accept wage freezes, while in 1983 one-half of the workers took cuts.
The 1.25 dollar an hour wage reduction for basic steel workers is a case in
There is also the growing introduction of the two-tier wage structure permitting drastic cuts in the pay scale of
Added to this is a serious erosion in union security taking place ing out of union work to nonunion firms.
The real meaning of competition in a capitalist economy is the race to depress the wages, benefits and working conditions of the workforce. competes with the other to extract more concessions from the workers. The success of the big-business assault on our living and working standards is the driving force behind the economic "recovery." But the new profit gains will not mean a let-up in the anti-union drive. Rather, the bosses will only be emboldened to deepen their campaign against our hard-won rights.
We can learn from the German, French and British workers as they confront their homegrown variety of plant closures and wage reductions. The British coal miners have launched an effective strike action against the Tory government's proposals to reduce one-third of the coal workforce by 1990. In defiance of injunctions limiting the size of picketing squads, the workers have closed the coal pits with the mobilized power of thousands of miners.
French and German steelworkers have responded to plant shutdowns by building large demonstrations and rallies. The German metalworkers union is conducting a campaign for the 35-hour workweek with no loss in pay to counter the bosses drive to "restructure" the steel industry through massive layoffs. When this employer offensive was begun several years ago, the steel bosses announced International Viewpoint 4 June 1984
Intheir plan to eliminate 200,000 steel jobs in the Common Market countries. But the existence of large workers' parties in these countries increases the leverage of the workers to advance their demands despite the sell-out strategies that guide the leadership of these parties.
Unfortunately, trade unions in the United States endorse big-business sponsored efforts to portray foreign workers as our enemy. Of course, that has not stopped US business from in super-profits by exploiting cheap labor abroad.
Lower wages and working conditions for one group of workers is used to pressure all workers into accepting the substandard pattern. As long as workers in the Untied States remain divided - white against Black, men against women, and American against foreign workers will be easier to put the blame for the capitalist crisis on one or another group
The militant mass social movement of workers that gave birth to the CIO in the 1930s established industrial unions as a solid force on the American scene. The employers plan to extend the notorious World War II no-strike pledge and wage freeze into the post-war era was decisively defeated by the 1946 strike wave that still stands as the largest strike action anywhere in the world.
Unable to prevent the massive organization of the workers, the employers sought to tame and housebreak the
Only by reinforcing a conservative union leadership could the bosses hope to restrain the labor militancy so forcefully expressed in the formation of
The Democratic party under Roosevelt became the main vehicle for cementing an alliance between the labor misleaders and the ruling rich. The "laborbusiness partnership" is based on promoting the idea that what is good for business is good for the workers. false notion led to a break in the class struggle methods used to build the CIO. The mass mobilization of the workers against the employers profit drive came to an end. Negotiations by "labor statesment" substituted for the action of the rank and file.
restrictions on the right to strike and picket were accepted without any meaningful challenge from the bureaucrats. False hopes were encouraged that the Democratic Party would repeal these laws.
The continued expansion of the economy permitted small but regular increases in the standard of living of US workers from 1950 to 1965. This allowed the rulers to establish a pattern of gradual enforcement of a multitude of anti-union legal decisions in preparation for the union-busting offensive that is now Profits enrich capitalists
The relative prosperity in this period created the illusion among workers that clever bargaining accounted for the wage benefit increases. But the concessions given up by the union misleaders in exchange for wage increases has disarmed and undercut our ability to defend ourselves from the attacks we face today. Art Preis, in his book Labor's Giant Step, aptly termed this practice of giving up a little bit of job security in exchange for modest wage increases as "the hockshop method of bargaining."
In 1943 a resolution of the United
"Our industries can no longer be operated to serve private interests where they conflict with the public need." Yet this wisdom has been rejected by the labor officialdom, despite the growing concentration wealth and monopolization of the US economy. Turning away from the ranks, the labor bureaucrats seek to preserve at all costs their alliance with the Demofosters the myth that profits for the boss mean more job security and wage increases for the workers. Most workers
But recent experiences with the Greyhound Corporation, a highly profitable operation, and the giants of the oil and auto industries, who are making super profits, is leading many workers to reexamine this notion.
Corporate plans to revitalize industry have been largely abandoned for more profitable investment ventures, recent flurry of "mega-mergers" indi cate. During the 1970s two out of every three new Fortune 500 manufacturing
"new" at all. were simply acquired in mergers or pur-
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chases to increase monopoly control of the market. Thousands of jobs have been lost in the process. But the labor bureaucrats continue to insist that high corporate profits are good for the workers.
Paralyzed by these class-collaborationist policies, the labor movement has failed to rally behind unions that have shown a readiness to fight. Nearly 12,000 PATCO [air traffic controllers] workers were summarily fired while the labor misleaders scurried about in a futile search for support from politicians of the two parties. The Greyhound strike was broken under similar circumstances. Steelworkers were forced to accept a drastic cut in wages and working conditions after twice rejecting company proposals. Several months ago the Teamsters' membership, by an 88 percent majority, refused the bosses' demand to reopen the contract and negotiate concessions.
There are other examples of resistance in the auto, copper, oil and aircraft industries. But none of these fights has received the kind of labor support necessary. No one union can stand alone.
The workers in Europe are displaying the kind of fighting militancy that can provide a starting point for an effective mass struggle to defeat the employers' assault. The power to stop the capitalist offensive resides in the mobilized strength of millions of working people.
If that power had been employed in the recent Greyhound strike, the outcome could have been quite different. The millions of dollars being spent on capitalist election campaigns by labor should have been used to mount an extensive solidarity effort. Demonstrations by the labor movement could have rallied support from a broad layer of working people and stopped the buses from rolling.
To dissolve the suicidal "partnership" between business and labor will require a new leadership, emerging from labor's ranks, leadership, to be eitective, must go beyond the militancy of the 1930s and 1940s. The political reality is that those victories gained on the picketline by millions of workers during the 1930s and after the war were skillfully eroded over the years by not only the labor-hating Republicans but by the "friends of labor" in the Democratic Party. New approach needed
Supporting Mondale, Hart or Jackson will only repeat the mistakes of the past. We need to organize the power of working people in the streets, on the job and in the halls of Congress. own party — a labor party. A labor party controlled by the unions would have the power to protect gains won on the picketline. A labor party would be a vehicle for advancing an alternative program to the bosses' offensive. Instead of shoring up the capitalist Democratic Party we should build our own party.
A leadership adopting this approach will certainly be forged in the battles
Experience in the class struggle will dictate a change in the current union
A class struggle program to transform our unions can serve to rally counteroffensive against the employers' anti-union drive. Some elements of this program are:
- Reclaim our right to strike during the life of the contract as a restraint against capitalist abuses. Governmentcontrolled arbitration is a trap based on the fiction that the government is impartial.
Remove any undemocratic barriers limiting the full participation of workers inside their unions.
No subsidies to corporations to enrich themselves at the expense of the workers. We demand that the financial books of the corporations be opened.
- Workers' control of industry to ensure production is geared to social needs. Capitalist control places the prof its of the few before the needs of the majority.
Reject the racist and divisive "Buy American" solutions. This solution translates into "layoff German and Japanese workers — not us!" The drive for profits is international. Our class solidarity must also be internationalized.
Cost-of-living clauses to protect us against an inflationary trend that has reduced our real wages since 1965.
- Reduce the workweek with no decrease in pay! A reduction of just one hour with no loss in pay would put one and a half million people back to work. Oil workers gave up a 36-hour workweek in World War II with assurance it would be returned. Today, oil workers average 43.5 hours per week.
- Solidarity among all working people and our allies. We reject any divisions between employed and unemployed; between Black, Brown, minority and white workers; and between men and women workers. An injury to one is an injury to all.
- Abolish the military budget. The majority of our tax dollars go to finance the US government's policy of militarism, repression and terror against working people all over the world. These funds should be used to build roads, schools and hospitals. A public works program could employ millions.
The Democratic and Republican parties are not our parties. They serve the ruling rich. The road to independent political action by the working class means breaking from the two parties and
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The bosses' offensive will generate more skirmishes as workers attempt to overcome the obstacles to an effective fightback. Participation in these battles by class struggle militants can help speed up the development of a militant class struggle left wing. Socialist Action members pledge to participate in these fights to our fullest capacity. Relying on the tremendous power of an organized and mobilized working class, our victories can take us beyond the archaic capitalist system into a future based on workers' power.
Our fight for the immediate defense of the interests of the working class is inextricably tied to the struggle for a socialist society. The crisis of humanity can only be resolved by constructing a leadership committed to this task.
This article is reprinted from issue no 5 of Socialist Action, a socialist monthly newspaper published in San Francisco.
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