> WW News Service Digest #201 > > 1) Plant closings, layoffs loom at DaimlerChrysler > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 2) Buffalo, N.Y., health-care workers ratify historic contract > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 3) Lessons from a steel mill > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 4) How Cuba combated its economic crisis > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 5) Media give distorted view of Haitian vote > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > 6) Israeli troops shoot to maim Palestinian youths > by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 14, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >DETROIT: PLANT CLOSINGS, LAYOFFS LOOM AT DAIMLERCHRYSLER > >By Terri Kay >Detroit > >DaimlerChrysler has launched a major restructuring of its >Chrysler subsidiary, headquartered in the suburbs of >Detroit. > >Coming at the same time as a downturn in automobile sales, >this thinly disguised attempt to dismantle the former >Chrysler Corp. could have grave consequences for the almost >100,000 Chrysler workers. It portends a wave of massive >plant closings and layoffs that could eliminate tens of >thousands of jobs. > >This would have devastating effects on the largely African >American city of Detroit, which is just beginning to recover >from Chrysler's last major restructuring in the early 1980s. >Then Chrysler eliminated 35,000 Detroit jobs in three years. > >DaimlerChrysler remains the biggest employer within the city >of Detroit, and the biggest employer of African American >workers among the Big Three automakers. > >DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Officer Juergen Schrempp has >already called for renegotiating the Auto Workers contract >with concessions by the union. > >'MERGER OF EQUALS' MYTH EXPLODED > >In 1998 Daimler-Benz AG, based in Germany, bought out >Chrysler Corp. in the biggest industrial merger ever. > >To get approval from the Federal Trade Commission and the >Securities Exchange Commission, and to mute opposition from >the Auto Workers and the public, Daimler-Benz promised that >this would be a "merger of equals." > >It promised that Chrysler would continue to operate as a >semi-autonomous unit, that there would be no plant closings >and that the jobs of Chrysler workers would not be affected. > >However, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, >Schrempp acknowledged that this "merger of equals" talk was >a public-relations ploy to ensure government approval for >the Chrysler buyout. > >Six of the eight Chrysler representatives on the >DaimlerChrysler board of management have been removed. >Schremp recently fired the Chrylser division's second >president since the acquisition. He was replaced with two >Daimler officers. > >Of course, these corporate executives were bought out with >golden parachutes amounting to hundreds of millions of >dollars. > >Before its acquisition by Daimler-Benz, Chrysler was rated >the "leanest" of all automobile companies internationally. >Chrysler's former officers had already implemented job speed- >up, downsizing and outsourcing to non-union suppliers. > >Chrysler built up a $9 billion reserve for future product >development on the backs of its workers through its "lean >production" techniques. Daimler has used this fund to >acquire a controlling interest in Mitsubishi, buy Detroit >Diesel, start a sizeable joint venture with Caterpillar, buy >into a more commercial truck venture and make many other >purchases. > >FIGHT ANTI-GERMAN CHAUVINISM! > >Some rank-and-file auto workers and supporters say it's time >to launch a campaign to demand that the government reopen >its investigation into the Daimler-Benz acquisition of >Chrysler, which was approved based on Daimler's fraudulent >promises. The government, they say, must impose an immediate >moratorium on all Chrysler plant closings and layoffs before >they occur. > >Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire who was Chrysler's biggest >shareholder before the acquisition and is still >DaimlerChrysler's third-biggest shareholder, has filed a >lawsuit to reverse the Daimler buyout of Chrysler. Like the >Chrylser executives, however, Kerkorian is only worried >about protecting his own billions. > >Kerkorian is also trying to poison Chrysler workers with >anti-German chauvinism and blur the class question, as if he >were not just as ruthless as the Daimler bosses. > >"Only the Chrysler workers can defend their jobs," said >Jerry Goldberg of the Detroit A Job Is A Right Campaign, a >group that has fought plant closings and layoffs since the >mid-1980s. "And they can only do it by building solidarity >with German auto workers and fighting chauvinism. > >"The Chrysler workers must be independently represented in >any government investigation of the Daimler buyout," >Goldberg said. "In fact, the workers should be made the >trustees to manage and control the company's assets and stop >Daimler's plundering." > >To implement their legal right to control over the >corporation, and to guarantee that the plants are not sold >off and closed, "the workers must take action now," he said. >"Workers' control committees should be set up in each >Chrysler plant. The workers should prepare to seize the >plants and stop the sell-off of equipment to defend their >legal and property right to their jobs. > >"There must be worker representatives on the DaimlerChrysler >board of management to replace the eight former Chrysler >executives who sold them out. > >"Chrysler workers must solicit support from IG Metall, the >union representing Daimler workers in Germany. This union >has fought militantly against corporate downsizing and would >undoubtedly lend its solidarity to the Auto Workers union in >this battle." > >Goldberg added: "Ultimately, only workers' control can >protect the jobs and interests of the DaimlerChrysler >workers. With a recession likely, a struggle by Chrysler >workers to protect their jobs now can set the tone for >working-class battles against plant and office closings and >layoffs that will inevitably affect millions of workers in >the next period." > >- END - > >(Copyleft 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: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <008001c0620d$2f2625e0$0a00a8c0@linux> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Buffalo, N.Y., health-care workers ratify historic contract >Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 13:23:52 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 14, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >BUFFALO, N.Y.: HEALTH-CARE WORKERS RATIFY HISTORIC CONTRACT > >By Beverly Hiestand, R.N. >Chief Steward, Nurses United >CWA Local 1168 >Buffalo, N.Y. > >Seventy-two hundred health-care workers in three unions >ratified a truly historic five-year contract on Nov. 30. The >pact was negotiated by a joint 16-unit bargaining committee >with the goliath Kaleida Health Corp. These unions included >Communications Workers Local 1168, Service Employees 1199 >Upstate, and Operating Engineers Local 71. > >Kaleida Health, a non-profit corporation, was formed in >1998. It merged five major hospitals, including their home >care and satellite facilities. Kaleida became the biggest >health-care conglomerate in New York state outside of New >York City. > >This merger resulted in fewer available beds and >considerable downsizing of the combined work force. > >The merger could have wiped out all pre-existing union >contracts, forcing the unions to start from scratch. But the >unions quickly waged a struggle to pressure Kaleida's >management to recognize all the existing bargaining units. >The unions won formal recognition in the corporation >charter. > >At the same time, these unions won the right to have one >large negotiating committee representing 16 bargaining units >immediately negotiate an agreement to protect workers' >rights that were affected by the merger--including >seniority, transfer and job security rights. > >They also won an agreement that all existing contracts would >expire on the same date to be replaced by a new joint >contract--the one signed on Nov. 30. > >ORGANIZING THE UNORGANIZED > >At the time of the merger over half the employees were not >organized--a weakness in future bargaining power. So the >unions bargained with hospital management and won the right >to organize the unorganized using a method of card check--or >simple recognition of the majority's sentiments--rather than >going through the more common, slower and less fair >procedure of a National Labor Relations Board election. > >But to secure this, the unions gave up the right to strike >until the first contract was signed. > >In the ensuing two years CWA was able to organize almost all >the remaining non-management employees. Now there are twice >as many unionized workers as before the merger. > >As negotiations approached and the contracts neared >expiration, the unions mobilized worker and community >pressure on management. They organized slowdowns, work-to- >rule actions and informational picketing to build support >for the bargaining committee's demands. > >For the first time, nurses' aides, housekeepers, nurses, >respiratory therapists and cafeteria workers all picketed >together. > >There are strengths and weaknesses in the new contract. But >most important, it returns the unions' right to strike. > >The contract also provides pay raises of up to 35 percent >for some of the lowest paid workers. And it gets rid of pay >inequities in the same job categories that allow management >to move work to the lowest paid sites. > >Adequate staffing--one of the most urgent issues facing >health care delivery here--was not resolved by the new >contract. The number of employees has been reduced to bare >bones because of cutbacks in Medicare funding and the >overall drive for profits in the health-care industry. So >health-care workers' unions here have been waging a larger >campaign to restore federal and state funding to health care >and to agitate for universal health care. > >But unions alone can't win this. No contract will solve the >health-care crisis that has become a life-and-death issue in >this country today. > >Racism, sexism, anti-gay and anti-trans bigotry are also >barriers that keep many from the quality care they so >deserve. > >Almost 50 million documented workers--and untold numbers of >undocumented workers--are without health benefits. Hospitals >and doctors' offices turn away countless people because they >can't afford care. > >MERGERS EXACERBATE HEALTH-CARE CRISIS > >Pharmaceutical companies hold life-saving drugs for ransom. >The big insurance companies and HMOs are more concerned with >their profit margins than with patient care. And giant >mergers have led to more layoffs and speed-up for health- >care workers. > >But breaking up these conglomerates and going back to >smaller, decentralized facilities is not the answer. > >In fact, the mergers are creating a new relationship of >forces in the health-care industry. As the successful >strikes of the UPS and Verizon workers proved, giant >conglomerates haven't just made management more powerful; >they have also concentrated and unified a larger, more >powerful work force. > >The private capitalist ownership of industry and banking, >driven by the profit motive, is a barrier to providing >quality health care for all. > >The mergers set the stage for workers to take over these >industries lock, stock and barrel in order to create a >socialist economy based on planning to meet human needs. > >Every socialist revolution has decreed that health care be >free of charge because it is a human right, not a privilege. >In a socialist economy, health-care workers sit down with >the communities they serve to determine how to ensure that >cost-free, quality health care is the right of every human >being. > >- END - > >(Copyleft 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: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: >[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) > > > > > >Message-ID: <008801c0620d$44eaa860$0a00a8c0@linux> >From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [WW] Lessons from a steel mill >Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000 13:24:29 -0500 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 14, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >MARXISM, REFORMISM AND ANARCHISM: >LESSONS FROM A STEEL MILL IN SLOVAKIA > >By Deirdre Griswold > >Who actually won the Cold War and who lost? > >Every new report on the living conditions of the workers in >the former Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe >shows that their lives have deteriorated drastically since >the breakup of the planned economies. > >But they're not the only losers. It's not far-fetched to say >that workers here are also victims of U.S. imperialism's >victory in the Cold War. That far-reaching triumph for U.S. >corporations and banks has given the ruthless bosses a new >club with which to beat down wages and assault unions. > >PHASE ONE: BREAK IT UP > >To illustrate what this means in practical terms, take what >used to be the socialist country of Czechoslovakia in >Eastern Europe. Capitalist reformers took over in 1989 in >what was dubbed by the West the "Velvet Revolution." They >broke it into two separate nations in 1993--the Czech >Republic and Slovakia. But Czechoslovakia had been greater >than the sum of its parts. > >Czechoslovakia was a world industrial power. It had many >manufacturing industries based on steel, which it produced >at a high level of quality. Czechoslovak workers took for >granted many social guarantees like jobs, free health care >and education, pensions, paid maternity leave and vacations, >low-cost facilities for rest and recreation, and low prices >for essentials like food and rent. > >One product made by Czechoslovak workers was the AK-47, the >famous banana clip semi-automatic rifle used by the >Vietnamese in their struggle for liberation. No one who was >active in the anti-war movement in the United States will >forget the photograph of a Vietnamese woman capturing a >downed U.S. pilot twice her size. She was carrying an AK-47. > >The VSZ steel complex in Kosice, now Slovakia, employed tens >of thousands of workers at that time. It was built in the >1960s and is much more modern than many of the plants in the >U.S. Midwest, which sneering economists have dubbed the >"Rust Belt." It has automated ladles, controlled by workers >far from the intense heat of the furnaces, which can pour >180 tons of molten metal at one time. > >This mighty industrial complex was brought to its knees by >the capitalist reformers, until it completely ran out of >cash. The managers didn't have the money to buy the iron ore >or the power needed to run the plant. Thousands of >steelworkers were laid off, while the rest didn't know when >they would be paid. > >PHASE TWO: TAKE IT OVER > >Now it has been sold to U.S. Steel for the bargain basement >price of $450 million. This multibillion-dollar company, >which along with Marathon Oil makes up the conglomerate >known as USX, doesn't have to build new facilities or train >new workers. Everything was right there waiting for them. > >The first phase of the transition to capitalism was the >dismantling of the socialist economy in a way so painful for >the workers that they would welcome anyone who could get >production moving again. > >The second phase is for big imperialist corporations to pick >up the pieces at rock-bottom prices. > >Phase one has been a disaster for the workers of the former >Czechoslovakia. Phase two is proving to be a disaster for >U.S. workers, too, who have been losing their jobs in droves >as companies close their plants in the U.S. and move their >capital to where desperate conditions have driven down the >social wage. > >An article from Kosice, Slovakia, in the Nov. 30 New York >Times explains what has happened since U.S. Steel bought the >VSZ steel works: > >"For U.S. Steel, this is the first major expansion after >more than two decades of relentless contraction. The Slovak >mill will account for one-quarter of U.S. Steel's entire >production capacity. With more than 17,000 workers, the >operations here employ twice as many people as U.S. Steel's >biggest American sites. > >"But while American steelworkers earn $35 to $42 an hour, >wages here are about $2 an hour.... > >"For Slovaks, the last few years have been grueling. >Unemployment averages about 20 percent across the country; >23 percent in Kosice. Real wages, adjusted for inflation, >have declined more than 8 percent this year. > >"Here in Kosice, a picturesque city of 300,000, the >municipal government is so short of money that it is trying >to sell public forest land and buildings. Young people >graduating from vocational school or the university set >their sights on leaving, and many parents encourage them." > >When bosses see the possibility of cutting steelworkers' >wages from $35 an hour--which of course includes benefits-- >to $2 an hour, there is no crime they will not commit. > >The irony is that many here in the labor movement >facilitated the triumph of U.S. imperialism in the Cold War. >The AFL-CIO of that time, under the conservative leadership >of George Meany and Lane Kirkland, conspired with the >Central Intelligence Agency and other counter-revolutionary >arms of the government to help undermine the planned econo >mies of the Eastern bloc. > >When the bourgeois reformers took over in Czechoslovakia, >many people here and in western Europe who had been part of >the progressive movements of the 1960s and 1970s fell for >the propaganda of the corporate media and thought it was a >victory for democracy and freedom. They hated the capitalist >state with its repressive armies, police, jails and courts, >and were easily persuaded that the states in Eastern Europe >were even worse. They doubted that these were real workers' >states because there was privilege and bureaucracy. > >THEORIES THAT HAVEN'T STOOD THE TEST OF TIME > >Some in the left movement added to the confusion by calling >these societies "state capitalist." If they were indeed >capitalist, and run by the state in an undemocratic and >heavy-handed way to boot, then why should anyone defend >them? > >Some of these "leftists" became the shrillest opponents of >the Eastern bloc. > >What has happened since then, however, should sink in with >anyone who cares about the working class. It should be >crystal clear by now that, despite their imperfections, >these states defended some very basic rights of the workers. >Until their overthrow, they held the ravenous corporate >globalizers from the U.S. and other imperialist countries at >bay. > >In the new movement against globalization arising in the >United States today, there is a strong anarchist tendency >that dismisses all states as "authoritarian." Here again, >those involved are repelled by the every-day brutality of >the capitalist state, which all too often reaches lethal >proportions. > >Marxism agrees with anarchism that the goal of the >revolutionary struggle is a society without repression, >without the compulsion of an armed state standing above the > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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