WW News Service Digest #349
1) The silencer
by WW
2) Another crisis looms for NYC
by WW
3) Providence cops sued over racial profiling
by WW
4) Philadelphia public schools: Groups resist grab by for-profit company
by WW
5) Reports rip lack of safety in toxic zones
by WW
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
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THE SILENCER
The Pentagon has admitted that it silenced the Arab
television service Al-Jazeera by blowing up its Kabul office
with a missile on Nov. 12. Just minutes before the bomb hit,
Tasir Alouni, Kabul correspondent of what the Associated
Press describes as "the Arab world's most respected
television channel," was abducted and beaten by unknown
assailants. Could there possibly be a more blatant act of
suppression of the press? Yet this is exactly what the U.S.
did in the last war, when it destroyed Belgrade television
with a direct bomb hit. Now the Bush administration is
spared the embarrassment of people around the world seeing
the real pictures of the war: dead bodies of women, children
and men, casualties of its terror bombing campaign.
- END -
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
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LESSONS OF 1975 BANK TAKEOVER:
ANOTHER CRISIS LOOMS FOR NYC
By Milt Neidenberg
New York
The headline on an Oct. 30 New York Times article recalled
turbulent years of class warfare in this city. The headline
read, "Green says city faces fiscal crisis as bad as in
70s."
The article was based on a 45-minute interview with Mark
Green one week before the Democratic mayoral candidate was
defeated in the local election--partly because he was
outspent six to one, but also because he had resorted to
racist innuendoes in his primary campaign against Bronx
Borough President Fernando Ferrer. Green, speaking to Times
reporters and editors, warned that the city could face an
economic crisis comparable to 1975. That was when this
financial center of the world was close to bankruptcy.
He expressed fears that the city could face an alarming $4
billion to $6 billion budget deficit for the 2002 fiscal
year. That, he warned, could create a rerun of the 1975
nightmare that rattled Wall Street bankers, insurance
tycoons and corporate heads. He added that the city is again
threatened by the specter of defaulting on its loans, as it
was in 1975.
New York's accumulated debt is now close to a whopping $35
billion. The financial health of this capital of world
finance is a major concern nationally and internationally.
The devastating attack on the World Trade Center, which
wiped out a section of Wall Street, coupled with a deepening
recession and war, has the Wall Street bankers and corporate
heads moving. A temporary economic advisory committee has
been set up, led by Robert E. Rubin.
Rubin chairs the executive committee of the board of
directors of Citigroup. The global banking and insurance
dynasty includes Travelers Insurance and Salomon Smith
Barney, and has interlocking ties to other major
corporations.
This mega-banking institution also has strong financial ties
to both Democratic and Republican administrations,
particularly in this city. Rubin is a former partner in
Goldman-Sachs, an investment powerhouse that covers the
globe. He was treasury secretary in the Clinton
administration. He wields wide influence in Wall Street
circles, the government and the Federal Reserve Board.
1975 FINANCIAL ARCHITECT SURFACES
Another powerful individual has surfaced: Felix Rohatyn,
banker and former U.S. ambassador to France. Rohatyn has
maintained his connections to Lazard Freres, a global
banking and consulting giant. Its clients have included
Lockheed Martin, a company that recently won a $200 billion
contract from the Pentagon.
Rohatyn, a wily financier who mouths a liberal line, was the
architect of the 1975
financial crisis that bailed out the banks when New York was
about to default on its loans.
Just one month before the Nov. 6 election, Rohatyn met with
a group of municipal union leaders, City Comptroller Alan G.
Hevesi and State Comptroller H. Carl McCall. This group
oversees a combined $280 billion of state and city union
pension funds.
At the Oct. 4 meeting, Rohatyn reportedly encouraged the 30
participants to develop a plan to help finance the
rebuilding of office towers, the transit system and other
projects destroyed by the attack on the World Trade Center.
Though the group did not make specific commitments, McCall,
who plans to run against Gov. George Pataki in 2002, said
the "pension funds could purchase bonds issued by the state
or the city and guaranteed by the federal government, could
provide mortgage financing for office development or could
invest directly in a project." (New York Times, Oct. 5)
The Times briefly spelled out Rohatyn's role during those
turbulent years in the 1970s. "Rohatyn was appointed by Gov.
Hugh Carey and the State Legislature in 1975 to head the
Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC), and to participate
in the Emergency Financial Control Board (EFCB) which had
been created to salvage the dire financial structure."
These two powerful institutions, like trustees over a labor
union or a bankrupt company, ran the city in every respect.
They wielded more power than any elected city official,
including the mayor. They were legislated by New York state
statutes during the 1975-1980 financial crisis to remain in
power for 30 years.
To this day, they stand as a shadow government.
PROTESTING WORKERS A COMMON SIGHT
In those days, MAC and the EFCB controlled all revenues
taken in by the city: the Transit Authority, Board of
Education, Health and Hospitals Corp. and all other
agencies.
The board was given power to approve or reject all city
contracts, including labor contracts. It laid off tens of
thousands of city employees: social workers, teachers,
sanitation workers, hospital workers, university instructors
and nurses.
It was a disaster for the African American and Latino
communities and all the poor and unemployed, who suffered
the most.
When Wall Street refused to bankroll the city debt, MAC head
Rohatyn enacted a wage freeze and more layoffs, increased
the subway fare, and imposed tuition on the low-income city
university students who previously had been exempt.
The unions fought back. Sanitation workers went on a wildcat
strike. Firefighters began a slowdown and, in the fall of
1975, the teachers went on strike. Mass demonstrations on
Wall Street, led by the municipal unions, were a common
sight.
MAC and the EFCB--backed by Democratic Gov. Hugh Carey and a
powerful array of bankers and insurance tycoons, led by the
Rockefeller and Morgan interests--overpowered the labor
movement. The unions were forced to accept a package of
cutbacks that decimated their members.
There were across-the-board cuts in all city services. With
a gun to their heads, the unions agreed to commit $500
million of their pension funds to bail out the city. Wall
Street still refused to invest in the city debt. Its hold on
the city and its work force tightened.
Even an appeal to President Gerald Ford for federal funds
was met with an unequiv ocal no. Or, as the Daily News
headline at the time put it: "Ford to City: Drop Dead."
It was only when union trustees agreed to invest a huge
chunk of their pension funds to purchase $2.7 billion in
city debt that the bankers decided the risk to their
bondholders had faded. They relinquished their hold on the
city and opened up their deep pockets to buy MAC bonds.
The threat of bankruptcy eased. Over many years the union
pension funds were again made whole and some jobs and
services were restored. But the labor movement and the
oppressed communities never completely recovered from the
1975 financial crisis.
Which class will bear brunt of crisis?
Recently Rohatyn, who served as MAC chairperson from 1975-
1993, has activated his role in the current financial
crisis. He is writing extensively on how to deal with
another "1975."
In an Oct. 9 New York Times piece headlined "Fiscal Disaster
the City Can't Face Alone," Rohatyn described in detail his
strategy then and now to solve the city's fiscal crisis. He
said, "It took five years between 1975 to 1980 with the
strong support of the city's labor unions and the banks" to
end the threat of bankruptcy.
In an article in the Nov. 11 New York Times Magazine, he
called for MAC and the EFCB "to be reactivated."
Rohatyn completely distorts the history of those turbulent
years of class warfare. He has deleted the ruthless role of
his Wall Street cronies who held the city's work force,
their communities and the poor hostage to a few billionaire
bankers.
What is crystal clear is that the municipal unions are once
again in Wall Street's sights to bear the brunt of this
current financial crisis.
More than 25 years have passed since those days when the
municipal unions and their members took such heavy hits.
Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg is preparing to take over the
reins of power from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Giuliani leaves office with tens of thousands of people
homeless, jobless and hungry. Food pantries and soup
kitchens are inundated as requests for emergency food rise
dramatically. Unemployment has assault ed the labor movement
and the unorganized, both in the public and private sectors.
Billionaire Bloomberg, who spent $60 million of his own
money to get elected, owns a major financial and global
information company--Bloomberg LP--that has strong ties to
Wall Street. The dominant financial institution Merrill
Lynch owns 20 percent of the company. The chairperson of
Bloomberg is a managing director at Credit Suisse First
Boston. The company's clients include all the major
financial firms, as well as newspapers such as the New York
Times.
Bloomberg is in a honeymoon stage with the city unions. His
initial strategy is to cross party lines to reach the Black
and Latino communities and their leaders. It is all for
show; it's cosmetic. His true loyalty rests with Wall Street
and big business, which were behind his obscene $60 million
run for office.
As the city's fiscal crisis worsens, deepened by recession
and war, Bloomberg's velvet gloves will come off.
Wall Street has not changed its nature. It is as hungry as
ever to increase profits and production by way of massive
layoffs and cutbacks.
The municipal unions and their allies need to review these
bitter lessons of 25 years ago and break away from the
Bloomberg-Rohatyn-Rubin strategy that is about to snare them
into another debacle for their members.
The labor movement needs to pursue an independent political
relationship with its natural allies in the
oppressed/immigrant communities, the primarily youthful anti-
war and anti-racist movement, and the anti-globalization and
anti-sweatshop forces in the city and beyond.
Developing this base could be a giant step in avoiding the
disastrous outcome that workers and the most oppressed
suffered here a quarter of a century ago.
- END -
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
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PROVIDENCE. R..I.: COPS SUED OVER RACIAL PROFILING
By Michael Shaw
Providence, R.I.
Two suits against the Providence Police Department--one by
the American Civil Liberties Union, the other by the state
attorney general--were filed Nov. 6 in State Superior Court
after the police were discovered to be illegally under-
reporting traffic-stop data regarding race.
The suits were prompted by the ACLU's revelation that
Providence police traffic-stop data submissions totaled at
best one-sixth of any other single city's records. Since
Providence is by far the largest city in Rhode Island, with
over 1 million residents, this discrepancy was a red flag
pointing to attempts to hide an ongoing policy of racism.
Police statewide are required by law to submit data on the
race of those whose vehicles they stop. This was mandated by
recent civil rights legislation in order to document racial
profiling. This law came about due to bitter complaints and
fierce mobilizations by Rhode Islanders of color and their
allies. They were sick of people being punished for "Driving
While Black."
The shooting death in February 1999 of off-duty Black
officer Cornell Young Jr. by two white fellow officers in
this city unleashed a further firestorm of protest. The
incident accelerated community organizing against police
abuses.
Former Providence Police Chief Urbano Prignano resigned in
disgrace last year under growing pressure from community
groups and charges of corruption in the police department.
These emerged as federal prosecutors revealed widespread
racketeering in the mayor's office, known as "Operation
Plunder Dome."
Prignano's replacement, Richard Sullivan, has continued his
predecessor's arrogant attitude of denial. At a Brown
University forum on police and community earlier this month,
Sullivan flatly stated that his department has "absolutely
no corruption." When confronted with Providence's egregious
failure to document traffic stops, he said at first that
officers "were unclear on how to submit" this simple form.
Later he backpedaled, saying that record keeping had merely
lapsed during one month this summer.
While the civil suits play out, local activists against
racism and police brutality are not resting. They are
engaged in a campaign led by the progressive community group
Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) to win a city
ordinance for an external review board, which would create
civilian oversight of the police and help curb their racism.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
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PHILADELPHIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
GROUPS RESIST GRAB BY FOR-PROFIT CO.
By Betsey Piette
Philadelphia
Through public forums, outdoor rallies and citywide
hearings, parents, students, teachers, and community
activists are making it clear that they don't want
Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker to let Edison Schools,
Inc., privatize Philadelphia's public schools.
For years Philadelphia parents and teachers have been
demanding additional funding for the public schools in one
of the most under-funded districts in the state. In 1999 the
per-student spending was $7,480 in Philadelphia compared
with $11,000 to $13,000 in surrounding predominantly white
suburbs. As a percentage of income, Philadelphians pay more
in local taxes than residents of the suburban counties.
The school district of Philadelphia enrolls 205,000
students, more than 80 percent of whom are children of
color; 78 percent are from low-income households. A racial
discrimination lawsuit against the State of Pennsylvania
aimed at rectifying this funding disparity on federal civil
rights grounds was found in the city's favor, but shelved by
Mayor John Street as a concession to the state. Decades of
under-funding have left a legacy of overcrowded and under-
equipped classrooms, low test scores, high drop-out rates,
and widespread dissatisfaction with the public schools.
Mayor Street committed $1 billion to build new sports
stadiums in the city, but vetoed an additional $45 million
for school spending this year. Statewide, over the past 20
years, spending for prisons has increased 452 percent while
spending for education has increased only 86 percent.
Gov. Tom Ridge during his tenure unsuccessfully pushed for
voucher programs as a step toward school privatization. In
July, Mayor Street signed a memorandum of understanding with
Ridge that gave the governor permission to commission an
analysis of the financial and educational state of the
school district.
Ridge then awarded a $2.7-million contract to Edison
Schools, Inc., the nation's largest for-profit manager of
public schools, to study and make proposals for how to deal
with the district's financial and academic crisis.
Edison manages 136 schools in 21 states across the country
and was interested in taking over some of Philadelphia's
schools. Its involvement in this study was clearly a
conflict of interest, especially since Edison had little
experience in evaluating large urban school districts.
Ridge, however, had political ties to Edison through the
Rev. Floyd Flake, president of Edison's charter school
division, who served and worked closely with Ridge when
Flake, who is from New York City, was in the House of
Representatives.
The Philadelphia school district is experiencing a $215-
million deficit. Under Pennsylvania Act 46, passed in 1998
primarily to break the teachers' union, the deficit makes
the city's schools subject to state takeover.
Schweiker became Pennsylvania governor on Oct. 5, after
Ridge left to serve as Bush's "Homeland Security Czar."
LEGISLATURE ABOLISHES SCHOOL BOARD IN SECRET SESSION
On Oct. 23, in a secret, late-night session, the
Pennsylvania Legislature amended Act 46 in order to abolish
the Philadelphia Board of Education and facilitate a state
takeover. It replaced the board with a five-member School
Reform Commission, four of them appointed by Schweiker.
The commission was given the authority to hire independent
contractors to run the district's central administration,
individual schools and support services. Under this plan the
very people who have been under-funding Philadelphia's
schools will now run them.
In response to these moves, a multiracial coalition of 30
organizations was formed to oppose the privatization of
Philadelphia schools and to call instead for increased
funding to improve them. Philadelphians United to Support
Public Schools has been actively organizing against plans to
hire Edison.
Coalition members had backed a resolution by City
Councilmember Michael Nutter, passed by City Council, to put
a referendum on the November ballot letting the public vote
on privatization. Mayor Street refused to sign it, blocking
the referendum.
The coalition released its own findings on Edison's record
in running school districts in Minneapolis, Wichita, Kan.,
and Lansing, Mich.--cities planning to terminate contracts
with Edison due to poor performance. In addition, school
districts run by Edison in Baltimore, Miami, Dallas and San
Francisco had higher than anticipated costs and lower than
promised test scores. In San Francisco, Edison kicked out 15
low-performing students, 14 of them African American males.
Edison has also acquired a $200-million deficit over the
last five years, hardly better than the Philadelphia
schools. However, as a private corporation, Edison does not
have to hire union workers or honor any previous contracts.
Edison School, Inc., has a record of hiring unskilled
personnel at lower wages to boost its profits, and admits to
a problem of high turnover among teaching staff.
While Edison is telling the Philadelphia City Council and
the Pennsylvania Legislature that it is experienced, capable
of running the city's schools and will turn a profit soon, a
stock prospectus released Aug. 3 for potential investors
paints quite a different picture. Edison claims it operated
schools for 13 years, but its stock report admits the first
Edison school opened in the fiscal year ending June 1996,
and that it has limited experience operating four-year high
schools.
To potential investors, Edison admits that investing in the
company "involves a high degree of risk" and that "failure
to become profitable may adversely affect" its ability to
continue operations. Yet to the press and when addressing
community meetings in Philadelphia, Edison claims it can
meet any challenge.
A final decision on the takeover is due Nov. 30.
GROUPS UNITE TO BLOCK EDISON
Philadelphia United to Support Public Schools has organized
several public rallies to oppose the Edison takeover.
Speakers from the NAACP, the Black Radical Congress, Asian
Americans United and the National Congress for Puerto Rican
Rights have pointed out the racism inherent in the state's
hostile takeover of the Philadelphia schools, noting that
Schweiker would not have taken the same action against a
predominantly white school district or a city with a white
mayor.
Cecilia James, an African-American parent representing the
Alliance Organizing Project, who spoke against Edison at a
Nov. 1 rally, said the only things Edison-run schools offer
for the children's future are "the military, unemployment
and jails."
There was particular anger at that rally because earlier in
the day Schweiker had announced plans to appoint Edison to
run several of the city's schools, before discussing them
with Mayor Street or the Philadelphia School Board. Outrage
was also expressed that the state is promising Edison $50
million in management fees, after claiming that there was no
money to give to the Philadelphia schools if they remained
public.
Dr. Karin C. Bivins of the Philadelphia NAACP expressed
concern that Edison's takeover could lead to a resegregation
of the schools. Another focus of the coalition groups has
been to urge the mayor and the Board of Education to
immediately reactivate the racial discrimination lawsuit.
An outdoor rally against Edison on Nov. 7 brought together
students, parents, teachers, unionists and community
activists. So many people attended public hearings the next
day on the school takeover that they had to be continued
into the weekend.
Philadelphians United to Support Public Schools says there
is an alternative to Edison: quality public schools that are
adequately funded. They have vowed to continue the fight
with a demonstration in Harrisburg on Nov. 15 and a march on
City Hall the next day.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Nov. 22, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
REPORTS RIP LACK OF SAFETY IN TOXIC ZONES
By Mary Owen
New York
For over two months a persistent fire burning beneath the
rubble of the World Trade Center has created foul, acrid air
that is making people ill.
Something called "World Trade Center cough" has developed
among those who live and work nearby. Occupational-health
doctors report that they are seeing more and more cases of
severe sinus irritation.
So what exactly is in the smoke? Is it safe to breathe?
Has the government tried to adequately protect rescue and
other workers near ground zero? And what will be the long-
term effects of exposure to toxic contaminants on and after
Sept. 11?
REPORT CRITICIZES LACK OF WORKER PROTECTION
One sobering assessment comes from John Moran. He is a well-
respected engineer and industrial hygienist with the
National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, a
division of the National Institutes of Health.
A safety and health consultant for 25 years, Moran spent the
weeks after Sept. 11 evaluating working conditions at ground
zero. His critical report was released in late October.
"There is no excuse for what I saw," said Moran. He reported
that hundreds of worker injuries at ground zero could have
been prevented had the city moved quickly to require proper
training and protective equipment.
He called it "the most hazardous site I have ever been on."
Moran cited major safety violations, such as workers and
visitors failing to wear respirators, eye protection or even
hard hats--protection that their employers or the government
should issue them for free.
He said some hazards would increase as the work continues.
Workers will be at greater risk for respiratory diseases the
longer they stay at the site. Exposure to asbestos will be
greater as they dig into the lower floors, where asbestos
was extensively used.
Moran particularly criticized the city for failing to make a
centrally organized effort to see that workers and
volunteers--over 5,000 of them--got the training and
protective equipment they need.
COMPLEX MIX OF UNKNOWN SUBSTANCES
Meanwhile, occupational-health experts have characterized
the cloud that engulfed lower Manhattan on Sept. 11 as a
complex mix of unknown substances.
It probably contained pulverized cement, gypsum and glass,
among other things. But most say they are not sure they'll
ever know exactly what was in the cloud, through which
thousands of workers ran for their lives.
Health effects from some substances, such as asbestos, might
not show up until years later. The responsible public health
approach would be to set up a registry of all those who were
exposed so they could be tracked into the future.
This way health problems could be detected early. Yet there
is no indication that the government is taking on this
needed task.
Officials are preoccupied with making sure that the gold is
safely rescued from bank vaults at ground zero.
TOXIC AIR
Then there is the air quality.
The fire at ground zero has burned longer than any
commercial building fire in U.S. history. Tons of flammable
materials, including paper and fabrics, wall coverings,
desks and wood furniture, plastics and more have been
feeding the fire and sending noxious clouds through the
area.
Most of the air monitoring around the recovery zone found
low or no levels of dangerous contaminants, according to the
New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, but
some levels have been higher.
In the Oct. 26 Daily News, Juan Gonzalez reported that
Environmental Protection Agency monitoring had shown spikes
in levels of certain toxic contaminants in the nearby air,
soil and water. The EPA reported elevated levels of benzene,
chlorinated dioxins, chromium, copper, lead, polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) and sulfur dioxide near the site.
"On one day alone, the level of benzene, which can cause
leukemia and bone marrow damage with prolonged exposure, was
measured at 58 times official safety levels," wrote Michael
Ellison in the Oct. 27 Guardian of Britain.
"On another day, monitors found the chemical at 42, 31 and
16 times the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's
limits at three spots around the site in lower Manhattan."
PCBs and chlorinated dioxins are of particular concern. Both
can travel some distance in air. Both cause cancer, meaning
the only safe level of exposure is zero.
Yet Wall Street, the financial district and nearby
businesses, city offices and schools--including Borough of
Manhattan Community College, Pace University and Stuyvesant
High School--have reopened for "business as usual." Workers
and students have to come in despite feeling ill and
worrying about what they're breathing.
Verizon has put telephone workers on round-the-clock shifts
in horrendous conditions to get phone service up and running
in the area. And cleaning crews, many of them immigrant
workers, are sent in with no protective equipment to mop and
dust buildings containing potentially hazardous dust, so
that businesses can reopen.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the EPA
and other environmental watchdog agencies were set up as a
result of workers' struggles. So was a network of committees
for occupational safety and health, like NYCOSH, which unite
labor and occupational health experts to push for greater
worker protections.
Some New York City unionists have raised the idea of
returning to that type of activism to demand that workers in
lower Manhattan be protected against safety and health
hazards.
There could be no better time than now and no better place
to launch that struggle than ground zero.
