------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Sept. 27, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- EDITORIAL: JOBS, NOT WAR! The airline industry laid off 65,000 workers in the week after the attack on the World Trade Center. That number is expected to reach more than 100,000. In addition, Boeing announced it is now planning 30,000 layoffs in its civilian aircraft production division. The airline bosses say that the layoffs are necessary because of the new conditions brought on by the WTC attack. But the truth is that, because of the deepening economic recession, the airline industry was already in deep trouble. Layoffs may have been planned well before the attack, but the bosses are using the attack as a excuse for making them ruthless. Ask any airline worker. They can tell you that things were difficult before Sept. 11. Midway Airlines declared bankruptcy a month ago, but used the attack as the reason to suddenly shut down, stranding passengers and flight crews all over the country. Layoffs and shutdowns were already spreading before the attack, with unemployment at a four-year high. Even the White House and Congress, which are expected to turn over $24 billion to the airline bosses, don't believe that the layoffs and shutdowns are because of the WTC attack. The New York Times reported Sept. 19, "In developing an aid package for the airlines, administration officials and members of Congress were grappling with how to separate the financial effect of the terrorist attacks from the economic woes the industry had before last week." They may be "grappling," but in the end they'll turn over billions to the airline bosses. They'll do it with speeches declaring that it is their patriotic duty. Why is it their patriotic duty to bail out the airline bosses, but it is not the patriotic duty of those bosses to protect the jobs of the workers? This is federal funding, after all. Workers all across the United States are paying for this bailout with their tax dollars. So why aren't these funds being used to guarantee jobs? The Democrats are not much different than the Republicans on this. There are no calls to save the jobs of airline workers, just calls to save the airline companies. Rep. Richard Gephardt, a leading Democrat who gets lots of support from labor unions, mumbled something about getting assurances that laid-off workers will be able to collect unemployment checks. Has he ever tried to live off the meager sum paid in unemployment compensation? In Alabama, that could be as little as $45 a week. The media frenzy and war hype is hiding the reality of the economic recession. Capitalism was in crisis before the attack. The stock market plunge--the biggest one-day fall ever--was a sign that the big capitalists expect the recession and the capitalist economic crisis to deepen. In the past, whenever Washington announced a war move, the stock market would shoot up. This has been true ever since World War II. It was especially noticeable during the Vietnam War, where every escalation announced by the White House would find a corresponding rise on the stock market. Not this time. The war talk in Washington has not raised the stock market. In fact, the drop in the market showed the uncertainty and divisions in the ruling class. None seem to believe that the war buildup will solve capitalism's deeper crises. There is one answer in this time of crisis. The billions that Congress is spending should be put to use protecting the jobs of all--those whose jobs were lost because of the destruction of the World Trade Center and Pentagon, airline workers who are being told that they are being laid off because of the attack, and all other workers whose jobs are threatened. Putting the money into jobs, not war, is the only way to provide security for the lives and livelihoods of all the workers affected. - END - (Copyright 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) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
