Tear Down The Wall!

Again Ni’lin leads the way.  For years now the villagers of Ni’lin and the surrounding district, along with Israeli and international solidarity activists, have been campaigning against Israeli’s apartheid wall.  Today part of that wall came down.  Their steadfast determination is an inspiration and more.  Fatah is discredited and Hamas isolated; both are trapped in their own cul-de-sac and new leadership is desperately needed.  Perhaps it will come from Ni’lin?  Where there is life there is hope and Ni’lin is a bright light of life in the struggle.  Much more at Stop The Wall! and ISM.

The climb down by the United States on settlements and the House’s overwhelming vote to reject Goldstone before it went to the UN can’t but prove that policy of a racist double standard will continue under Obama.  Of course the US rejects Goldstone, they facilitated the Gaza massacre in every way!  The apartheid Israel is building has always been reflected in the “one law for Israel and another for the Arabs” policy of the United States;  a policy that shows no signs of changing.

I hope that the totally spent Abu Mazen keeps to his pledge not to run.  The entirely unrealistic desire to have the United States act as an “honest broker” has always been a sign of impotence on the part of the Palestinian leadership.  The Fatah leadership increasingly looks like the comprapdors they’ve become.  Rejecting the Goldstone Report may have been a stoop too low.  They can’t free their people so they plead that the Lord restrain his vassal and see the serfs point of view, but a vassal, as befits a vassal, is engaged in the Lord’s work; it is how they keep their fiefs after all.

Below is a good report on the growing discontent among young Palestinians and the role of the Ni’lin resistance.

Dave Moore: Working Class Hero

In the aftermath of the Ford contract vote it is important to look back on what made the UAW to begin with.  Dave Moore, born in 1912 and one of the last surviving Hunger Marchers of 1932 which saw five union members killed., died recently.  A fascinating mini-documentary, chock full of great photos, made by Southeast Michigan union activists Bob Ingalls and Al Benchich below.  While Moore worked for many years a s a Democrat (and readers of this blog know how I feel about them), it was the independence of industrial unionism that allowed for it to make so many of its  early gains.  One of the reasons for the decline of the UAW over the last decades is their absorption into the Democratic Party and it will take a break from that Party if the unions are to become, again, champions of their class.  Moore’s struggle, and the struggle of thousands of Moores, as a black worker militant are largely responsible for whatever gains workers and black folks,  have made in this country.  Here’s a 2007 interview with Moore as well.

Kunstgeschwätz

Briefly, briefly.  I’ve been watching a horror movie this weekend; it’s called the World Series and I don’t know if I can watch anymore, but I will.  For some reason everything I hate about the Yankees seems to be summed up in the revelation that Alex Rodriguez sleeps below a painting of himself depicted as a centaur.  The very notion of a jerk just got a whole lot jerkier.

The wars now raging in South Asia look set to rage further.  “Karzai Declared Elected Leader” was the headline in the news all over today.  I’m wondering if the tension between “declared” and “elected” was a conscious editorial irony. Though Karzai’s next term goes in the history books with an asterisk bigger than  Barry Bond’s the United States have been waiting for the “election” to legitimize the soon to be announced escalation and now they have their manufactured green light.  The United States’ concern for democracy has always been hollow.  They would have preferred fraud a little less transparent, but they will take what they can get.  Still, I’m sure they are on the look out for a better stooge.  A good Quisling is so hard to find these days.  Karzai uses American bodyguards because he can’t trust the Afghan ones (bad sign for a President of the Afghans), if I were him I’d watch out for the American ones too.

I’ve got Volume 42 (Letters 1864-68) of the Works next to my bed these days.  It was a frantic period: Capital finally got finished, the Austro-Prussian war began and the American Civil War ended, The Fenians and the founding of the International, etc.  Even a quick glance could quickly turn into an hours long adventure of cross-referencing and document hunting for the so inclined.  One of the many, many wonderful things about reading through the letters of Marx and Engels are the words you learn.  Between them they must have been proficient in thirty languages and expert in the literature of half those, but it was German words that caught my eye last night.

In a letter to his daughter Jenny, on a trip to Hanover to publish his opus, Marx describes one Mme. Tenge (“not so beautiful in reality as her shadow indicates”), the daughter of the educated aristocratic bourgeoisie,  as free of fake learning (“flasche Bildung”) and, though she is a musician, doesn’t “kill one with Kunstgeschwätz.”  Now that’s a word!  It means to chatter endlessly about art.  I’ve had need of such a word my entire life.  I’m going to use it the next time I’m in a room full of such talk.  It can’t help but be taken offensively.  Thanks Karl.

The day after it became clear that the United Auto Workers latest concessionary contract with Ford was rejected (a first for a generation) by the rank and file word comes in of Ford’s quarterly profits.  Turns out they made almost a billion take home.  The biggest in four years.  One wonders if the report came out last week instead of this week if the results would have been 90+% against rather than the 70+% against.  Either way the workers have put their collective foot down and the rest of US workers should clasp their hand with a hearty “well done”, and I would add “what took you so long!”  Where the rebellion goes from here is all about leadership.  Let’s hope it’s a turning point.

One of the many downsides of the Lisbon Treaty getting though in Ireland after the second try was the possibility of Lord Blair Kut al-Amara becoming the appointed President of the Europe Union (they just appoint directly rather than the circular Afghan route).  Now Tony Blair is easily one of my least favorite people ever and the prospect of having to listen to him speak on the public stage (beyond my opposition to the (neo) liberal imperialism he encapsulates) filled me with horror.  His schmaltzy English sentimentalism parading as earnestness and his language of lawyers tricks is torture (something he knows about) to listen to. Blair is one of those assholes who has to be in charge no matter where he’s at.  He should be in charge of making big rocks into little rocks somewhere in the Iraqi desert in my humble opinion.  Thankfully, Europe has passed on a President Blair.  Madam Miaow has similar thoughts.

And finally, I’ve been sitting in history classes at a working class public university for years now and I am constantly aghast at how little is actually understood or known about where we, as a society, come from.  Here is a fascinating group of talks by historian David Blight and a bunch of others called “Birth and Rebirth of a Nation” given recently at The New School on the changing ways that the Civil War and Reconstruction have been remembered (or not), from DW Griffith’s abominable movie on.  How we remember and understand the Second American Revolution says plenty about where we’re at now; whether we know where we are at now or not.  Good stuff.

Ford Workers Rebel Against Concessions!

The rebellion against the latest UAW concessions to Ford is gathering pace.  For the first time in thirty-three years the contract looks as if it will be rejected by the membership.  This is the best news I’ve heard in a long while.  The beginnings of a fight back?  Here are some of the numbers (unofficial) from across the country:

• Claycomo, Missouri (Kansas City) no 92% with 1,712 voting no, 147 yes
• Louisville, Ky.UAW Local 862 rejected with 84% opposed
• Dearborn–research & engineering employees no 90%
• Flat Rock 74% no with 1265 voting no, 485 yes
• Livonia Transmission no 52%
• Plymouth no vote, but no figures or percentage
• Saline no 75% with 681 voting no, 226 yes
• Sterling Axle no 80%
• Ypsilanti 52% no (skilled trades voted no, production workers voted yes by only one vote
• Dearborn Truck unit of UAW Local 600 92.6% NO
• Main. & Construction, also UAW Local 600 NO
• Metal Stamping plant, Chicago 80% NO
• Sandisky (Ohio) 92.6% NO
• Sharonville Transmission (Ohio) UAW Local 863 75% NO
• Tarus, Chicago NO
• Walton Hills Stamping (Ohio) UAW Local 420 88% NO

Below is the text of a Vote No! leaflet handed out at the UAW’s flagship local 600 in Dearborn, Michigan which contains the sprawling Ford Rouge plant. (flyer as a doc here)

Vote NO!

At $14/hr and no real pension, will new-hires defend pensions, buy cars, or put much into Social Security & Medicare?  Limits on the right to strike hurt us all! Labor donated 10-18-09

Local 600’s 2009 Labor Day T-shirt reads: “The labor movement, FIGHTING FOR ALL WORKERS.” That excellent message builds public support for the UAW!  But concessions contradict this message, hurting the fight even for auto workers, let alone “all” workers. Also on Labor Day, DTP Bargaining Committeeperson Gary Walkowicz helped us all by opposing concessions in the Free Press.

Jerry Tucker, former UAW International Executive Board member and UAW Region Five Director, wrote:

“If I were a voting Ford worker I would be voting against this tentative agreement and openly advocating its defeat.”

♦  “Wage freeze for entry level workers through the life of the agreement.”  Mulally says Ford must not be “disadvantaged.”  Is it a “disadvantage” to pay new hires enough to buy cars? An M&C brother wrote: “This is likely a 6 year wage freeze for all of us, because that’s the likely outcome of arbitration of the next contract.”

♦  Severe limitations on the right to strike–only arbitration for “improvements” in wages and benefits. Improvements to be “comparable to competitors, including transplant automotive manufacturers.” So the “pattern” includes non-union shops! Contrary to the Highlights’ “defense” of patterns, downward “patterns” pit us against each other. Bring GM & Chrysler members up, not us down–and let’s organize the transplants into the UAW!

♦  Phased combination of most trades into Mechanical Teams.  “…our objective remains the same” as GM’s and Chrysler’s trades efficiency (Modifications, page 25).   “There will be no established lines of demarcation within the mechanical teams” set up “to reach pattern efficiency”.  We know that job combinations undermine working conditions, specialized skills, and health & safety. One goal of “combining” jobs is outsourcing them.  And how will overtime work among teams?

♦  Jobs? Ford will “replace the commitments that the company could not fulfill because of the economic crisis.” UNfulfilled commitments were NOT REAL–neither are these! We’re forced to wait until  “…business conditions improve and cash is available.”  Can you “commit” to your car payment only “when cash is available”?!  And some job “commitments” are only to “identify future opportunities.”  This is no job security.

♦  Retirees protected?  How long will retirees make more than the new workers on the line, who we need to defend pensions? There’s no guarantee the VEBA board won’t go after medical in 2010 when VEBA takes over.

♦  Bonus?  Before you “take the money and run,” look to see if your feet are tied together.

The strike threat defends our money, benefits, rights–and UAW political clout…Power in Washington starts with our power right here (for true national health insurance, converting closed plants to greener jobs and alternative transportation for auto and other workers, and defending the gains of civil rights movements, etc.).

International solidarity:  CAW-Ford members like Lindsay Hinshelwood at Oakville assembly also organize against concessions. We need an independent Council of union reps and workers across borders, not Ford lobbying the International Metalworkers Federation Ford Network. Ford wants to lead the race to the bottom internationally.

A Local 600 M&C brother wrote, “Ford won’t stop asking for concessions until we tell them NO. We can beat this terrible deal! A resounding NO vote is the first step to re-building the UAW as a union that fights for its members and all working people.”

Judy Wraight, M&C, former T&D Exec. Bd.   Gary Walkowicz, DTP Bargaining Cmte, gwalk15@peoplepc.com Dan Sultana, M&C  Donnie McCuien, T&D  Dave Gelman, M&C  Victor Bean, DSP/Body, Gen. Council  Ali Shamsedean, T&D   Murray Boyk, T&D  Bruce Price Sr., former Fin. Sec. UAW 919, Norfolk , VA, now DTP  Eric Truss, DDMP Jim Benson, DEFTP  Robert Morris, Parts Bargaining Cmte,  Harold Corey, T&D  Dan Bartle, M&C T&D Charles R. Mattison Doug Kowalske, Parts, ret., former Alt. Cmte    Ron Matley, T&D, ret. Ron Lare, T&D, ret., former Local 600 Guide, ronlare@sbcglobal.net ♦ Add your name by email

And more links to sources:

UAW Ford Vote Data To October 30 2009 (PDF)

Ford Deal All Smoke and Mirrors (PDF) Lindsay Hinshelwood
Rank and File member, CAW Local 707

PETITION: Stop International Concessions (PDF) Gary Walkowitz,et al

Dear Brothers and Sisters (UAW Local 3000 – dated October, 2009) Jeff Hodges UAW Local 3000

More…

2009 Auto Industry Union Contract Info

Ford Workers Say ‘We Gave Enough!’

By Ron Lare (originally in Labor Notes)

“No!” “No!” “No!”

It started with a simple question, “Can you hear me?”  United Auto Workers International Vice President Bob King was inside Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant, near Detroit, ready to tell a crowd of rank-and-file members why they should vote for more concessions to the profitable automaker.  In an almost unprecedented move, management had shut down production of its best-selling F-150 so that King could sell the givebacks.

Hundreds of workers were gathered in the motor bay.  When asked “Can you hear me?” some shouted “no.”  Then, said member Tom Brown, “it was as if they realized what they were saying, and everybody picked it up: ‘No! No! No!’ with hand-clapping and foot-stomping.

“The man never got to speak. After they got done yelling people just walked away and went on their break.

“If anybody at Dearborn Truck is voting yes on this contract, they’re keeping it to themselves.”

Ford workers were the first of the Big 3 to give up cost-of-living increases and break time, in March.  Union officials assured them then that opening their contract and taking pre-emptive concessions—before the government imposed new pacts on bankruptcy-baiting GM and Chrysler–would let them set the pattern and protect Ford workers from further cuts.

But the government, GM, and Chrysler wanted, and got, even deeper cuts—including balance-of-power-changers like giving up the right to strike and imposing a six-year-wage freeze on new hires—who’ll make half-pay, $14.50.  In addition, more skilled trades were cut or combined.

In August local officials in the UAW’s Ford Council told King they weren’t interested in a reopener. But on October 13, King reached a tentative contract with Ford anyway, matching the GM and Chrysler deals, which the union called a “no-concessions” agreement.

At Dearborn Truck the union’s Local 600 unit president and six top officials distributed a leaflet urging fellow workers to vote no.  “If we give up the right to STRIKE it would go against everything our union is suppose to stand for,” said Chairman Nick Kottalis.  “In 17 years as a union official, this is the first time I’ve gone against the views of the international leadership,” Kottalis told Bloomberg News.

The leaders’ leaflet was one of many circulating; most of the rest were spontaneously put together by rank-and-filers. One read simply, “Message to UAW Ford National Negotiating Committee: NO.”  Another said the new-hire wage freeze would “DIVIDE the UAW work force! So in 6 years when they outnumber us, and they vote NO on our pension benefits, don’t be surprised!”

At the aborted five-minute meeting, King eventually trailed off with an offer to talk to people in small groups.  As workers walked away, their comments were along the lines of “these idiots have got to be put back on the line, and now.”

Gary Polen, a carpenter at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, Local 900, said of the concession proposal, “We pay our union for collective bargaining. How can the union negotiate a binding arbitration instead of the right to strike?”  Eric Truss of Local 600’s frame plant responded to the officials’ Vote Yes leaflet: “They say we only lose the right to strike over improvements in wages and benefits. But that’s what people want the right to strike for.  I can’t believe our Local 600 is defending the agreement in spite of all the opposition.”  Judy Wraight, a Maintenance and Construction worker, said, “Concessions are a way to lose the union. We need our union.”

A leaflet signed by 18 Local 600 members from several units, including two full-time unit bargaining committee members, said of the offered $1,000 bonus, “Before you take the money and run, look to see if your feet are tied together.”

The leaflet added: “The strike threat defends our money, benefits, rights–and UAW political clout…Power in Washington starts with our power right here (for true national health insurance, converting closed plants to greener jobs and alternative transportation for auto and other workers, and defending the gains of civil rights movements, etc.).”

Voting at all Ford’s plants is set to finish by Nov. 2.

-Latest news: Workers are turning the contract down in local after local. Results are unofficial, but these are the figures circulating on UAW members’ grapevine:

At Ford’s Sterling Axle plant in Michigan, workers turned down the concessions by more than 70 percent.  At UAW Local 900 in Wayne, Michigan, the total was announced as 51 percent yes – to cries of disbelief from members. And at the Kansas City assembly plant the vote was 92 percent against.  The Livonia, Michigan, Transmission Plant voted no as well, 51 percent among production workers and 54 percent in skilled trades.  The Sheldon Road air conditioning plant voted 82 percent no in production, 71 percent no in the trades. More vote totals are announced daily.-

Read one of the many leaflets that circulated at Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant urging a “no” vote.  Ron Lare can be reached at ronlare@sbcglobal.net

Obama’s Afghan Stagecraft

We await the Obama administration’s decision to follow one escalation in Afghanistan with another.  The military tops have gone public with their support for tens of thousands of more troops as part of a “counter-insurgency” strategy while some in the administration (specifically Joe “The General” Biden) want to limit the strategy to something they call “counter-terrorist”.  The military seems to be successfully attempting to set the parameters of the eventual decision by publicly placing the goal posts.  At least at the level of propriety, that is just not done and yet the administration seems content to have the military brass sell the escalation.  Democrats have always had a national security inferiority complex.  One consequence, unintended we are sure, of letting the Generals speak is shared blame should things go wrong.

Much depends, so the story goes, on the outcome of the run-off elections next week.  Once Karzai’s rule is legitimized by an election slightly less fraud ridden then the last then the Obama administration will announce more troops.  In fact the promise of more troops is what brought Karzai to accept the run-off in the first place.  Statecraft or stagecraft?  To ask is to answer.  And what’s the difference anyway?

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Obama already claim, with the addition of several tens of thousands of new troops and the offensives in Helmand this summer, that he had already changed strategy from the Bush administration?   Could it be that Obama’s first strategy change, which seemed to be limited to “a lot more troops”, proved a dud and now another is needed?  Obama is changing not the Bush strategy, but the strategy he ran on.  It’s not surprising that his original “strategy” change failed, after all it was based entirely on domestic electoral considerations.

As usual there are patronizing calls for more Afghans to “stand up” and die for the imperial project with the overall number of troops needed to defend the squalid Kabul regime said to be something like 600,000.  The creation of a comprador army will funnel huge amounts of money into a sieve of corruption.  “Afghans have to take the responsibility to defend themselves” is the refrain.  The Taliban can claim, with some justification, that that is precisely what they are doing.

The fight takes on ethnic tones as well.  While the Karzai leadership is Pashtun the Afghan army recruits mainly from the Tajik, Uzbek and  other northern ethnic groups while the Taliban is almost exclusively Pashtun.  The exasperation of existing divisions that such a strategy will necessarily impose will make the central government less, not more, legitimate in the eyes of many.  In Pakistan, in Afghanistan and in Iraq; where the US goes civil war follows.  Divide and rule may be old school, but that doesn’t mean it’s been learned from.

Whether it is 10,000 or 40,000 more troops is not entirely the point.  The point is that the Obama administration is whetted to the Afghan adventure. One troop increase tends to lead to another.  In any case, Obama, who used his Afghan escalation to prove his imperial bona fides during the election, is now trapped by his opportunism; he must escalate.  Obama seems to believe that taking his time on announcing the decision will present the decision as well thought out, serious and taken in earnest.  My guess is that the decision has already been made.

The stagecraft of last year’s US election, where Obama ran on escalation, has precluded any withdrawal.  More war may not be why folks voted for Obama, but it is what he ran on.  The hole is dug and the administration seems set to keep digging with no end in sight.  I can’t make any predictions on the outcome but I can say with certainty that, no matter what, billions of dollars and thousands upon thousands of lives will be the price.  Thankfully for Obama he has already won the Nobel Peace Prize as future events may make even Oslo blush a little.  No, that’s just the cold Norwegian wind.