Jan 26, 2012 - Issue 456 |
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Sending the Military
to Put Down Workers:
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The U.S. government is prepared to send a fully armed Coast Guard ship to escort an empty grain ship owned by a transnational corporation up the Columbia River to the port in Longview, Wash., where it will be loaded with grain by non-union labor in the next several days or weeks. The ship, owned by EGT, a company owned by several other companies, including Bunge, is aiming to show members of the International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) Local 21 that their agreement with the port means nothing to the corporation. The ILWU agreement, like that of other West Coast ports, requires that the work done in those ports be by union labor. It’s not the first time in American history that the military has been called out to protect the interests of capital. It has rarely, if ever, been called out to protect the interests of trade unionists, other workers, or the poor. In today’s climate, however, ordering a Coast Guard escort for a scab multinational ship is another matter. There are many examples of presidents calling out the military to protect Corporate America, but in 2012, rank-and-file citizens should be alarmed and wary. Since September 11, 2001, it has become easier for the powers that be to demonize workers and other citizens who are expressing their rights under the First Amendment. During the Bush-Cheney Administration, the use of “free speech pens” was honed to perfection. These were chain-link-fenced enclosures near likely protest areas, which effectively prevented the objects of the protest from having to encounter the protesters. In fact, often, they were so far away that they neither could be seen nor heard. If that was ever found to be legal, it surely violated the spirit and heart of the First Amendment. A
little background is in order. EGT is a joint venture, but a principal
“owner” is Bunge, a giant transnational corporation that was founded in
1818 in Police
in The
San Francisco Labor Council has condemned the use of the military to escort
the grain ship and, in a resolution adopted on Jan. 9, said, “…this is
the first known use of the U.S. military to intervene in a labor dispute
on the side of management in 40 years, not since the great 1970 postal
strike when President Nixon called out the Army and National Guard in
an (unsuccessful) attempt to break the strike. The use of the Armed Forces
against labor unions is something you expect to see in a police state.
This is part of a disturbing trend where the The
problem for American citizens, of course, is that, in the national security
state that the Precedent for use of the military against American citizens was set long ago, but here are a few examples: the Bonus Army Marchers of 1932, when about 15,000 veterans marched (hitchhiked, hopped freight trains, or walked) to Washington, D.C., to protest the government in its failure to pay their $1,000 bonuses, a promise which they had waited since 1924 for the U.S. to fulfill, and the Battle of Blair Mountain that took place in 1921 in Logan County, West Virginia, between thousands of coal miners and an array of representatives of the coal operators (deputy sheriffs; coal company “detectives,” whom the miners called “gun thugs,” and the Army, including airplanes). Congress
had rewarded the World War I service of the veterans with certificates
that would give them the $1,000 in 1945, but the Great Depression, which
had impoverished most of the veterans by 1932, asked the government to
pay the money earlier and that’s what they were doing in At
Tens
of thousands of armed miners came to defend the miners of Matewan
and Members
of other ILWU locals and many other supporters, including “Occupy” groups
from other West Coast cities, are prepared to travel to Over a long history, the ILWU has been one of the strongest unions for its solidarity with other unions, but also solidarity with others around the world struggling for social and economic justice. Now, they are fighting for their own way of life and that of their families and communities. The
EGT effort is clear and it is simple: It will try to break the union contract
by force at BlackCommentator.com
Columnist,
John
Funiciello, is a
labor organizer and former union organizer. His union work started when
he became a local president of The Newspaper Guild in the early 1970s.
He was a reporter for 14 years for newspapers in
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