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 Amsterdam, The Netherlands. It is now headquartered
in White Plains,
N.Y. Bunge competes with Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland,
and so it is among the big names in the shipping of food
and feed. The cargo that would be loaded by scabs in Longview would be destined for Asian markets.
Police
in Longview have
engaged in what appears to be a massive assault on the picket
lines and demonstrations of the 225 members of ILWU Local
21, who have tried to maintain the integrity of their agreement
with the port by demanding that grain be loaded by union
labor. In that process in recent months, there have been
220 arrests of Local 21 members. The objective of EGT has
been, simply, to break the union.
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 U.S.
military, acting as enforcers for the 1 percent, is poised
to be used against our own people, as exemplified by the
new law allowing the military to imprison U.S. citizens indefinitely
without trial…”
San
Francisco’s council refers to the National Defense Authorization
Act of 2012, which many see as the opening to the military
to replace the police in certain situations and to hold
indefinitely, without charge, those who would be charged
with threats to the national security. President Obama has
added a statement to his signing of the NDAA of 2012, saying
that he would not use such power against American citizens,
but his “signing statement” (shades of George W. Bush) will
mean nothing to other presidents who choose to hold people
without charge and even send them to Guantanamo Bay. The
law will be there, to be used by anyone who has little respect
for the U.S. Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
The
problem for American citizens, of course, is that, in the
national security state that the U.S.
has become, anyone can be judged to be a “terrorist,” and
can be dealt with in the manner in which one deals with
terrorists. One could be a terrorist on a union (or non-union)
picket line, or in an “Occupy” encampment, or in a civil
rights demonstration. It depends on who is looking and determining
who the terrorist is. That’s arbitrary and that’s not what
a country based on law should ever be.
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 Washington. They built an encampment (think the “Occupy” movement)
and, in keeping order, the police killed two of the marchers.
There were other deaths, as well. President Hoover, fearing
the influence of communists and anarchists, sent in a regiment
under General Douglas MacArthur, who entered the scene with
troops and tanks, and the marchers fled.
At
Blair Mountain, the
coal miners and their families and communities were under
the control of the coal companies, which owned company stores,
as well as much of the housing, and they used that power
to control the workers and to keep out union organizers.
Labor strife brought on by maltreatment of the miners and
all of the grievances that such power brings to the situation,
ended with armed confrontation. In the wake of widespread
union organizing efforts through West Virginia coal country for several years, the
fight between the coal operators and the miners and their
supporters broke out in open battle for a few weeks in August
and September of 1921.
Tens
of thousands of armed miners came to defend the miners of
Matewan and Logan County
and the battle of Blair Mountain was said to have been the biggest shooting confrontation in
America
since the Civil War. The Army was dispatched by presidential
order and there were even military reconnaissance aircraft
sent in to give the miners’ positions to the strikebreakers,
police, and the “detective” agencies. The confrontation
ended before any massive casualties could result.
Members
of other ILWU locals and many other supporters, including
“Occupy” groups from other West Coast cities, are prepared
to travel to Longview to protest the military escort of EGT grain ship. It won’t
be anything like Blair Mountain
and it won’t be like the Bonus Army, but it will be a fight
for the living standards of those who work in the Port
of Longview and all other West Coast ports.
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 Longview
and, in doing so, it would pave the way for similar union
busting in other ports. The company is doing what Occupiers
all across the country have said of the actions of Corporate
America. EGT, like other corporations, is paving the way
for the 1 percent to further exploit the 99 percent and
drive them into a low-wage existence, if not into penury.
America
has wandered far from the path set forth by the founders,
who designed the structure of the country to be a “nation
of laws, not men.” EGT is going to try to show that men,
not laws, rule America.
They are trying to show that wealth and power rule America, not the people, under law. EGT must be
proven wrong.
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 New York State. In
addition to labor work, he is organizing family farmers
as they struggle to stay on the land under enormous pressure
from factory food producers and land developers. Click here
to contact Mr. Funiciello.
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