ICELAND KR200 · NEW ZEALAND $3.00 · SWEDEN KR15 · UK £1.00 U.S. $1.50 LESSONS FROM REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY 1962: How revolutionary Cuba responded to U.S. war threats THE -PAGES A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 66/NO. 39, OCTOBER 21, 2002 U.S.-British Bush cites 'nat'l security' warplanes escalate in assault on dockworkers bombings Uses Taft-Hartley antilabor law to back longshore bosses BY BERNIE SENTER OAKLAND, California-President ~ff in Iraq George Bush invoked the antilabor Taft­ ~'-'"'" (. Hartley Act October 8 in a show of force on . BY PATRICK O'NEILL the side of the longshore bosses and against U.S. planes launched a bombing attack I 0,500 West Coast dockworkers who are on missile launchers in northern Iraq Octo­ fighting for a contract. ber 9. Officials in Washington did not bother The federal government seized on an to claim, as they often do after such raids employer lockout, which had shut down the by U.S. and British warplanes, that the pi­ West Coast ports for I 0 days, to obtain the lots had reacted to a threatened attack. Ac­ court order. The workers, members of the cording to an Associated Press dispatch from International Longshore and Warehouse Turkey, Pentagon officials said that although Union, took down their picket lines andre­ Iraqis did not fire on the U.S. planes, "their turned to work without a contract. presence in the zone was a threat" to the Bush justified using the strike-breaking invading pilots. measure saying, "The work stoppage also The escalating air attacks are now mainly threatens our national defense .... Because targeting Iraq's antiaircraft defenses, with the operation of western ports is vital to our the purpose of establishing "air corridors" economy and to our military, I have deter­ for bombing runs into Baghdad and other mined that the current situation imperils our cities when an invasion and air assault are national health and safety." unleashed on the country. At least one raid Under Taft-Hartley, the government can has also dropped bombs on Iraqi anti-ship impose an 80-day "cooling-off period" that cruise missile sites. legally bars the union from job actions or As Washington and London continue these strikes and mandates that all negotiations Dockworkers picket Port Hueneme, near LosAngeles. Unionists returned to work with­ hostile flights over Iraqi territory and accel­ Continued on Page 2 out a contract after White House invoked Taft-Hartley Act to aid employers. erate the imperialist military buildup in the region, the Bush administration has negoti­ ated with Republican and Democratic Party leaders in Congress to prepare a joint war Workers in Pennsylvania coalfields Continued on Page 11 oppose dumping of hazardous sludge Victor Dreke, BY TO :vi MAILER No. Their time is up. People were more sewage sludge on reclaimed mine lands in GILBERTON, Pennsylvania-"They afi·aid of the coal companies 20 years ago. this area. She spoke to the ;'v!ilitant after a treat us like we're low-income and unedu­ Times have changed." July meeting of the Mahanoy Creek Water­ Ana Morales cated people and can be pushed around. No. That's how Sharon Chiao explained why shed Association. which has taken up this They tell us they've done this for 20 years. she has joined others fighting plans to dump health and environmental struggle. Chiao. whose brother is a retired union will speak on miner, is one of many who have become ac­ New York City, Saturday, November 2 tive in the struggle to defend the health of thousands of residents in the central area of 'Cuba, Mrica' this hard-coal region of northeast Pennsyl­ Communists and the World Struggle vama. BY JANICE LYNN This diverse group of people-including WASHINGTON-Two veteran Cuban against Imperialism Today working and retired miners, teachers, other revolutionaries will begin a six-city speak­ workers of all types. students. and small ing tour here on October 21. In the course Speakers business owners-is joining together to op­ of their one-month visit, Victor Dreke Cruz pose the drive by Reading Anthracite, andAna Morales Varela will speak on ''Cuba Jack Barnes Mary-Alice Waters Gilberton Coal, and Waste Management and Africa: 1959 to Today" to students, National Secretary, Socialist Workers Party Editor of New International Processors (WMPI) to gain permission for union fighters, and others. Meetings will be a one-time spreading of Class 8 biosolids organized in Washington, D.C., Birming­ Jason Alessio Martin Koppel -otherwise known as sewage sludge-over ham, Atlanta, and a number of other cities. UMWA miner, Socialist Workers candidate Editor of the Militant and land in the region. The sludge, it is claimed, The speaking tour provides an opportu­ will promote new growth of vegetation. for U.S. Congress in Colorado Perspectiva Mundial nity to hear firsthand about Cuba's record The companies are part of the holdings of internationalist solidarity with liberation Arrin Hawkins Ma'mud Shirvani of the Rich family, one of the biggest coal operators in the area. The land involved cov­ struggles in Africa, as well as learn about Socialist Workers candidate for Farsi editor, the Cuban Revolution today. Both speakers Continued on Page 12 have been participants in these efforts. lieutenant governor in New York Pathfinder Press Dreke and Morales, who on October 7 Olympia Newton Continued on Page 5 Young Socialists National Leadership Council, Also Inside: Socialist Workers candidate for secretary of state in California Unionists in South Africa protest job cuts 3 • Iraq and the Arabian peninsula: Washington's drive to redivide ,.. ''·.. ·.· the region and dominate oil ~ Boston janitors fight • A world depression is unfolding for full-time jobs 4 • Deepening contradictions in U.S. labor: opportunities and dangers New Caledonia independence • Campaigning for communism, responding to political openings supporters host seminar 4 Buffet meal1 :00 p.m., program 2:00 p.m. sharp Canadian gov't stations Frank Altschul Auditorium, 4th Floor, 420 W. 118th St. warships in Arabian Sea in buildup to war on Iraq at Amsterdam Ave. (on the Columbia University campus) 7 Hosted by New York/New Jersey SWP: (212) 695-7358; (212) 740-4611; (973) 481-0077 Protesters in Detroit demand release of local Muslim leader 13 Militant/Jonathan Silberman Sponsors: Socialist Workers Party National Committee Victor Dreke (above) andAna Morales will Young Socialists National Leadership Council start a six-city speaking tour in October. Bush cites 'national security' in assault on dockworkers Continued from front page terests of the country, the economy, and our take place through a government mediator. national security," he said. The injunction runs through the busiest ship­ The judge's back-to-work order stipulates pmg season. that union members must resume work "at At issue in the labor dispute is the em­ a normal pace." The PMA has vowed to seek ployers' drive to slash jobs and undermine court sanctions against the union if it deems the safety of members of the International that workers are carrying out a "slowdown." Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). In face of threats by the employers and The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the government injunction, the ILWU plans which represents the bosses at the shipping "to continue to work safe," union president lines and terminals, is demanding to accel­ James Spinosa reported. "And if that's a erate the use of computers, scanners, remote slowdown then that's a slowdown. cameras, and other technology that will "We're in a battle," said Pamela Romez eliminate hundreds of union clerk jobs. during picket duty at the Port of Oakland Meanwhile, the bosses have outsourced October 2. Romez is a longshore worker like clerical jobs to companies in Utah and Ari­ her father, who was killed on the docks in a zona. The union is fighting to maintain cov­ crane accident. erage over some of the outsourced clerical Rich Alvis, a longshore worker for 36 jobs and to set minimum staff levels for years, was one of the last to leave the picket line. "Before we were in 15 different places," clerks. Locked-out dockworkers picketing outside docks in Oakland, California. The PMA, backed by the federal govern­ he said. "Now, since the lockout, we're all ment, also wants to end the single industry­ together. The employer put us together as a wide labor contract bargained by the union, union thinking the same way. The good that face the ruin of their produce. Sellers of toys Japanese dockworkers union, said, "Ship­ a move that would significantly weaken the will come out of this is that everyone will and clothing predicted bare shelves and owners that have attacked the I LWU are the union's ability to defend its interests. The be united." plummeting holiday profits." same companies that Zenkoku-kowan deals association wants to replace the union-con­ The American Trucking Associations said with. We acknowledge that the ILWU's trolled hiring hall with one operated by the Bosses' demand for Taft-Hartley grows in an open letter to President Bush that the struggles and the attacks upon them have bosses. A growing number of bourgeois politi­ lockout is a security as well as economic an effect on ourselves and we will fight in Employer speedup and cuts in safety have cians and groups representing big business threat as accumulating ships in the ports solidarity with port workers and seafarers resulted in the deaths of seven workers on called for the president to invoke Taft­ "enrich target opportunities for terrorists." around the globe." the ports so far this year, five ofthem ILWU Hartley. Liberal senator Dianne Feinstein During the lockout, the union officialdom The Taft-Harley Act was last used in 1978 members, according to the Los Angeles from California called for Bush to impose made arrangements to handle military cargo by then president James Carter during the Times.