AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Bahrain joins UAE in signing recognition pact with Israel — PAGE 4 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE Vol. 84/no. 38 SeptEMber 28, 2020 Mass protests, SWP: Join Workers need a union labor actions the fight to in every workplace! say down with defend jobs, Belarus gov’t wages, safety BY ROY LANDERSEN BY LAURA GARZA Well over 100,000 people flooded LOS ANGELES — How can we the Belarusian capital Minsk de- change worsening working conditions, manding the resignation of President combat cuts to our hours and deal with Alexander Lukashenko Sept. 13, the rising prices? These questions were at fifth massive Sunday protest in a row. the center of discussions among meat- Simultaneous protests took place in packers, retail workers and farmwork- 16 other cities. Ever since Lukashen- ers when they met the Socialist Work- ko blatantly falsified the results of the ers Party presidential ticket — Alyson Aug. 9 elections and declared him- Kennedy for president and Malcolm self winner, his government has been Jarrett for vice president — during the rocked by daily protests and strikes. candidates’ tour of Southern California His regime has been stepping up in early September. arrests, beatings and threats against “We have work, but many people workers, students and others who are don’t,” farmworker Fernando Muñoz demanding his resignation, new elec- told Kennedy in Oxnard, a town in an important agricultural area. Muñoz is Teamsters Local 89 tions and the release of all political Teamsters fighting for first contract picket DSI Tunneling in Louisville, Ky., Sept. 10 with IBEW prisoners. paid $13 an hour but was working only Local 369 members who brought gift cards to help strikers. Solidarity is key to building unions. Men in balaclavas pulled people 1 or 2 days a week when he was first out of crowds gathering at the start of called back from a three-week layoff. Solidarity with Dominion Jobs crisis is biggest threat the march and put them in unmarked Now he gets up to 40 hours per week, as grocery workers in Canada! facing working people today minibuses, with over 400 arrested. opposed to 50-plus before the pandemic. But as the street filled, riot police “We think there should be a union in Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers BY SETH GALINSKY were unable to do anything but watch every workplace,” Kennedy told him. Party candidate for president, issued More workers face rising hardship as protesters marched by. She described her visit to the Yakima this statement Sept. 15. and uncertainty about the future to- While many miners and other Valley in Washington state, where she day as high unemployment persists. Continued on page 7 Continued on page 3 SOCIALIST WORKERS The capitalist governments on all lev- els — federal, state and local — have PARTY STATEMENT taken few steps to alleviate, much less reverse, these conditions. Dominion workers strike for pay, The strike being waged by retail The Socialist Workers Party 2020 workers at Dominion stores in New- campaign urges unions to mobi- full-time jobs bosses took away foundland, Canada, members of the lize working people to wage a fight Unifor union, against cuts in wages for a government-funded jobs pro- and full-time jobs is in the interests gram to get millions back to work at of all working people. Solidarity from union-scale wages to build hospitals, workers and our unions is needed to schools, day care centers and other bolster their fight. things working people urgently re- These workers confront conditions quire. familiar to millions across North Amer- Nearly 1.7 million people filed new ica and around the world. By standing claims to collect state unemployment tall and refusing to yield to bosses’ at- or federal “Pandemic Unemploy- Continued on page 9 Continued on page 6 Join the fight to overturn Florida’s ban on the ‘Militant’ in state prisons BY brIAN WIllIAMS Florida prison officials have banned four recent issues of the Militant, pre- Inside venting them from reaching dozens of End crippling US sanctions subscribers behind bars there. They against North Korea 4 Unifor claim each issue contains an article Dominion workers, on strike since Aug. 22, picket in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, Sept. 13. Company takeback of $2 an hour hazard pay “was a smack in the face,” said one striker. that is “dangerously inflammatory” Ocasio-Cortez says ‘glam’ and “advocates or encourages riot can improve your politics 6 BY BEVErlY BERNArdo and more full-time jobs. insurrection, rebellion, organized “We had a great day on the picket The strike is the most important la- prison protest, disruption of the insti- Ukraine miners sit in, strike line here for Labor Day with about bor battle in North America today. tution, or the violation of the federal in fight for pay, conditions 7 100 people on the line at each of the 11 At one of the picket lines in St. law, state law, or Department rules.” –On the picket line – Dominion grocery stores on strike,” John’s, Devon Mercer, whose job is While each ban points to an article Carolyn Wrice, president of Unifor classified as part time but who works they claim is “dangerously inflamma- Univ. of Illinois workers strike Local 597, told the Militant by phone full-time hours, told CBC News, “It tory,” they never say what they find over staffing, safety, pay 5 Sept. 8. The 1,400 workers, more than was kind of a smack in the face.” objectionable or why. 80% of whom are classified as part When the coronavirus hit, he said, The Militant is urging supporters Manchester drivers hit time, are now into their fourth week “they needed us so much, that they of freedom of the press and of the new fees on cabs 9 on strike fighting for higher wages Continued on page 5 Continued on page 2 ‘Militant’ fights prison ban Continued from front page No other subscriber in a state or federal rights of workers behind bars to join facility outside of Florida has had these in pressing Florida Department of issues impounded, the appeal notes. Corrections Literature Review Com- Issue no. 33 was banned because mittee to lift the bans. it reported on a ban of a prior issue of Issue no. 30 was impounded for the the Militant. The headline read, “After article “Prisoners Demand Release Pennsylvania Prison Ban Is Revoked, from Overcrowded Jails.” It describes a Florida Prison Bars ‘Militant.’” The peaceful rally in California by inmates’ Militant has been informed that issue family members and supporters urg- no. 34 was impounded for running an ing the state government take steps to article describing growing support for relieve the dangerous overcrowding in overturning the ban. prisons there amid the COVID-19 pan- Florida prison officials have attempt- demic. It also reports on a letter from a ed numerous times to ban issues of the prisoner describing conditions where he Militant that reported on previous bans, is held and a possible hunger strike by which the Literature Review Commit- about 20 prisoners over this situation. tee subsequently overturned. Last year, After the Literature Review Com- noted Goldstein, “they overturned a se- mittee upheld the ban, Militant attor- ries of bans of Vol. 83, Nos. 24-28, 30 Join fight to overturn suppression of Militant in Florida prisons. Above, some letters sent so far. ney David Goldstein appealed this de- for reporting on prior censorship.” Then cision. On Sept. 14 Goldstein also filed they stopped banning issues, until these growing number of well-known orga- greater chance of success.” an appeal against the impoundments most recent acts of political suppression. nizations, including the American Civil “The Militant will never back off from of issues no. 31 and 33. From mid-2017 to August 2019, Liberties Foundation Florida, Amnesty its position that prisoners have the right Issue no. 31 was impounded for the Florida prison authorities banned about International USA, Florida Press Asso- to read different viewpoints, to think for article “Workers Oppose Federal Cops, three dozen issues of the Militant, over ciation, Reporters Committee on Free- themselves and form their own opinions Antifa Violence in Portland.” “The ar- one-third of all issues. But through a dom of the Press and PEN America. on political questions,” said Studer. ticle unmistakably and repeatedly op- fight waged by supporters of prisoners’ “Others have told us they’re prepar- Send letters to Dean Peterson, Lit- poses violence by all sides concerning rights, most of these were reversed. ing letters as well,” said Militant edi- erature Review Committee, Florida the protests in Portland, whether by tor John Studer. “The more pressure Department of Corrections, 501 South antifa or by federal or local police,” Support to end bans grows brought to bear to overturn this attack Calhoun Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399 Goldstein wrote. Today’s new fight against banning the on the constitutional rights of both the or via email at [email protected] “To read this article and conclude that Militant has won the involvement of a paper and its readers behind bars, the florida.com, with a copy to the Militant. it ‘is dangerously inflammatory,’” noted Goldstein, “is simply incomprehensi- ble,” and certainly unconstitutional. This topic has been extensively cov- Protest hits campus worker layoffs at San Francisco State ered in the media, in Florida and nation- BY betsEY stonE organized by the California State Uni- dents enrolled is expected to fall. wide. The only conclusion to be drawn, SAN FRANCISCO — Over 200 versity Employees Union.