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Unions Face National Insecurity BY
DAVID BACON
In March 2001, the President told 10,000 mechanics, plane cleaners and janitors at Northwest Airlines that they could not strike for 80 days. Their contract expired over four years ago. He did it again last December at United Airlines, after 15,000 mechanics voted almost unanimously to strike. This September, Bush officials told United unions that unless they agreed to even further concessions, the administration would withhold the $1.8 billion bailout needed to avoid bankruptcy. HOMELAND SECURITY Tom Ridge, Secretary of the Homeland Security, also invoked national security when he proposed employment rules exempting employees of the proposed Homeland Security Department from existing civil service regulations. The Department would employ 170,000 workers. Currently, 17 unions in 50 bargaining units represent thousands of these workers. Civil service regulations govern pay grades, promotion and hiring systems, bans on discrimination, whistleblower protections and provide collective bargaining rights. The proposal was passed by the House in July and currently is stalled in the Senate. Over the summer, the contract between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) expired. On Sept. 28, the PMA locked longshore workers out of their jobs. Ten days later, Bush invoked the Taft-Hartley Act, which allows the president to obtain an injunction against work stoppages when he believes a threatened or actual strike imperils national health or safety. This could virtually outlaw strikes and break up the ILWU’s West Coast labor agreement. IMMIGRANT WORKERS The national security rationale has been devastating for immigrant workers, threatening their organizing efforts, which many unions see as reviving the labor movement. The legislation that federalized airport screeners and instituted a citizenship requirement cost thousands of immigrant airport workers their jobs and busted their newly formed unions. Under the guise of protecting national security, thousands more were fired after employers received letters stating that the Social Security numbers of their immigrant workers were not valid. National security was also the justification for Operation Tarmac, which resulted in the arrest of over 1,000 airport workers. At Seattle’s airport, arrests and deportations took place while the Hotel and Restaurant Union was negotiating a contract with Skychef, a large airport employer. Under this pressure, undocumented workers avoided doing anything to antagonize employers, especially organizing a union. The national security pretext is having a growing effect on vital unions activities. “I think there’s more to come,” says Frank Larkin, machinist union spokesperson. “And I think it can only get sharper if there’s a war in Iraq.” David Bacon is a long-time labor activist, independent journalist and documentary photographer. |
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