ILWU denounces T-H [Slave Labor] Act and injunction [other labor statements also]

["Hunter Gray" <hunterbadbear@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ILWU denounces Taft-Hartley as

anti-union employer-government collusion



Oct. 9, 2002



ILWU members will return to work today after a federal judge ordered the PMA
to open the ports and let the workers back in to their jobs. But the union
is angry that the Bush administration gave PMA the gift it blackmailed
businesses, farmers and consumers for-the Taft-Hartley injunction.

            The Taft-Hartley Act was passed in 1948 as an anti-union law. It
enjoins both the employers and the union to return to the conditions of the
old contract for 80 days. But its provisions for fines, contempt of court
citations and prison sentences for those violating the terms of the contract
are aimed at workers.

            "We fully expect PMA to use all the anti-union provisions of the
Taft-Hartley injunction. These 80 days will not be a 'cooling off period,'"
said ILWU International President James Spinosa. "PMA will start alleging
'slowdowns' by Thursday and will continue that. Taft-Hartley gives them 80
days of free shots at the union and we expect the employers will be dragging
us to court daily, trying to bankrupt the union and throw our leaders in
jail."

            The PMA's nearly two-week long lockout, coming at the busiest
time in the history of the West Coast, has created a monstrous backlog of
cargo. Clearing out these clogged docks will be a logistical nightmare that
will take many weeks. PMA has already stated that it expects productivity to
be at normal levels during these 80 days-a physical impossibility-or it will
cry "slowdown."

            All terminals will need a full compliment of workers to be
dispatched from union hiring halls. But those orders will be impossible to
fill. PMA has previously accused the union of withholding labor when orders
exceeded the number of workers available or not enough skilled workers were
dispatched. Ironically, it is PMA's responsibility to register more
longshore workers and to provide training. The union has long pushed for
more registration and training for its members, but PMA regularly stalls
those requests.

            The congestion and gridlock on the docks also creates an extreme
workplace hazard. The speedup of this peak season has resulted in an
increase of accidents and injuries and a record number of fatalities-five in
the last six months-in an industry the U.S. Dept. of Labor cited as second
only to mining as the most dangerous occupation in the country.

            "We are tired of burying our people," Spinosa said. "All PMA
President Joe Miniace ever talks about is how many containers get moved how
fast. You never hear him cite statistics of the deaths and injuries, of the
human toll of his profits."

            The Taft-Hartley injunction requires the parties to abide by the
terms of the old contract and the safety regulations are a part of that
contract. In compliance with the court order, the ILWU has instructed its
members to obey the letter of those regulations and to follow all mandated
procedures. The preamble of the safety code says that "In a question of
tonnage vs. safety, safety first."



PMA wanted Taft-Hartley



            Although the PMA is saying it regrets Taft-Hartley was invoked,
this was what the employers planned all along. They had ample time and
offers to avoid it if they wanted to.

            From the beginning of the lockout PMA said it would open the
ports if the union would only sign a day-to-day contract extension. On
Sunday, Oct. 6 the ILWU offered something more-a seven-day extension-but PMA
suddenly changed terms and demanded 90 days. On Tuesday, Oct 8, minutes
before Bush went on national TV, PMA rejected a deal the White House was
trying to broker-a 30-day contract extension. The ILWU had already agreed to
it.

            The 80 days of the Taft-Hartley injunction gets PMA through the
peak shipping season and to the slowest time of the year, relieving
companies of any urgency to bargain. They also get the bonus prize of being
able to harass the union in court for 80 days.

            Back in January 2002 Miniace previewed to the press his plan to
lockout the union. He also bragged about taking out a $200 million line of
credit to help PMA last through the lockout.

            Robin Lanier, the head of the West Coast Waterfront Coalition,
the retailer group PMA set up in Washington, D.C. to lobby on its behalf,
told her members last spring that they should prepare to hold out for a
two-week lockout.

            In mid-June an attorney with the Bush administration's Dept. of
Labor threatened the ILWU with the Taft-Hartley injunction, with special
legislation to take away the union's legal rights to collectively bargain
and to strike and with sending in military personnel to seize the ports and
operate them as scabs and strikebreakers. (L.A. Times 7-5-02)

            "No one should be surprised by the turn of these events,"
Spinosa said. "Bush has always actively sided with employers against
workers. This collusion between the government and the employers was planned
well in advance."



This Taft-Hartley injunction sets an ominous precedent for the American
labor movement.



            In a statement given to CNN yesterday AFL-CIO
Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka called the President's invocation of
Taft-Hartley "a tragedy with historic ramifications."

            This is the first time in history that an employer lockout was
used aggressively to implement the anti-union Taft-Hartley law. The message
to employers is that you can create a crisis by locking out your workers and
then get the government to intervene with Taft-Hartley that violates all the
rights of workers to collective bargaining.

            "This is the most egregious attack on workers rights in 50
years," Ron Judd, AFL-CIO Western Regional Director. " If they can do it to
the ILWU, they can do it to any union."





For more information call ILWU Communications Director Steve Stallone at
415-775-0533 ext. 114 (office) or 510-390-4748 (cell) or see www.ilwu.org.

Attachments:

  a.. AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka's statement to CNN Oct. 8,
2002.
  b.. L.A. Times story Oct. 8, 2002 on the logistical gridlock at ports.
  c.. L.A. Times story Oct. 9, 2002 on safety problems on the docks.




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