Sunday, December 17, 2006
How to screw Iraqis and workers in the U.S. at the same time.
I thought this article from the Financial Times pretty well summed up whose side the powers that be are on, both in places like Iraq and in places like Kansas:
Whenever a strike is likely to lose by the workers all being replaced by scabs and just losing the jobs the government is perfectly willing to let the "private dispute" run its course. But whenever the workers hold a strong hand and might emerge victorious the government winds up intervening and forcing people back to work for the "public good", or, as in this case, to support the war effort. So this seems about par for the course.
BTW, not to rub it in too much, but this blogger has been on a quite a roll as of late with predictions. First, I got the Venezuelan election outcome exactly right, picking at 62% to 38% Chavez win. Now it looks just as clear that the U.S. is about to start seriously ramping up its military forces in Iraq as they get more desperate in their efforts to win the war. Not that I'm happy about this last prediction coming true, I'm not. But it was pretty obvious that it was going to happen.
The forces of imperialism aren't going to give in easily. And even if they ultimately leave in defeat, which they almost certainly will, they will want to make sure they have completely laid waste to Iraq as a "lesson". Rumsfeld was right when he said there were a lot of "dead enders" in Iraq. He just failed to mention that the "dead enders" wear U.S. military uniforms. And of course, Bush, Cheney, and Rice are all "dead enders" too. It's especially easy for them to wind up that way when it is not them, their friends, nor their relatives who are winding up dead as the result of all this.
|
US Army might break Goodyear strike
By Bernard Simon in Toronto
Published: December 15 2006 18:45 Last updated: December 15 2006 18:45
The US Army is considering measures to force striking workers back to their jobs at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Kansas in the face of a looming shortage of tyres for Humvee trucks and other military equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A strike involving 17,000 members of the United Steelworkers union has crippled 16 Goodyear plants in the US and Canada since October 5.
The main issues in the dispute are the company's plans to close a unionised plant in Texas, and a proposal for workers to shoulder future increases in healthcare costs.
.....................................
According to Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House of Representatives armed services committee, the strike has cut output of Humvee tyres by about 35 per cent.
Mr. Hunter said the army was exploring a possible injunction under the Taft-Hartley Act to force the 200 Kansas workers back to their jobs.
Whenever a strike is likely to lose by the workers all being replaced by scabs and just losing the jobs the government is perfectly willing to let the "private dispute" run its course. But whenever the workers hold a strong hand and might emerge victorious the government winds up intervening and forcing people back to work for the "public good", or, as in this case, to support the war effort. So this seems about par for the course.
BTW, not to rub it in too much, but this blogger has been on a quite a roll as of late with predictions. First, I got the Venezuelan election outcome exactly right, picking at 62% to 38% Chavez win. Now it looks just as clear that the U.S. is about to start seriously ramping up its military forces in Iraq as they get more desperate in their efforts to win the war. Not that I'm happy about this last prediction coming true, I'm not. But it was pretty obvious that it was going to happen.
The forces of imperialism aren't going to give in easily. And even if they ultimately leave in defeat, which they almost certainly will, they will want to make sure they have completely laid waste to Iraq as a "lesson". Rumsfeld was right when he said there were a lot of "dead enders" in Iraq. He just failed to mention that the "dead enders" wear U.S. military uniforms. And of course, Bush, Cheney, and Rice are all "dead enders" too. It's especially easy for them to wind up that way when it is not them, their friends, nor their relatives who are winding up dead as the result of all this.
|
