United States

"The Iraq War disaster, in which thousands upon housands of Iraqis and Americans have been killed, wounded, tortured, and maimed will continue without end until we, the American working class stop it. After all, foreign policy is the continuation of domestic policy: the “War on Terror” is nothing but a war on workers and the poor at home and abroad. We are the only force on the planet that can end this madness once and for all." A Workers' International League pamphlet.

As the auto workers' struggle with the Big Three U.S. auto makers continues, the business pages of the nation's newspapers have been hit with troubling news about the state of the world's largest auto manufacturer, General Motors. While GM's parts subsidiary, Delphi has filed for bankruptcy, GM itself has seen a huge loss in profitability, sales and its stock tumble to the floor.

The stakes are higher than ever. It's becoming increasingly clear to millions of workers that even in the "best of times", capitalism simply doesn't work anymore. The corruption, greed, and mismanagement of the system has reached unheard of proportions.

In every country on earth, working people face the same conditions: attacks on wages and benefits, speedups, layoffs, broken contracts, sell-outs, and an all around lack of respect by the bosses.  The Soldiers of Solidarity, initiated by rank and file members of the United Auto Workers, are saying: "Enough is Enough!"  Their struggle to organize against these attacks has inspired working people internationally.  We call on all workers in the U.S. and around the world, organized and unorganized, as well as the youth - the workers of tomorrow - to support their efforts 100 percent. Click ...

The bosses at Delphi are offering a so-called “consensual” agreement and some in the autoworkers’ union have sent out signals they are prepared to take the bait. The Soldiers of Solidarity (SoS), a rank-and-file body within the UAW, understand that there is a lot more at stake here. Here we publish an article by Gregg Shotwell of the SoS.

Rank and file United Auto Workers in the USA are picketing the Delphi World Headquarters in Michigan on Monday, January 23. We are republishing their appeal for support and participation, published on Future of the Union. If you are in the area and can make it, be there!

We publish two letters commenting on the recent New York TWU strike, one from the USA and another from Venezuela. The strike has exposed once more the fact that the two main US parties, Republicans and Democrats are not enemies, but partners opposed to the working class. The strike has also highlighted the fact that in the USA there is not just the imperialist bourgeoisie, but also a might working class that is an ally of the workers of the world.

A new anti-immigration bill is being considered in the United States that would be used to criminalize and persecute mainly the millions of Latino workers. The aim of course is not to “send them back” for these workers are quite useful to the US bosses. Without legal rights they can be paid less than the other workers, and so they make bigger profits for the bosses. The aim is to actually make it even easier to exploit them.

Iraq was consciously destroyed by intense bombing. New Orleans was destroyed thanks to negligence on the part of the powers that be. Reconstruction is proving painfully slow, but the beneficiaries are the same companies as in Iraq, corporate giants like Halliburton and Bechtel. Whether it be the suffering of the Iraqi people or of the US working class, the same parasites at the top benefit.

Class contradictions are increasing sharply in the USA, the “richest country in the world”. The recent strike of the New York Transit Workers has brought into sharp relief that there are two Americas, one for the rich and one for the poor. Although that strike was derailed by the union leadership it marks the beginning of a new era in trade union relations in the USA, one of bitter conflict.

A major attack on trade union rights is also going ahead at Delphi. If the UAW workers there are forced to take a 63 percent pay cut and severe attacks on healthcare benefits and pension rights it will not be long until the bosses begin demanding similar cuts in other industries. A victory for the Delphi autoworkers would be a victory for the whole of the US working class.

Under pressure from the rank and file, New York's Transit Workers Union (Local 100) has called a strike involving the 33,000 workers and bringing the nation's largest transit system to a halt. Pay, health, and retirement benefits are the main points of contention.

The choice for US workers is very clear. The very existence of unions as defenders of workers is in question: whether it is nobler to suffer the indignities of concessions or oppose and put an end to them. The members of TWU 100 have chosen the latter! They deserve the support and respect of all in the fight for a future. Solidarity Forever!

Hurricane Katrina highlighted the extreme class contradictions that exist within US society. In this interview John Peterson, Editor of the US Socialist Appeal, outlines how attitudes are changing and how awareness of the real situation is sinking into the consciousness of millions of Americans. (This text is also available in the original Dutch version at: http://www.vonk.org/CallReadOnly.asp?artikelID=1658&status=1)