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Homes Instead of Real Estate

By J.R.

Are you living in an “underinvested neighborhood”? Would it be easier to pay the bills and make the rent if only your neighborhood were “revitalized”? Workers know better than to be duped by these catchwords and empty phrases. After all, they can do the math for themselves: since 2000, rents in New Orleans have increased 50 percent while income has increased a mere 2 percent.

It turns out that however much the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority spends ($1.5 million) on the ‘urgent’ task of Façade RENEWals, workers cannot be persuaded that their housing has become any more affordable. But who even pretends that NORA’s sponsorship of a new Whole Foods is a gift to the public—-much less to workers? No doubt the neighborhood has seen a rise in property values but just how many of Whole Foods’ “Team Members” own their own homes?

And among the 30,000 households waiting to redeem their section 8 vouchers, who believes that their interests come before those of the real estate developers and landlords with whom HANO does their business? How many more millions of dollars in tax credits will the public be required to sacrifice in order to convince the developers and their investors to ‘meet demand’?

Once housing comes under the control of the working majority, such absurdities—such ’public agencies’— will seem an ugly joke of the past. Until such control is achieved, workers should remind each other that they are the public that the state pretends to serve. Workers must pursue their interests in conflict with the interests of their exploiters. Safe and adequate housing is chief among workers’ needs. Working people should no longer be content with the ‘affordable housing’ doled out in ever smaller proportion to the riches afforded to real estate capital.

Our simple demand amounts to this: homes in place of real estate or in other words, the welfare of the people in place of bourgeois property.

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“¡Viva Puerto Rico!” Part 1 of 2

by A.M.P.

With a debt of over $74 billion dollars, Puerto Rico has been in financial trouble for decades. Over half of Puerto Rico’s children live in poverty, and the unemployment rate is over 12%. Since 2010, the island has experienced the greatest migration since WWII, with a 10% population decrease. Thousands have fled the debt-ridden country in hopes of a better life on the US mainland.

The origins of this crisis can be attributed to the abuse that the U.S. has inflicted upon the island over the past century. Currently, the island’s commonwealth status stymies any hopes of recovery. The only answer is liberation for Puerto Rico.

The beautiful island has only known 8 days of independence since the Spanish invaded the Caribbean. Although Spain granted the island a Charter of Autonomy in 1897, 16,000 U.S. soldiers invaded the southwestern portion of Puerto Rico in 1898 as part of the Spanish-American War. This was only a little over a week after PR had begun its first autonomous government. The U.S. annexed P.R. after the signing of the Treaty of Paris without any elections, even though it was no longer a Spanish Territory. As a result, the people of Puerto Rico have been subjected to over 100 years of suffering under the weight of U.S. imperialist violence. Since the very beginning, US-Puerto Rico relations have been drenched in oppression and violations of civil rights. This comes as no surprise as the U.S. has a colorful history of committing atrocities against nations to satisfy imperialist interests.

Following WWII, the US developed several economic programs that would boost the financial gain of corporations and the rich ruling class. Among these initiatives were federal tax breaks given to US companies, such as Section 936, which was implemented in 1976. This brought in a wave of companies (largely pharmaceutical companies) seeking immense profits, turning what was once a majority rural society into a manufacturing powerhouse. Fast forward 20 years and the greedy U.S. realizes that the tax break incentives were costing them money, Congress repeals Section 936, companies no longer have interest in profiting off the backs of Puerto Ricans, and the result was the plummeting of Puerto Rico’s economy. Left in the dust, the bourgeois government began to borrow large sums of money to sustain life for its citizens.

Currently, the major issue lies within the search for a solution. Puerto Rico is de facto an American colony and in effect has no input in U.S. Congress. The island is not protected by U.S. bankruptcy codes and is therefore unable to declare bankruptcy in order to restructure its crippling debt. The only hope for Puerto Rico is independence.

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The Brotherhood of Timber Workers (BTW)

By Malcolm Suber

Many of our readers will be surprised to learn the history of a militant, multi-national, anti-capitalist, industrial union active in Louisiana over 100 years ago. At its high point the BTW had 30,000 members who openly challenged the capitalist class and fought to achieve working class unity. The BTW was a union of sawmill workers from east Texas and southwest Louisiana that was organized by Arthur Lee Emerson and Jay Smith in 1910. The BTW was best remembered for the Grabow uprising when the workers went on strike against the Galloway Lumber Company in Grabow, Louisiana. The BTW was also notable for the fact that they were an anti-racist union in the deep South, where segregation and Jim Crow were the order of the day.

The BTW was created because of the terrible working conditions at the sawmills in the southern piney woods region. The sawmill work was dangerous and depended on the ability of the worker to keep up with the machinery. In 1909, there were a reported 125 deaths and 16,000 accidents in the southern lumber industry.

In 1910, Emerson and Smith began to recruit members for the BTW. They moved from camp to camp to recruit hundreds of black and white sawmill workers. Interest grew rapidly and workers flocked to the BTW. The BTW held its first convention in Alexandria, La. At the conference they adopted their constitution that extended membership to all races and sexes.

The creation of the BTW immediately drew the attention of the capitalist owners of the Southern Lumber Operators Association. They vowed to kill the BTW in its infancy. In 1911, the SLOA shut down 11 mills in De Ridder, LA. Members of the BTW were blacklisted. In order to work again, they would have to sign an anti-union card. Most workers refused and the BTW became stronger.

In 1912, the BTW held its second annual convention in Alexandria, LA. “Big Bill” Haywood of the International Workers of the World (IWW) was the main speaker. Haywood noticed that the black and white workers were meeting separately in accord with Jim Crow law. He called for breaking the segregation law and having one joint meeting. It was here that the BTW voted to affiliate with the IWW.

The SLOA criticized the BTW as an anarchistic, race-mixing organization in an attempt to weaken support among white workers. After affiliation with the IWW, the BTW presented the lumber operators with a list of demands concerning higher wages and improved safety that led to more lockouts and the importation of scab labor. The SLOA brought armed guard along with the local sheri s to protect the scabs. This set the stage for the Grabow uprising.

On July 7, 1912 A.L. Emerson led a group of strikers toward the King-Ryder Mill. Upon hearing about an assassination attempt on H.G. Creel, a socialist organizer, they changed course toward the Galloway Mill in Grabow , LA. On arriving, Emerson began to speak to the strikers when shots were red from the company office. This sparked a gun fight between the company gunmen and the armed union members. It was reported that 4 workers were killed and 37 others wounded as a result of the battle.

Following the incident, 49 union men and their officers were arrested and faced charges of rioting. After a vigorous campaign to declare their innocence, all 49, including Emerson, were acquitted. This victory was the high point in the history of the BTW. However, the trial depleted their finances and drained their membership.

The BTW was a step forward for the working class struggle against the capitalist class. It was a fundamental challenge to the rule of capital as it championed working class unity, racial and sexual equality in a time when racism and sexism were widely accepted by the US working class.

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U.S. Withdraws from Paris Accord

By Joe Stern

To the scorn and anger of the world, Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris accord, an already weak, non-binding “climate treaty” limiting greenhouse gas emissions. On the occasion of this action, Trump, citing the case of embattled coal miners, spoke as if the Paris accord threatened the livelihood of American workers. Trump claimed that compliance with the accord would result in “a massive redistribution of US wealth to other countries.”

However, despite his supposed defense for US workers, Trump’s policies will only intensify the war on the working class here and around the world. In the US, there are between 65 and 78,000 coal miners. On the other hand, more than 275,000 people are employed in the solar industry and 102,000 in wind. Trump would rather bemoan the plight of the coal miner than invest in alternative energy and spur real job growth. His actions only further reveal fossil fuel capital’s stranglehold on the US state.

Among the many giveaways to the fossil fuel capitalists, Trump proposes to drill for more oil in the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Circle. He has approved continued construction of the Keystone Pipeline. He has instructed Interior Secretary Zinke to rescind, repeal or suspend rules that regulate oil and gas drilling in National Parks and Monuments. All the while, the White House budget proposes severe cuts in the funding of any protections meant to mitigate oil and gas companies’ impact on the environment, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ponchartrain, and estuaries throughout Southern wetlands.

There is, however, resistance to these destructive policies. A group representing at least 30 mayors, 3 governors, 80 universities, and 100 businesses will meet with the UN pledging to meet US greenhouse gas emissions targeted under the Paris Accord. Citing their governments’ violation of the Paris accord, groups worldwide have won legal victories in defense of their citizens’ rights to a hospitable environment.

Mass resistance must be initiated. Technology will not save us from catastrophic climate change nor will faith in divine intervention. The fossil fuel, military-industrial, and financial capitalists’ lust for profit will not cease. Only sustained, revolutionary struggle to overthrow capitalism and establish socialism worldwide can save us from the destructive effects of climate change. If we refuse this challenge we will join the 99.9% of the world’s species that have vanished from the earth. But if we find the courage and will to organize, resist and revolt, we have the world to win.

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Worker Correspondence

By M.M.

I am a hospitality worker, one of over 88,000 in New Orleans, the seventh most popular tourist destination in the world. The New Orleans economy relies overwhelmingly on restaurants and hotels. Hospitality workers generate $7 billion a year, yet we don’t receive a living wage, we receive no sick pay, no vacations, no affordable childcare, no maternity leave, no job security, no pensions, and no protection for immigrant workers. Many of us can’t afford the rising rents. We wait hours for buses, and if we do have a car there’s no safe, free or affordable parking. We are subject to unpredictable scheduling and hours. And we receive no protection from racism, sexual harassment, or other forms of discrimination.

My last job was at a crawfish and catering restaurant in mid city. When I was hired, I was particularly excited because the owner said they would train me as a cook. Escaping the customers and the sexual harassment that often comes with them sounded great. Unfortunately, sexual harassment is just as common in the back of house. Workers are expected to brush off sexual harassment; owners, management, and male co-workers alike claim that’s just the way restaurant kitchens are. Despite this normalization when a co-worker touched me inappropriately several times during my time working there, I slapped him and kicked him out of the kitchen. We deserve better protection from sexual harassment in our work environments.

I would start sweating the moment I entered the kitchen, which reached temperatures as high as 110 degrees. The kitchen staff was expected to cook for everyone in the restaurant, while also preparing pans of jambalaya, red beans, and other local cuisine for catering orders. The owners would often tell us to prepare dishes that were not on the menu for catering events, throwing kitchen workers into a frenzy to prepare unknown recipes, while also in the middle of a dinner rush.

The owners claimed kitchen staff would get tipped out for preparing catering dishes, but we rarely saw those tips. They hired part-time or occasional workers to send on catering jobs; these employees made $10 an hour plus tips. I asked for full time catering work; however, the owners claimed they needed me to stay in the kitchen. They promised I’d get a raise if I stayed. Two weeks later, everyone in the kitchen including me got a pay decrease to $6 an hour. After the pay decrease, our workload grew; they added more and more catering jobs overwhelming the kitchen staff during our busy crawfish season in the restaurant. This kind of exploitative labor must be eradicated. That’s why I joined the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Committee! We are working to unite all hospitality workers and fight for our rights. Give your support and join the fight!