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Oil Companies Should Pay Their Taxes

We Must End the Industrial Tax Exemption Program

By Peyton Gill

ITEP is the industrial tax exemption program put into Louisiana state legislation in 1974, and for the past 45 years, it has been the most notorious property tax abatement program in the United States. It’s sold as a way to bring jobs to the state by luring corporations and large businesses with rebates on their taxes or by totally exempting these companies from paying their property taxes. In fact, over the last twenty years, Louisiana based companies have dodged $23 billion in taxes through this program while cutting net employment by more than 26,000 jobs.

The state is generous with tax abatements, offering corporations 10-year 100% tax exemptions. The tax dollars these corporations are not paying could be used to provide us workers with better living and working conditions. These tax dollars should be going to state and local government and streamed into schools, infrastructure, public transportation, etc. Responding to public outrage over this theft of public money, in 2016 Gov. Edwards announced changes in ITEP through an executive order, allowing for local governing bodies (like school boards) to weigh in on the decision-making when corporations submit ITEP applications for property tax exemptions.

Less than 6 months ago, members of two teachers’ unions in East Baton Rouge unanimously voted to hold a 1-day strike when they found out ExxonMobil would be submitting their routine request for a $6.5 million-dollar property exemption. Shortly after the teachers and school employees declared their threat, ExxonMobil withdrew its request for tax abatement. Power to the people! Go Louisiana Association of Educators and East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers!

As a result of the school board having a seat at the Board of Commerce and Industry meetings, and voicing their objections to these thieving corporations, now two LA state legislators are proposing legislation for the upcoming session that would limit local involvement in ITEP. This was announced in January 2019. So—news flash—it is 100% obvious where our state legislators stand: with the million- and billion-dollar corporations, not with the people.

Both Democrat and Republican politicians are making their objective apparent: to keep their campaign donations flowing, while teachers are underpaid, schools do not have resources to provide the necessary attention and education to our children, our roads have sinkholes, healthcare/sick pay/vacation pay are considered “benefits” and people are struggling. We are smart though! When workers get together to study, discuss, and strategize (like the teachers’ unions did), we can overpower the corruption! Local involvement is necessary to ensure we workers are taken care of, because the business government ain’t doin’ it!

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Louisiana Civil Courts Stacked Against Workers

Louisiana is one of only four states that do not fund legal support for workers in civil courts. As a result, in 75% of civil court cases in the state, people represent themselves, whether they have any understanding of the law or not. While the rich are able to hire as many lawyers as they need to protect their interests, workers can’t afford to defend themselves against predatory landlords, businesses who have ripped them off, or bosses who have stolen from or harassed them.

Even with the right to sue, even with anti-discrimination laws or other protections on the books, workers can’t protect themselves without affordable access to the courts. While there was once state funding to help workers get legal support in the courts, this fund did not meet the needs of workers who struggle with Louisiana’s right-to-work laws, rampant environmental devastation created by oil companies, and insurance fraud in the wake of natural disasters. Even with access to legal representation, workers cannot rely on the courts for justice when corporations and capitalists’ money buys them the power to trample over the rights of workers. We workers have to organize to demand funding for civil legal representation so that we can better defend our class against the attacks of the bosses and the owners.

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War Profiteers Seize Federal Budget

EVERY SOCIAL PROGRAM UNDER ATTACK

By Gavrielle Gemma

The ever-growing military budget of over $1 trillion a year —that’s 1,000,000,000,000 or a million millions— exists for two purposes.  First, it lets the heads of profiteering war industries loot the treasury for themselves. Second, it enables the ultra-rich to loot the wealth of other countries through invasion and occupation. The U.S. military and its imperialist allies use lethal force to extract cheap labor and resources like oil from the countries they target, blocking any efforts of the workers to organize themselves and installing and supporting right-wing dictators.

There is nothing about the war budget that brings security or peace to the working class here or anywhere else.  Yet year after year both Republicans and Democrats vote to increase it. This looting of the treasury is at the expense of everything workers need. Both parties of Wall Street set aside their differences and dance at the altar of war profits.

Trump has just demanded another increase in the war budget and a cut of $2.7 trillion —that’s about 3,000 billion dollars—to Medicare, social security, disability, food stamps, housing, Medicaid, transportation, student loans, education, pensions and non-military agencies.

Trumps’ budget cuts won’t be passed as proposed— they never are.  They always demand larger cuts so we are relieved when we manage to beat back some of the attacks.  Again and again the Democratic party colludes in this charade by agreeing to a compromise.  Over the last 4 decades again and again this is the pattern that results in cuts to necessary social programs.

CAPITALIST GOVERNMENT SEIZING MORE POWER TO ENRICH THE FEW

There are two parts to Congress.  The House of Representatives and the Senate.  All budgets arise from the house of representatives.  Congress just voted against Trump’s rotten wall but by declaring a national emergency Trump diverted funds for it anyway.  So what’s to stop a repeat of that as far as cuts go?

Apparently what can’t be achieved by a vote in the millionaire’s club called Congress can be done through declarations and legal decrees. Now that Trump has packed federal and supreme courts with appointments for life, he is also trying to cut all funding for Medicaid and Obamacare by a court decree.

REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS RESPONSIBLE

The whopping tax cuts for the rich pushed by Trump continue the cuts of Bush and Obama, both of whom also increased the military budgets. George W Bush cut taxes by $4 trillion for the rich.  Just as they were set to expire, Obama extended the Bush cuts in 2010  for another $900 billion and extended them again in 2013, saving the rich $5 trillion over ten years.

Both Bush and Obama each increased military spending during their terms by $6 trillion. A few progressive members of congress may vote initially against it but have pledged to support the Democratic Party no matter what. Even these “progressives” don’t oppose U.S. military and economic interventions.

HUNGER OF THE PEOPLE LESS IMPORTANT THAN GOVERNMENT STABILITY

Trump pursues criminal behavior every day. He supports white supremacy. He commits sexual assault. He engages in illegal business dealings and more. But Democrats went after by cooking up a hoax about Russia.  They chose to attack him from the right rather than risk inciting the masses or instability in the government.

The government at this point is an example of state capitalism meaning that its major role is to prop up Wall Street profits and ensure global economic domination through endless murderous wars.  It Is not by the people or for the people.  It is bought and paid for by campaign contributions and tens of thousands of lobbyists. Any remaining measures that benefit the people are a result of the struggle we waged in mass movements. Nothing could be more urgent than an independent movement against war and cuts to programs.

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“From Confederate Park to Jackson Square, Fight White Supremacy Everywhere!”

Jacksonville, Florida, March 23.

By Tina Orlandini

This past weekend, March 22–24, a delegation of Take ‘Em Down NOLA comrades traveled to Jacksonville, Florida for the second annual Take ‘Em Down Everywhere international conference. This global grassroots movement is “a black-led, multiracial, international, intergenerational, inclusive coalition of organizers committed to the removal of ALL symbols of white supremacy from the public landscape as a part of the greater push for racial and economic justice and structural equity” (TakeEmDownEverywhere.org). Take ‘Em Down Everywhere was inaugurated last year in New Orleans, bringing together organizers from Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Trinidad & Tobago.

This year in Jacksonville, described by locals as “the city that time forgot,” organizers and allies spent the weekend sharing local history, exchanging organizing strategies, and hitting the streets. On Saturday, March 23, local historian Rodney Hurst led a bus tour of Jacksonville, visiting the birth place of James Weldon Johnson, author of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (also referred to as the Black National Anthem); Hemming Plaza where the monument of the Confederate soldier stands (for now), along with a historical marker commemorating Youth Council sit-in’s at W.T. Grant Department Store and Woolworth’s Five and Ten Cent Store in 1960. Though this was not the beginning of the Civil Rights movement in Jacksonville, it signaled a turning point in local consciousness and was succeeded by further agitation that forced the integration of lunch counters, schools, parks, restrooms and other public facilities within the decade.

Later that day, Take ‘Em Down Jax, the Northside Coalition, and the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition organized a rally, beginning with a press conference at Confederate Park in front of the Women of the Confederacy monument, where they proposed an economic boycott of Jacksonville. Ben Frazier of Take ‘Em Down Jax and the Northside Coalition said to a cheering crowd, “it’s time for us to start telling people not to come to Jacksonville, Florida. Don’t come to Jacksonville because Jacksonville is a racist city which refuses to deal with these Confederate monuments.”  The crowd of about 140 marched in Take ‘Em Down NOLA style formation to the International Brotherhood of Electoral Workers (IBEW) Union Hall for a panel discussion featuring Take ‘Em Down NOLA’s very own co-founder, Michael “Quess” Moore. Other panelists included Reverend Ron Rawls, Pastor of St. Augustine Church in Saint Augustine, a city 40 miles south of Jacksonville described by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964 as the most racist city in the United States. Maya Little of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s “Move Silent Sam” movement skyped into the panel and shared her account of the recent removal of the Silent Sam Confederate Soldier monument, current attempts to bring it back to campus, and ongoing intimidation she’s experiencing from local white supremacists and the police.

Following the panel, Take ‘Em Down organizers broke bread and continued to build at the Yellow House Art Gallery, described by director and Take ‘Em Down Jax member Hope McMath as a space where art and activism meet to create change.

On the final day of the conference, organizers from New Orleans and Jacksonville discussed specific successes and strategies to move forward the work of dismantling white supremacy, rooted in the South with eyes on the more than 1,500 white supremacist symbols littering the United States, and even more internationally. By the end of the conference, Take ‘Em Down Everywhere announced that next year’s convening will take place in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Take ‘Em Down NOLA delegation left Jacksonville with gratitude for Take ‘Em Down Jax and energized by this growing movement of working class organizers, teachers, historians, artists, faith based leaders and elders unified in the revolutionary struggle to end white supremacy everywhere.

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Seafood Workers Alliance

A conversation with Chayito

By C.D.

The Seafood Workers Alliance is a group made up of seafood industry workers in Louisiana who are organizing across the rural areas of the state to address the many injustices they face in the industry, such as forced labor, unfair wages, and workplace safety issues. These are the workers who produce and process the seafood that makes Louisiana famous, and they are making a call to allies and fellow workers to join them in this fight. Below are excerpts from a conversation with the vice-president of the Alliance, who goes by Chayito.

Where are you from and how long have you been working in the United States?

I’m from Sinaloa, Mexico. I came to the United States, invited by a friend who told me about a job at a crawfish plant in Baton Rouge. I have been working here for 11 years as a guest worker.

How did you get to know the Seafood Workers’ Alliance?

Eleven years ago I met organizers from the Guest Worker Alliance. I had a problem at the crawfish plant I was working at, where the workers wanted to be paid more. They wanted 25 or 50 cents more per hour. I met two organizers who were helping the workers in their struggle. The boss was very upset, he disrespected the organizers. The boss got so angry he cut off the electricity, disrespected the workers, and sent for a truck to return all of the workers to Mexico. I decided to stay with a friend because I had a child in the hospital, and I had to work to pay for the clinic expenses. I started working in a taqueria and made tamales a few days a week. Here I was completely lost. We could not speak the language. It was difficult, but I endured, and I left before the visa expired.

After being in Mexico for a while, I wanted to come to work again. But when I went to hand over the copies of my passport to another company, a friend of my sister told me, “I can’t bring you because the company does not want those who have been involved with in organizing.” I started having problems again. I met another person who offered me another visa in Lafayette. The manager of that plant had problems with me, and he insulted me. As we are organized, [the bosses] are also organized. They all know each other.

I returned to Baton Rouge and worked for another company. During my time there I was living in a house with co-workers. It was a company house, and we had to pay rent to the company. The house was very dirty, with rats and cockroaches. We were 23 people living there with only three bathrooms and a kitchenette.

When I started I was not very involved with the movement. Now I am more involved because I started to know about other cases. The workers began to talk among ourselves and realize what was happening, and we began to organize to defend ourselves. I want to avoid these things that have happened to me and my coworkers. The Seafood Workers’ Alliance was formed two years ago, and I serve as vice president of the Alliance.

What are the conditions like for women in the industry?

The pay is not the same. Men are paid more. Of course there is sexual harassment. We have a task this year to find a way to raise awareness among people to make reports and not to remain silent about this issue. There are many women organizing.

What inspires you in this work?

It inspires me that more people are approaching us. We have managed to get people to support us. We have opened the doors for people to listen, to learn about the experiences of guest workers, and I’m very inspired because there is a lot of support amongst ourselves. We know it’s not easy, but we have to keep going.

What is a message you have for people who are trying to get organized in their industry?

Do not stay silent. There will always be a door that will open. You have to lose your fear. All human beings have rights no matter race, color, fat or skinny. We all have the right to work. We are not objects. We have dreams, and no one has the right to take them away.

We want to inspire allies to join the cause, inspire people who are from here, who have the will to support and the heart to support. We can all support, but I have seen that people like to ignore these issues. I want the people in power to be able to see how people are treated in the rural areas where the food that is eaten is processed. Where the people who process what they put in their mouths live. This food is made with tears, with bad working conditions. We have no protection. We want to inspire the people who support us to change the industry. Because when something is made with love, it will be healthy.

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Alianza de Trabajadores de Mariscos y Pescado

Una conversación con Chayito

By C.D.

La Alianza de Trabajadorxs de Mariscos y Pescado (ATMP) es un grupo de trabajadorxs de la industria de mariscos y pescado en Louisiana, quienes se están organizando en las áreas rurales del estado para enfrentar a las injusticias en la industria como el trabajo forzado, salarios injustos, y el tema de la seguridad en el lugar del trabajo. Ellxs son lxs trabajadorxs que producen y procesan los mariscos y pescados famosos de Louisana, y están invitando a lxs aliadxs y a otrxs trabajadorxs a unirse a la lucha. Lo que sigue son partes de una conversación con la vicepresidenta de la Alianza, Chayito.

¿De dónde viene usted y cuánto tiempo ha estado trabajando en los Estados Unidos?

Vengo de Sinaloa, México. Yo vine a los Estados Unidos invitada por una amiga que me contó sobre un trabajo en una planta de crawfish en Baton Rouge. He estado trabajando aquí por 11 años como trabajadora huésped.

¿Cómo empezó a organizar?

Hace once años conocí a la Alianza de Trabajadores. Tuve un problema en el trabajo donde los trabajadores queria ser pagados más. Querían 25 o 50 centavos más a la hora. Conocí a dos organizadores de la Alianza de Trabajadores que estaban ayudando a los trabajadores en su lucha. El jefe se molestó mucho, le falto el respeto a los organizadores. El señor cortó la luz, se puso grosero, y mando por un camión y corrió a los trabajadores de regreso a México. Yo decidí quedarme con una compañera porque tenía un niño internado en el hospital, yo tenía que trabajar para pagar los gastos de la clínica. Empecé a trabajar en una  taquería y hacia tamales unos días, aquí me quedé completamente perdida, no podíamos hablar el idioma, fue difícil pero aguante y salí antes de que se me termino la visa.

Después de estar en México un rato, quería venir a trabajar de nuevo. Pero cuando fui a entregar las copias de mi pasaporte para otra compañía, una conocida de mi hermana me dijo “fijate que no te puedo traer porque la compañía no quiere los que han estado organizando.” Empeze a tener problemas de nuevo, conoci otra muchacha que me ofreció otra visa en Lafayette. La encargada de esa planta no le gusto mi trabajo. Me falto el respeto. Como nosotros estamos organizados, [los jefes de las plantas] también están organizados. Ellos todos se conocen.

Me regrese a Baton Rouge y trabaje por otra compañía. Durante mi tiempo ahí estuve viviendo en una casa con compañeros de trabajo. Era una casa de la compañía y teníamos que pagar renta a la compañía. La casa estaba muy sucia, con ratas y cucarachas. Eramos 23 personas viviendo ahí con solo tres baños y una mini cocina.

Cuando empecé no estuve muy involucrada con el movimiento. Ahora estoy más involucrada porque empeze a conocer de otros casos, los trabajadores empezamos a platicar entre nosotros y darnos cuenta de lo que estaba pasando y organizarnos para defendernos. Quiero evitar estas cosas que me han pasado a mi y a mis companeros y companeras. La Alianza de Trabajadores de Mariscos Y Pescado se formó oficialmente hace dos años y yo sirvo como vice-presidenta de la Alianza.

¿Como son las condiciones para las mujeres en la industria?

La paga no es la misma, a los hombres les pagan más. Claro que hay acoso sexual. Tenemos una tarea este año de buscar la manera de cómo concientizar a la gente que denuncien y no se queden calladas sobre esto. Hay muchas mujeres organizando.

¿Que le inspira de este trabajo?

Me inspira que más gente se están acercando a nosotros, hemos logrado que lleguen personas a apoyarnos, se nos han abierto las puertas para que la gente escuchen, que sepan como es el trabajo de los trabajadores huéspedes, y muy inspirada porque hay mucho apoyo entre nosotros. Sabemos que no es fácil pero tenemos que salir adelante

¿Tiene algún mensaje a personas que están intentando organizarse?

No se queden callados, siempre va haber una puerta que se va abrir. Se tiene que perder el miedo. Todos los seres humanos tienen derechos no importa raza, color, gordo o flaca, todos tenemos derecho a trabajar. No somos objetos, tenemos sueños y nadie los deben de romper.

Queremos inspirar a personas aliadas a unirse a la causa, inspirar a personas que sean de aquí, que tengan las ganas de apoyar y el corazón para apoyar. Todos podemos apoyar, pero he visto que la gente ignora. Yo quiere que las personas en poder puedan ver como se trata la gente en las áreas rurales donde se procesa la comida que se come. Donde vive la gente que procesa lo que se pone en la boca. La comida ahora esta hecha con lágrimas, con malas condiciones de trabajo, no tenemos ninguna protección. Queremos inspirar a las personas que nos apoyen para que la industria cambie. Porque cuando se hace algo con amor va ser sano.

 

 

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New Zealanders March Against Attacks on Muslims

Hundreds of Thousands Show Solidarity

By Joseph Rosen

On March 15, a white supremacist Trump supporter carried out a brutal massacre of 50 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand.  These fascists think their actions will get popular support, but tens of thousands of New Zealanders, white and not, Muslim and non-Muslim prove them wrong. Along with thousands more across the world, they poured into the streets to show solidarity with Muslims.  Like the recent Pittsburgh synagogue massacre and the deadly 2015 attack on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, this was an assault on families gathered in worship.  In Christchurch, the terrorist also specifically targeted immigrants. Among the dead and injured were families who had fled to New Zealand seeking refuge from the devastation of the Western imperialist wars on Palestine, Syria, Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

The mass murderer cited Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” The Trump administration’s racist and anti-immigrant program has included a “Muslim ban” on travel and an expansion in concentration camps for undocumented men, women, and children whom Trump regularly dehumanizes as “criminal.” In the wake of the attack, Trump has downplayed the threat of white nationalism. In contrast, the New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Hearn stated that “as a nation, [we need] to confront racism, violence and extremism.” While this statement is a welcome rebuke of Trump, her hypocrisy needs to be challenged. Like Democrats in the U.S. who condemn Trump’s racist rhetoric but happily support and fund genocidal wars against Arab countries, Hearn’s own party is in a governing coalition with the right-wing “New Zealand First” party whose leaders echo the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant tirades of Trump and who, together with the Hearn’s Labour Party, support the U.S.-led wars and military occupations in the Muslim-majority countries of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Horrific as these individual fascists’ attacks are, U.S. wars for oil and profit on the Muslim-majority countries of the Middle East have cost the lives of millions more. The most obvious difference between the terrorist attack in New Zealand and George W. Bush’s self-described “crusade” against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan is that Bush is responsible for the death and displacement of millions of people. Another difference is that Bush’s wars garnered profits for his capitalist friends. Dick Cheney’s former company Halliburton alone gained $17.2 billion in Iraq war-related revenue from 2003-2006. But rather than admit that these wars are fought for private profit, the capitalist-owned media promote the white supremacist idea that the “civilized” West is at war with its “uncivilized” other.

The capitalists can only carry out their wars for profit if they succeed in dividing the working class against itself. Their media outlets gave the New Zealand fascist the publicity that he sought. To win over a section of the workers to support, promote, fight and die in their wars, they will resort to the most hideous racism and lies. In countries such as the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Israel– all founded on the right of white settlers to the “spoils” of their government’s colonial plunder– white workers have been repeatedly duped by the racist myths and lies of their bosses. Yet their adherence to this hateful ideology hasn’t done anything to reverse the general decline in their living standards which continue to worsen under capitalism.

Workers cannot play into the hand of these would-be Nazis. We must organize ourselves through international solidarity and solidarity at home. This means opposing imperialist wars for profit and rejecting white supremacy.

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Uber and Lyft Drivers Strike in Los Angeles

Drivers for Uber and Lyft picketing at Uber’s Los Angeles headquarters.

On March 27, hundreds of Uber and Lyft drivers staged a one-day strike to protest cuts that Uber made to drivers’ pay rates. As the company goes on a spending spree buying up its competitors around the world  (Uber just shelled out $3.1 billion to buy out a competitor company based in Dubai), struggling drivers in Los Angeles and part of nearby Orange County are having their per-mile compensation cut by 25 percent. There are an estimated 30,000 full-time app-based drivers in Los Angeles alone.

The strike was organized by LA Rideshare Drivers United, an organization with a membership of nearly 3,000 drivers in Los Angeles. They are demanding a $27.86 minimum (pre-expenses) hourly rate and a 10 percent cap on the commission that the companies take for each fare. This follows the recent success of organized workers in New York City who won a $17.22/hr wage (after expenses)— the first minimum pay rate for app-based drivers in the country. The Independent Drivers Guild, which represents about 70,000 app-based drivers in New York City, expects its full time drivers to get an extra $9,600 a year from the pay raise.

Because Uber and Lyft have gotten away with classifying workers as independent contractors, the companies haven’t had to pay minimum wages to their employees or provide them with overtime, workers’ comp, family leave or sick pay. In fact, the majority of app-based drivers make less than the minimum wage in their state. But the drivers won’t stand for it much longer; they have shown that when they get organized for a fight, they can win.

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Pass the Gender Equality Act!

Right now, employers in 29 states can legally fire LGBTQ workers just because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. There are no federal protections preventing this kind of discrimination. That could change, however, if congress passes the Equality Act introduced by Rep. David Cicilline and Sen. Jeff Merkley.

LGBTQ activists have fought for this type of legislation for decades, but such protections would be a win for all workers. The capitalist class relies on keeping working people divided. There are more workers than there are bosses. But if the bosses can pit white workers against black workers, immigrant workers against non immigrant workers, LGBTQ workers against non LGBTQ workers, then it is the bosses who win.

We should remain hopeful and keep organizing, because many already see through the divide-and-conquer strategy. In 2016, the Public Region Research Institute conducted 42,000 interviews in all 50 states, and 70 percent of those interviewed said that they would support a bill like the Equality Act. Working class unity is possible and necessary.

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Mexican Walmart Workers Threaten to Strike, Get 5% Pay Raise

Walmart México has agreed to give workers a 5.5% annual pay increase and a productivity bonus linked to sales after 8,500 workers threatened to go on strike.

Earlier in March, the Revolutionary Confederation of Laborers and Farmworkers (CROC) had announced the strike, which was set to begin on March 21st and was to cover ten states.

Significantly, this announcement came on the heels of another strike wave that began in northern Mexico in January. That strike wave began in the auto plants, then spread to a Coca-Cola bottling plant and Walmart stores in Matamoros and several other northern cities. The result of those actions is that thousands of factory workers won 20% pay increases and annual bonuses of 32,000 pesos (US $1,650); that is, after the work stoppages cost the bosses an estimated $50 million a day!

As for the Walmart workers, the pay increase and bonus arrangement are big wins, as this section of workers is highly exploited. The primarily women cashiers and other low-ranking employees currently earn, on average 140 and 150 pesos (US $7 to $7.50) per day. They are also not enrolled in medical insurance or retirement schemes. According to the National Association of Shop and Private Office Workers, Walmart discriminates against pregnant women, doesn’t abide by the right to an eight-hour working day, breaks the law by not paying overtime, and dismisses workers unfairly.

The workers have achieved gains simply by threatening to strike, demonstrating their collective power, which is potentially massive. René Sasores Barea, the union’s secretary general, said, “The winds of change are blowing and . . . employers must understand that.”