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Unite the Fight for Union Construction Jobs & Community Needs

$400 million in public funds for safe schools, not Gayle Benson

by Gavrielle Gemma

Construction union leaders recently opposed a demand to redirect the $400 million in public funds for the Superdome renovation to meet the dire needs of the community during this time of crisis. Once again the capitalists and their politicians have managed to pit workers against the community over seemingly opposing interests. This scenario will never play out in favor of workers or the community. A new way forward must be forged.

Big oil tells workers their fate is linked to oil production. They want to convince their workers that what’s good for BP or Exxon Mobil is good for you. The oil industry had record profits for years, got billions in subsidies from the government, and destroyed the coast. Bloody wars were fought to increase the wealth of company shareholders. But when prices drop, working class communities take the blow. Oil profits are in offshore bank accounts, not in the pockets of workers. The owners take those profits out of state and pay little if any taxes. Yet they expect oil workers to pledge their allegiance to the company.

The planet cannot survive continued fossil fuel production. Oil workers and their communities should take the lead now in a movement to secure jobs at equal wages in renewable energy. Instead of allowing tax exemptions and subsidies to big oil, they should support a transition to clean energy jobs with a guarantee for equal wages or better.

Only bosses benefit from getting public funds, tax exemptions.

The labor of tens of thousands of steel workers created enormous wealth, which has been used by company owners to bring in new hi-tech mini mills. Hundreds of thousands of workers lost their jobs, and communities were destroyed. Despite this, the union jumped to support the bosses’ scheme to get tariffs on steel imports. Have tariffs benefitted the workers? No.

Corporate tax cuts and public funded rip-offs have not created jobs.

As of 2018 Louisiana lost $12 billion in taxes due to the legislature giving their friends and contributors tax exemptions while these companies made lots of profit. That $12 billion could have been invested in housing, roads, and childcare, creating thousands of living wage jobs. Thousands of construction workers would have been needed.

The Trump tax cuts were sold on the basis that this would stimulate hiring and good wages. Most of that money went to huge executive salaries, investors’ dividends and stock buybacks. The very same companies that profited from the tax cuts laid off thousands of workers.

$400 million in public funds to make schools safe, hire construction workers.

Gayle Benson is the richest person in Louisiana. The Bensons got their wealth by ripping off the public by hundreds of millions of dollars. They were also exempted from sales and other taxes. The Superdome was built with public money but the revenue it has produced has not returned money to the benefit of the Parish.

Construction workers have been hard hit in this depression. Work for union members is especially hard to come by and often depends on publicly funded projects. It’s understandable the construction trades support this giveaway of public funds. But other workers are suffering also. There is enough for all if we fight together.

Together we should demand that public money used for school re-openings. The schools are not safe from COVID-19. School facilities are lacking in every way from plumbing, reconfiguring classrooms, and especially proper air filtering.

$400 million should be used to hire construction workers to make these schools safer. This would require carpenters, laborers, plumbers, steamfitters, HVAC, and more. The community would welcome this to protect the children, staff, and communities, and provide construction jobs.

The trades might answer: “That’s all in the future. We need to feed our families now!” No one expects workers not to show up for work at the Superdome. What we suggest is that at the same time they start a campaign for public funds for workers and communities now.

The labor movement—especially the construction trades—needs a new fighting strategy to win a better world for all working people.

*This author of this article was married for decades to a union steamfitter and knows the ups and downs of construction work, unemployment, loss of health benefits in down times, and the dangerous nature of this work.

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Trump Says U.S. Military In Syria “Only For The Oil”

By Sally Jane Black

In a rare display of honesty, Donald Trump has stated several times in the last two months that U.S. troops have only remained in Syria to “secure the oil.” Though Pentagon officials have tried to backtrack on his comments (since they are an admission of war crimes), the cat is out of the bag. While Trump previously claimed U.S. troops would be leaving the area—signaling a victory for the Syrian people under threat by U.S. imperialism—troops remain to maintain U.S. corporate control of the natural resources of the region.

The U.S. military’s presence in the Middle East is the primary cause of the instability and wars that have plagued the region for decades.

There is a long history of U.S. imperialism and militarism acting only to rob other nations of their natural resources. Whether it’s Bolivian lithium or Nigerian uranium or Iraqi oil they’re after, the U.S. military serves capitalist exploitation in its plunder of the world’s wealth. In Syria, it has been no different; the U.S. involvement there began when Syria tried to build their own gas pipeline and control their own resources. Since then, the U.S. has bombed hospitals and civilians, spread lies about use of chemical weapons, and backed all kinds of reactionary paramilitary organizations including the so-called “moderate rebels” now murdering the same Kurds the U.S. once backed.

The U.S. military’s presence in the Middle East is the primary cause of the instability and wars that have plagued the region for decades; the impact of imperialism is always violence and suffering for working people. Trump’s remarks expose the long-standing truth. US workers should stand in solidarity with the Syrian people and demand that Trump be prosecuted for the war crimes he admits to.

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Iraqi Workers Protest Poverty Created by U.S. Wars and Occupation

Anti-government protests have continued in Iraq since early October.

By Jennifer Lin

Protesters in Iraq are demanding the resignation of their government that is a product of U.S. imperialist occupation. Iraqis had built for themselves a highly developed country before the U.S. government destroyed it for access to its oil. After the Iraq monarchy was overthrown in 1958, British and American oil companies were kicked out and the oil was nationalized. By 1990, Iraq had the highest standard of living in the Middle East. The literacy rate was around 80% and people had access to free healthcare and education. More women were in the Iraqi parliament than in the U.S. Congress. Iraq’s children’s hospital accepted patients from all over the Middle East for free.

Determined to free themselves of U.S. imports, Iraq was moving to produce its own food as it did before British occupation. Similarly, they were moving to cut dependence on other industrial goods. Not buying U.S. commodities, using oil for their own national development: these were the real “crimes” that led to the U.S. wars.

Documents prove that the U.S. CIA considered Saddam a reliable ally when he was suppressing left and nationalist elements. But as soon as he implemented policies aimed at uplifting the working class and making Iraq economically self-sufficient, he became a threat to the economic and political dominance of the U.S. corporations.

To block the self-determination of the Iraqi people, the U.S. bombed the country in 1991. More than 90% of the country’s electrical capacity and most of its telecommunications, irrigation, water purification, and hydroelectric systems were destroyed. Bombs were aimed at farms, schools, hospitals, public transit stations, mosques, and historic sites. Around 200,000 people were killed, and the depleted-uranium missiles used by the U.S. led to tens of thousands more cancer-related deaths in the following years. Sanctions killed over half a million children.

In 2000, Saddam stopped accepting U.S. dollars as payment for oil. This was unprofitable for the U.S. capitalist class, so the U.S. invaded the country again. Bush invented propaganda accusing Iraq of developing weapons of mass destruction, but this was just a lie used to justify the invasion so the U.S. could control Iraq’s oil wealth. After the invasion, most of Iraq’s economy was either destroyed, shut down, or privatized. Poverty and unemployment skyrocketed.

The U.S. occupation was a bonanza for war profiteers and an assault on the working class. Both Iraqi and U.S. workers bore the costs of this violent imperialist war, as U.S. taxpayer dollars were stolen to fund the destruction of Iraqi lives and livelihoods.

The U.S. trained and armed Special Police Commandos to quell resistance. These death squads terrorized civilians with open gunfire, torture, arrests, and mass murders. Continued U.S. involvement in Iraq fomented sectarian violence and pushed people to join the Islamic State, locking Iraq in a state of perpetual warfare. In 2014, Obama sent troops to Iraq to “fight terrorism,” but this was just another lie used to maintain the U.S. military stronghold in the country.

On October 1, 2019 Iraqi people from all walks of life took to the streets to demand an end to the succession of repressive governments that have ruled the country since the U.S. invasion. Beholden to the ruling elites of Iraq and the U.S., these governments have stripped the Iraqi people of jobs and access to public services.

Protesters have rejected President Salih’s promises for reform, demanding that the entire government be removed from power. Despite violent repression by security forces, the Iraqi people are refusing to back down.

U.S. Ignores Poverty, Tries to Use Protests to Attack Iran
The U.S. government which only represents the oil companies and big business is not interested in the conditions of workers in Iraq or anywhere else. Always seeking to use a situation for their own purposes, however, the U.S. working through the most reactionary clerics have tried to cast the protests as anti-Iran as this fits the agenda of the U.S. There is no credible evidence that any but a small grouping are buying into this.

Workers have nothing to gain from U.S. imperialism, which imposes capitalist poverty on other countries to make the world safe for U.S. corporate control. U.S. imperialism crushes democracy wherever it goes, as the history and current situation of Iraq show. Our struggle to live a healthy life with access to jobs, food, housing, and healthcare is connected to the ongoing struggle of the Iraqi people. Our hard-earned money is stolen and used to destroy the livelihoods of Iraqi people rather than to fund public programs that would benefit us. We must stand in solidarity with any country resisting U.S. imperialism and call for an end to U.S. intervention in the country.

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We Need Money for Schools Not Submarines

On Dec. 2, the U.S. Navy announced that it had awarded a $22.2 billion contract to war profiteer General Dynamics to build 9 Navy submarines.

With $22.2 billion, a government could guarantee 740,000 workers a year’s worth of work at $15/hr.

740,000 workers could be distributing food, running nurseries, building rural hospitals, restoring Louisiana wetlands, or caring for our elders.

The U.S. government is a government of the rich for the rich. We are sick, we go hungry in order to fatten a few shareholders at General Dynamics and ExxonMobil. But we, the workers, are millions more than the generals and CEOs. We can replace their rule with ours.

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Not One Dime, Not One U.S. Soldier to Defend Saudi/U.S. Oil Monarchy

Trump and Mohammad bin Salman celebrate $12.5 billion in U.S. weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi monarchy, a long-time ally to the United States under both Republican and Democratic administrations, is a fascist monarchy which is thoroughly based on extreme inherited privilege, racism, and hatred of women and LGBTQ people. The monarchy denies all rights to workers and is based on system of servitude and slavery. They are the gatekeepers and beneficiaries of the criminal oil monopolies that want to rule and destroy the Earth for profit.

The U.S. government does not represent the workers of the U.S. It is a sales agency for military profiteers and other capitalist criminals. The military corporations are private companies that are strangling the economy and looting the federal budget. Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia to close a deal for more weapons.

The U.S.-Saudi alliance is bathed in the blood of the Yemeni people, of the Yemeni children who have been slaughtered and starved by Saudi use of U.S. Weapons.

The US and Saudi monarchy claim that Iran is to blame for the bombing of oil facilities. The Trump administration on behalf of Exxon and BP is sending more weapons and troops. But this is no different than sending troops to support Hitler. The U.S.-Saudi alliance is bathed in the blood of the Yemeni people, of the Yemeni children who have been slaughtered and starved by Saudi use of U.S. Weapons.

The Yemeni people have a right to fight back just as all workers and oppressed people have the right to fight back to defend our rights and our futures. We need to stand together against those who are occupying and colonizing, from the rain forests of Brazil to the mines of Afghanistan, from the gates of the UAW strike against GM to the demand for homes in South Africa and New Orleans.

No More Blood for Oil!

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Global Environmental Crisis: Support Oil & Gas Workers’ Fight for a Just Transition

Oil workers in West Africa commemorate the 11 workers killed in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS NEED TO FIGHT FOR WORKERS

By Meg Maloney

Workers in the fossil fuel industry feel the effects of polluting industries on their families’ lives, including the threats to their homes due to loss of wetlands & sea level rise, water and air pollution, and the destruction of wildlife habitats. Some unions have put out statements saying they are for stopping climate change but express concerns over the transition to a sustainable energy economy. Will their new jobs be unionized and have good pay? Will their pensions be safe? Will they have access to health care? Society owes a lot to oil workers and their communities who suffer from the ups and downs of the global oil market and who often have dangerous jobs. The environmental movement needs to stand behind a just transition that recognizes oil workers and communities as leaders in the fight for their demands.

We cannot trust the Democrats or Republicans to secure a just transition for workers; we must fight for ourselves. All the benefits or rights that we have—and that we defend from constant attack—have come about as a result of workers and communities organizing.

Both bosses and their politicians seek to increase profits. Neither care about the effect on workers or the environment. We’re nearing the 10 year anniversary of the BP disaster where 11 workers were killed on the job. On top of dangerous work environments, workers face under staffing, and bosses replacing union jobs with independent contractors. With continuous layoffs, increasing climate crisis, and an increasing push towards sustainable energy, workers will have to fight to make sure that the transition is carried out on the workers’ terms, not the bosses.

A just transition could include the following demands:

  • Fossil fuel companies fully fund workers’ pensions and healthcare funds before anything else
  • Full unrestricted access to labor unions
  • Workers must receive the union access, pay and benefits they were receiving at their previous jobs
  • New workers should have full access to a union, living wages, and benefits
  • Full reemployment for all workers coming out of dying industries.
  • Priority to local hiring and paid training for affected communities.
  • Reparations from the old industries to communities affected by their negligence
  • Investment in job creation and training for sectors that are needed to address changing climate, such as jobs building infrastructure, wind, solar, environmental research, and wetland and forest restoration
  • Giant fossil fuel companies take responsibility for funding retraining, retooling, and remediation of polluted land
  • Demand the state fund initial stages of transition by finally taxing big oil.

For a just transition to happen the environmental movement and the workers must unite to draw up a plan and mobilize to demand its implementation. We cannot put our faith in congress or any politicians to do what is needed. Just like the housing crisis they will bail out the banks before the people, the bosses before the workers. We must organize and unite the labor and environmental movements to demand a just transition that meets the needs of the workers, and fully addresses climate change.

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Global Environmental Crisis: Out-of-State Oil Barons and Chemical Plant Owners Profit from Destroying Louisiana

A father and daughter attend the climate change protest together on Friday, September 20.

By Jennifer Lin

Energy corporations pillage and destroy the environment for profit, crushing the lives and livelihoods of workers in the process. As the climate crisis worsens, hurricanes and floods will become more destructive. These events have always revealed the intention of rich capitalists to profit from disasters.

After Katrina, the Road Home Program was designed to make it nearly impossible for Black workers to rebuild their homes. Real estate speculators then carried out a land grab.

Even systems that are supposed to protect people from natural disasters are being used against us, because they are the private projects of city officials and land developers based on profit contracts and bank loans. Drainage canals and artificial levees deplete the soil of groundwater and nutrients, causing land to drop below sea level. Worse, the lack of natural outlets for the Mississippi allows pressure to build up around the levees downriver, making the working-class communities that live there particularly vulnerable to flooding.

Of course, this is business as usual for the millionaires on the Sewerage and Water Board, who are now trying to impose a new drainage fee on workers that will push more and more people towards foreclosure and eviction. Meanwhile, the residents of Gordon Plaza continue to wait for a fully funded relocation. They have been struggling to have their humanity recognized for over thirty years since the city colluded with real estate vultures to build their homes on a toxic waste landfill in the Upper Ninth Ward. In Cancer Alley, the highest cancer-causing area in the U.S., people living near industrial plants are protesting the relentless poisoning of Black communities by petrochemical companies.

DEMAND REPARATIONS FROM OIL COMPANIES
Oil and gas extraction account for about 60% of wetland loss and coastal erosion in the Gulf. Louisiana has lost nearly 2,000 square miles of coast since 1930. Most of that land belonged to the Houma people, who have had their lands stolen and their histories erased for centuries, first by colonial settlers and now by oil tycoons.

Few people today mention the Taylor oil spill. Back in 2004, Hurricane Ivan destroyed an oil rig owned by Taylor Energy Co., which continues to leak 100 barrels of oil into the Gulf every day. Disasters like this and the Deepwater Horizon spill pervade the oil industry, which endangers workers’ lives and destroys entire ecosystems for profit.

We cannot stand for the wholesale destruction of our communities and livelihoods by rich capitalists. We must stop corporations from continuing to poison the land we live on, the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the people we love. Under capitalism, only what is profitable is valuable. Until this violent system of oppression and exploitation is completely overturned, the measure of our worth as people and the worth of the planet that shelters us, nourishes us, and sustains us will be dictated by a handful of rich CEOs who will never stop extracting the precious, collective resources of the earth for profit. Calling for an end to capitalist-driven ecological catastrophe is a necessary part of the revolutionary struggle towards liberation. An entire world is at stake, and we have no time to lose.

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Workers Have No Interest in Another Rich Men’s War for Oil

Who’s threatening whom? Dozens of U.S. military bases and 125,000 U.S. troops surround Iran.

“Of course it’s about oil, it’s very much about oil, and we can’t really deny that.” —Four Star General John Abizaid, the former commander of CENTCOM, speaking about the U.S. war on Iraq

“People say we’re not fighting for oil. Of course, we are. They talk about America’s national interest. What the hell do you think they’re talking about? We’re not there for figs.” —Former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel speaking about the Iraq war in 2007

“I’m interested in Libya if we take the oil. If we don’t take the oil, no interest.” —Donald Trump, one month after the US/NATO bombing of Libya in 2012

“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It was like—
we had entire training courses.” —Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at Texas A&M University, April 15, 2019

Beware Of Lies To Justify War on Iran

Lie: In 1964, the U.S. went to war because North Vietnamese small boats fired on a U.S. warship in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Fact: In 2019 it is confirmed this was a total lie to get us to back a war. Former navy pilot James Stockdale reported from the air, “There was nothing there but black water and American fire power.” The result: 3 million Vietnamese and 56,000 U.S. troops dead and thousands of Vietnam veterans left homeless in the streets.

Lie: Iraq attacked the World Trade Center towers. That’s why the U.S. went to war with Iraq.
Fact: The 9/11 commission confirmed that Iraq had nothing to do with the World Trade Center tragedy. The U.S. invaded Iraq and took over the country and its oil fields. After 500,000 Iraqi children died, Bush finally admitted on 9/11 2006 in a TV speech that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had no hand in 9/11.

Lie: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that threatened the U.S.
Fact: From November 2002 to September 2004, 1,625 US and UN inspectors searched 1,700 sites and found no weapons of mass destruction. It has since been admitted this was a lie to justify the invasion and occupation.

Lie: The U.S. wants democracy in Iran and Iran’s 80 million people want U.S. intervention.
Fact: In 1953, the CIA carried out a coup against the democratic and secular president Mossadegh. They put in power the Shah (means king) who ruled the country with an iron fist until 1979. Iranian people will never forget his reign of terror.

Lie: On June 13, Iran attacked oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman with a mine.
Fact: The Japanese crew of one of the damaged ships stated that this was not true. The crews of both tankers were rescued by Iranians in their territorial waters. On the same day, the Japanese Prime Minister was in Iran for a historic meeting with the leader of Iran, the first meeting of its kind in over forty years. An attack on a Japanese vessel would be the last thing Iran would want to do.

Lie: Iran is a threat.
Fact: Iran has not invaded or attacked another country in 100 years. Over the same time period, the U.S. has carried out over 100 invasions. UN inspectors stated that Iran was not building nuclear weapons and it was the U.S. that pulled out of the nuclear deal, not Iran. The U.S. has recently pulled out of other international arms treaties such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia. There are 125,000 U.S. troops in bases circling Iran.

Lie: This is about national security.
Fact: This is about oil and selling weapons for profits. The federal budget is being looted by giant war profiteering companies for $1.2 trillion a year. This money could be used to meet people’s needs.