ILWU officers and members march in support of workers’ rights in the State of Wisconsin at the Hawaii State Capitol on February 26, 2011. (Front, left to right) Oahu Business Agent Shane Ambrose, Michael Ruiz and Tavita Tufaga from Unit 4415 - Hawaiian Memorial Park, and former unit officer from The Honolulu Advertiser Rick DeCosta. Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker and the Republican majority in the state’s legislature are trying to ram through a new law that will take away collective bargaining rights from public workers.
“Union political action is vital because your rights and benefits can be taken away by the stroke of a pen.” These words refer to the fact that legislation can be made and become law when signed by the governor of a state.
The law can give you benefits and protect your rights, but new laws can also take away these benefits and rights. This is happening in the state of Ohio and Wisconsin where Republican governors John Kasich and Scott Walker and Republican majorities in the state legislatures have passed laws that severely limits the collective bargaining rights of state public workers and threatens the continued existence of public worker unions. Police and fire worker unions are excluded in the Wisconsin law but the Ohio law includes all 360,000 of the state’s public workers.
The 2010 elections gave TEA party backed Republicans a majority in both legislative houses of Wisconsin and Ohio. TEA party Republicans refuse to consider the possibility or necessity of raising taxes in order to balance the state’s budget. While both states are facing budget problems, the Republicans gave tax breaks to the wealthy and business and are blaming middle class public workers for the budget crisis. For years, the states failed to set aside enough money to fund their pensions commitments, and the governors now want to break promises made in earlier collectively bargained contracts.
In both states, the fight is being taken to the people. In Wisconsin, public workers and their supporters plan to recall eight Republican The next Local 142 Executive Board (LEB) meeting is scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. on June 17, 2011, in Honolulu at the ILWU union hall, 451 Atkinson Drive. ILWU members are welcome to attend as observers.
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Democracy on the rise in world but under attack in U.S.
An uprising of people’s power calling for more democracy in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other countries is toppling dictators around the world. The movement appears to be sweeping through the Middle East.
At the same time people around the world are calling for more democracy, the United States is going backwards and taking away democratic rights from its own people.
In Wisconsin, a Republican governor and Republican majorities in the state legislature are ready to pass a law that will severely limit the right to bargain from public worker unions.
Workers in Egypt played a decisive and under-reported role in helping topple Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Union members in textile plants, post offices, sanitation services and the Suez Canal organized job actions across the country on February 9th - the day before Mubarak announced his resignation. Journalists at the nation’s most influential newspaper, Al Ahram, combined demands for better wages with insistence on more political independence.
Five thousand unemployed youths stormed a government building in Aswan, 6,000 Suez Canal workers held a job action and 2,000 pharmaceutical workers in Quesna went on strike. One trade union official said, “most strikers say that the resources of the country have been stolen by the regime.”
Strikes and other job actions have increased dramatically since the year 2000 when the International Monetary Fund, corporations, and U.S. government officials pushed Egypt to adopt “neo-liberal” economic agenda based on “free market” policies that raised unemployment and lowered living standards for most workers while favoring the wealthiest Egyptians.
