what to do

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Tue Mar 28 12:58:54 PST 2000


Doug:


>>Were unions powerful, well organized, & willing to practice massive
>>secondary boycotts, wildcats, etc., worker delegations could do the
>>inspection work. Otherwise, no. Unions that don't even have enough power
>>to compel the OSHA to do frequent & unannounced inspections on behalf of
>>workers, not capitalists, can't be expected to protect worker safety on
>>their own.
>>
>>You need _power_ to compel capitalists to respect workers' need for safe
>>workplaces.
>
>Well, yeah, but what's your answer? An appeal to a nonexistent party?
>The only state around right now is the bourgeois state.

Hey, the stuff Andy English posted sounds pretty good. Now, when is the Labor Party going to get on with the program? How does it propose to put "national legislation to train and deputize workers to be on the job inspectors in each and every workplace" into practice? By electral means? Industrial actions? Getting a social movement going?

Anyhow, unions should focus on objectives of this sort -- worker safety, democracy on the job, preserving & expanding social programs, etc. -- instead of getting all hot & bothered by China's entry into the WTO, wasting time, money, & resources.

Yoshie



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list