NEWS ANALYSIS Advantages for Bush in Resorting to Injunction By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
If President Bush faces any downside to seeking an injunction to end the West Coast port shutdown, it is that he will face the wrath of organized labor.
Administration officials acknowledged yesterday they they were worried about angering — and perhaps energizing — labor unions just weeks before the November elections in which control of Congress is up for grabs [clip] Ford imports 360 different parts through West Coast ports, while Dell Computer said it had only 10 days' worth of some computer parts left. One California military contractor said a custom piece of Japanese tooling that it needed to build tactical Tomahawk missiles was trapped on a ship off the California coast. [clip - ah the Japanese seem to be doing well via Empire.] While weighing its moves, the administration was clearly worried about the downside of its decision — angering labor. Those worries help explain why the administration worked so hard yesterday to urge the longshoremen and port operators to agree to a 30-day contract extension. That effort earned some praise from union leaders, and, had it been successful, it would have made Taft-Hartley unnecessary. [Its debatable how hard they worked-pk]
Now that the president has acted, labor leaders are saying they are furious. Unions dislike such back-to-work injunctions, viewing them as improper meddling in contract disputes and weakening labor's hand.
Richard Trumka, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. secretary-treasurer, said unions were so angry about Mr. Bush's move that many union members would consider it in deciding whether to vote Democratic of Republican this November. [clip] The president's kicking the can down the road past the election makes sense and doesn't make sense," said David Wellman, a labor expert at the University of California at Santa Cruz. "It gets him and the nation's retailers through the Christmas season, but at the same time, it angers labor, including the two unions, the Teamsters and the Carpenters, that the president has been courting." [clip] "The employers got what they wanted — the ports will be reopened," said Richard Mead, president of the longshoremen's local in the San Francisco area. "We now have a new dock boss. His name is George W. Bush. Will the workers listen to Boy George? I don't know." [end]
There's a new show on MTV where two young guys from some punk/rock band introduce videos from punk/rock bands. I guess its a popular show, but anyway, last night one was wearing a Rancid T-shirt - the SanFran lumpenprole, anarchist punk band that crossed over in the 90s - and it reminded me that they have a great song on their second album titled "Harry Bridges" (I kind of doubt the young whipper-snapper was sending a message of solidarity but you never know)
Harry Bridges bloody thursday was july 6th the pigs killed three workers harry bridges grabbed the mic the city shut down july 6th the workers outraged it was a general strike the media claimed that the commies were taking over and some believed it was true 3 uncompromising strikes paved the way minn sf. & toledo over and over again the doors are locked and the windows are broken eddie worked for general motors & he swore that he'd never lose his job again a union man who owned his own home in beautiful flint, mich. eddie lost his job and eddie lost his wife so eddie lost his self esteem last time i saw eddie he was livin' in the trailer park again i believe eddie forgave too much too soon i got a letter about eddie & it was bad news