Bush War on Labor: ILWU Injunctions and Links for Action and Legal Background

alex lantsberg wideye at ziplink.net
Thu Oct 10 00:42:41 PDT 2002


i heard on david bacon's KPFA segment that the ILWU is trying to get CalOSHA and other state OSHAs to have staff at the docks to monitor the worker's adherence to safety rules.

what are the chances of the state agencies backing up the ILWU in their work practices and putting pressure on the bosses for encouraging unsafe working conditions?

al

-----Original Message----- From: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com [mailto:owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com]On Behalf Of Justin Schwartz Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 7:51 PM To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Subject: Re: Bush War on Labor: ILWU Injunctions and Links for Action and Legal Background


>(d) Dockworkers continue to work-to-rule--as they were doing before the
>lockout.
>(e) Not all that much cargo is moved--so shippers have a big incentive to
>settle: they're paying out wages and getting little in return.
>
>What am I missing? It seemed to me that Bush's injunction is actually going
>an offensive move against the shippers. But I may well be out of my depth
>here...
>

You are, Brad. Slowdowns are illegal under the injunction; the union faces contempt charges, jail time for its leaders, and huge fines if it persists. The injunction, like all labor injunctions, favors the bosses because it takes away the worker's one great weapon, concerted refusal to work. Read Felix Frankfurther's 1927(?) cloassic, The Labor Injuncion, which helped get the Norris-LaGuardia Act passed, banning the federal labor injunction until Taft-Hartley reinstated it. jks

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