The fight will come in many forms. Just a few:
• A pointed bargaining resolution, pledging the union – again – to protect its retirees as well as its present workers.
• Stronger alliance with the independent Mexican miners and metalworkers union Los Mineros.
• Determination to resist unfair so-called “free trade” deals with Colombia, Panama, South Korea and other nations.
• Development of a new generation of USW leaders, in an effort led by present Vice President Fred Redmond.
• A petition circulated on the convention floor and plans laid among locals to add Steelworker strength to the picket lines the Communications Workers and the Electrical Workers now have against Verizon. The firm forced them to strike on Aug. 7.
And just to make sure, delegates to the four-day convention overwhelmingly put the union’s money where its mouth is, by rejecting resolutions calling for cuts in dues that locals send to USW headquarters in Pittsburgh.
 |
| United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard addressed union members (above). Delegates applaud a speaker during the union’s convention in Las Vegas (below). Photos by Scott Marshall of the People’s World via PAI Photo Service. |
 |
Steelworkers President Leo Gerard set the tone for the conclave with his Aug. 15 keynote address, blasting the moneymen of New York’s Wall Street and Toronto’s Bay Street for enriching themselves while bringing on the financial crash that beggared workers worldwide. And he didn’t spare the financiers’ political handmaidens, either.
“They call it the Great Recession. But that’s too nice a name for what it really is,” Gerard declared. “What they should call it is the Great Wall Street Rip-Off, because that’s what the bankers on Wall Street and Bay Street, and the mortgage brokers they financed did to everyday working people in both our countries.
“They bet against their own investments so they could make a killing whether the people they were advising won or lost.
“Their addiction to runaway profits and bloated bonuses destroyed millions of our jobs. They ripped off millions of homebuyers to feed their addiction. And what really galls me is that they turned right around and stuck us with the bill for their thieving ways.
“They ripped off our governments for hundreds of billions to bail them out. One
thing’s clear: It was an equal opportunity rip-off, because Republicans and Democrats alike took part in the heist. As a matter of fact, they took turns at the trough.”
Politicians helped the financial elite by preaching “a bipartisan lie” that disguised the economic profits going to those whose “greased hands” fed the pols’ appetite for campaign cash, while everyone else lost wages and jobs, Gerard said.
To fight back, he said the Steelworkers must adopt specific causes, campaign hard against the financial elite, and tell politicians in no uncertain terms that if they don’t stand up for workers, the jobs they lose will be their own, he said.
Gerard said the U.S. and Canade need to value public service jobs, adopt a national manufacturing strategy, invest in modernizing the electricity grid and other infrastructure and become leaders in green manufacturing.
Other speakers sounded the same theme, and Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, the exiled president of Los Mineros, said it will extend internationally through even strong
ties between his union and USW. “The struggle is not over,’’ he said by teleconference.
“We will continue until we reach a final victory, not only for Los Mineros but for trade unionists all over the world.”
The two unions formed their bond in a shared fight against Mexican government efforts to remove Gomez Urrutia on trumped-up charges and take over his union. That brouhaha occurred after Los Mineros members were forced into a strike at Mexico’s largest copper mine. Los Mineros drew strong USW support and USW helped Gomez Urrutia to asylum in Canada. Mexican police and troops reacted violently to the strike.
Those ties will include stronger joint efforts to fight for workers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, a renewed commitment to create a single North American organization, although both USW and Los Mineros will “remain separate labor organizations with separate constitutions and neither will be liable for the legal obligations or debts of the other,” a USW summary said.
“Councils will be created from USW and Minero local unions that will meet regularly to exchange information and facilitate strategic cooperation, support and organizing. A mechanism will be created to support cross-national organizing. Each union will be entitled to observers with the right to speak but not vote on issues that come before their executive boards or committees. An exchange program of USW and Minero personnel, staff and membership will be developed. Language instruction will be explored,” it added.
This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
For more information
View videos and more on the USW website.
Share
The fight will come in many forms. Just a few:
• A pointed bargaining resolution, pledging the union – again – to protect its retirees as well as its present workers.
• Stronger alliance with the independent Mexican miners and metalworkers union Los Mineros.
• Determination to resist unfair so-called “free trade” deals with Colombia, Panama, South Korea and other nations.
• Development of a new generation of USW leaders, in an effort led by present Vice President Fred Redmond.
• A petition circulated on the convention floor and plans laid among locals to add Steelworker strength to the picket lines the Communications Workers and the Electrical Workers now have against Verizon. The firm forced them to strike on Aug. 7.
And just to make sure, delegates to the four-day convention overwhelmingly put the union’s money where its mouth is, by rejecting resolutions calling for cuts in dues that locals send to USW headquarters in Pittsburgh.
|
| United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard addressed union members (above). Delegates applaud a speaker during the union’s convention in Las Vegas (below).
Photos by Scott Marshall of the People’s World via PAI Photo Service. |
|
Steelworkers President Leo Gerard set the tone for the conclave with his Aug. 15 keynote address, blasting the moneymen of New York’s Wall Street and Toronto’s Bay Street for enriching themselves while bringing on the financial crash that beggared workers worldwide. And he didn’t spare the financiers’ political handmaidens, either.
“They call it the Great Recession. But that’s too nice a name for what it really is,” Gerard declared. “What they should call it is the Great Wall Street Rip-Off, because that’s what the bankers on Wall Street and Bay Street, and the mortgage brokers they financed did to everyday working people in both our countries.
“They bet against their own investments so they could make a killing whether the people they were advising won or lost.
“Their addiction to runaway profits and bloated bonuses destroyed millions of our jobs. They ripped off millions of homebuyers to feed their addiction. And what really galls me is that they turned right around and stuck us with the bill for their thieving ways.
“They ripped off our governments for hundreds of billions to bail them out. One
thing’s clear: It was an equal opportunity rip-off, because Republicans and Democrats alike took part in the heist. As a matter of fact, they took turns at the trough.”
Politicians helped the financial elite by preaching “a bipartisan lie” that disguised the economic profits going to those whose “greased hands” fed the pols’ appetite for campaign cash, while everyone else lost wages and jobs, Gerard said.
To fight back, he said the Steelworkers must adopt specific causes, campaign hard against the financial elite, and tell politicians in no uncertain terms that if they don’t stand up for workers, the jobs they lose will be their own, he said.
Gerard said the U.S. and Canade need to value public service jobs, adopt a national manufacturing strategy, invest in modernizing the electricity grid and other infrastructure and become leaders in green manufacturing.
Other speakers sounded the same theme, and Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, the exiled president of Los Mineros, said it will extend internationally through even strong
ties between his union and USW. “The struggle is not over,’’ he said by teleconference.
“We will continue until we reach a final victory, not only for Los Mineros but for trade unionists all over the world.”
The two unions formed their bond in a shared fight against Mexican government efforts to remove Gomez Urrutia on trumped-up charges and take over his union. That brouhaha occurred after Los Mineros members were forced into a strike at Mexico’s largest copper mine. Los Mineros drew strong USW support and USW helped Gomez Urrutia to asylum in Canada. Mexican police and troops reacted violently to the strike.
Those ties will include stronger joint efforts to fight for workers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, a renewed commitment to create a single North American organization, although both USW and Los Mineros will “remain separate labor organizations with separate constitutions and neither will be liable for the legal obligations or debts of the other,” a USW summary said.
“Councils will be created from USW and Minero local unions that will meet regularly to exchange information and facilitate strategic cooperation, support and organizing. A mechanism will be created to support cross-national organizing. Each union will be entitled to observers with the right to speak but not vote on issues that come before their executive boards or committees. An exchange program of USW and Minero personnel, staff and membership will be developed. Language instruction will be explored,” it added.
This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
For more information
View videos and more on the USW website.