[Peace-discuss] Women and Socialism, Mon., April 6@6pm, Greg 319

Sat Apr 4 20:51:05 CDT 2009

Women and Socialism

book talk by author Sharon Smith

Monday, April 6, at 6pm

Gregory Hall, Rm. 319/UIUC

Thirty years have passed since the heyday of the women's liberation
struggle, yet women remain second-class citizens. Feminism has shifted
steadily rightward since the 1960s. 
This collection of essays examines
these issues from a Marxist perspective, badly needed today.

Women and Socialism locates the source of women's oppression in
class society, arguing that only a movement integrating the fight for
women's liberation with a struggle against a system that puts profit
above human needs can end women's oppression-along with all other forms
of inequality.

Sharon Smith is the author of many articles on women's liberation
and the US working class, including Subterranean Fire: A History of
Working-Class Radicalism in the United States. Her writings appear
regularly in Socialist Worker and the International Socialist Review.
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http://socialistworker.org/2009/03/26/americas-union-busters

America's union-busters on the warpath
Corporate America's anti-union crusaders have raised $200 million to combat the Employee Free Choice Act.

March 26, 2009

THE U.S. corporate class has always been notorious
for its ferocious opposition to unions. And true to form, business
leaders reacted with collective hysteria to the introduction of
legislation in the House and Senate on March 10 that would make it just
a bit easier for workers to unionize.

    Columnist:
    Sharon Smith  

Sharon Smith is the author of Subterranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States, a historical account of the American working-class movement, and Women and Socialism, a collection of essays on women’s oppression and the struggle against it. She is also on the board of Haymarket Books.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would allow unions to win
recognition once a majority of workers at a given workplace signs union
cards, rather than allowing managers to force their workers to suffer
through a drawn-out union election by secret ballot.

Employers typically prefer to force a union election because it
allows them to delay the decision by months while they fire union
supporters and force their workers to endure "captive audience"
meetings with managers, who threaten to close down the company or move
elsewhere in the case of a union victory.

EFCA would also compel recalcitrant employers to bargain with
unions, by imposing binding arbitration if there is no agreement
reached 120 days after a union wins recognition. This is necessary
because roughly half of all new unions never get a contract due to
their managements' refusal to bargain in good faith.

The Chamber of Commerce has called EFCA a "firestorm bordering on
Armageddon." In an October 28 interview on CNBC, John McCain pledged to
veto EFCA if elected president, calling it "dangerous for America,
[and] it's dangerous to small business. And I think it's a threat to
one of the fundamentals of democracy."

The Chamber, the National Association of Manufacturers and other
anti-union corporate crusaders have raised $200 million to combat EFCA.
And they have only just begun to fight, framing their defense of
workers' "right" to a vote by secret ballot in a union election as if
this were a struggle to preserve a sacred cornerstone of democracy--by
preventing unions from simply asking workers to sign union cards if
they would like to join the union.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IN REALITY, EFCA would maintain the option of voting by secret
ballot, but transfers the decision to workers instead of employers,
where it currently resides. Nevertheless, on the March 14 edition of
Fox News' "The Journal Editorial Report," Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot accused "Big Labor" of using "brass knuckles" and their "toughest tactics" to get their way.

It turns out that the behavior to which Gigot referred was nothing
more thuggish than a group of unions having "written a letter...to
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner suggesting that any banks or companies
that receive funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program shouldn't be
able to lobby [against EFCA]."

This would seem a perfectly reasonable request, given that both Bank
of America and Citigroup organized conference calls to launch their own
campaigns against EFCA after receiving $25 billion and $50 billion in
bailout funds, respectively.

These clueless executives still seem not to realize that
union-busting is an inappropriate use of taxpayer money--especially in
the midst of the apparently limitless taxpayer bailout of the Wall
Street banks who provoked the current economic crisis. These are
undoubtedly the same sort of managers who believe that referring to
underpaid and overworked retail employees as "associates" actually
prevents working-class resentment from appearing in their workplaces.

EFCA was last introduced in Congress in 2007, when it fell victim to
a Republican filibuster in the Senate. Employers are aiming for the
same outcome this time around. Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, who was a
sponsor of the original EFCA bill in 2003, voted for it in 2005 and
voted against the Republican filibuster in 2007 was undecided on the
new bill until March 24, when he made a firm about-face. As he
explained his newfound anti-union stand, "The problems of the recession
make this a particularly bad time to enact Employees Free Choice
legislation. Employers understandably complain that adding a burden
would result in further job losses."

Some news outlets, including U.S. News and World Report, have
credited Specter with dealing a "death blow" to EFCA because his lone
vote will provide Republicans with the 60 Senate votes necessary to
successfully vote against cloture--i.e., to achieve a filibuster.

Alas, Specter must share the "death blow" distinction with a handful
of Senate Democrats who have also belatedly turned against EFCA. Sens.
Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor from Wal-Mart's home state of Arkansas,
for example, have similarly been peeled away from their previous
support for an easier path to unionization. Even Barak Obama, who made
his support for EFCA a campaign promise, indicated in a January 15
interview with the Washington Post that he would be open to making some compromise with business interests.

Starbucks, Costco and Whole Foods chief executives came forward with
just such a compromise in March. Although these three companies all
promote a "progressive" image, they have managed to remain largely
union-free--with the exception of Costco, where the Teamsters union has
organized about one-fifth of the workforce.

Moreover, their proposed compromise removes the most important
aspects of the legislation: the right to unionization by majority card
check and binding arbitration after 120 days of management stalling.
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey bluntly explained their anti-union
reasoning for removing these elements from the bill to the Washington Post:
"Armed with those weapons, you will see unionization sweep across the
United States and set workplaces at war with each other. I do not think
it would be a good thing."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
EVEN THIS proposed toothless version of EFCA is too much for the
Chamber of Commerce, however. Glenn Spencer, a senior executive at the
Chamber argued, "I would say probably from the whole business
community's perspective, there are really no amendments you could make
to this bill that would make it acceptable."

>From unions' viewpoint, removing those key provisions from EFCA
would make it worthless, based on the widespread intimidation tactics
used by employers. According to the AFL-CIO, when companies are faced
with a union drive:

-- 92 percent of managers force their employees to attend closed-door
meetings against the union--and 78 percent require their workers to
attend one-on-one meetings with their supervisors;
--75 percent of companies hire professional union-busters;
--52 percent threatens to call U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services against immigrant workers;
--25 percent illegally fire at least one worker during a union campaign; 

It is no wonder that, as the AFL-CIO notes, 78 percent of the public
supports workers' right to bargain for better wages and benefits--and
expresses precious little sympathy for the plight of corporate
executives as this economic crisis worsens. Management, not labor,
intimidates workers when it comes to union organizing.

But this new phase of the class struggle cannot be won via dueling
television ads, however much popular sentiment tilts toward unions.
Anti-union corporations spent $50 million on ads skewering Democratic
Party candidates during last fall's Congressional campaigns, while
unions mustered only about $10 million for the same purpose against
Republicans. Tellingly, Specter told reporters about his Republican
peers, "I'm being lobbied on it very, very heavily" before he shifted
his vote on EFCA.

Neither Senate Democrats nor labor leaders have thus far waged a
principled fight approaching the level of determination exhibited by
Republicans and the business lobby over EFCA. Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid said on March 10 that Democrats' push for a vote on EFCA
might "have to wait until after the August recess" unless Democrats are
assured the bill can survive a Republican attempt to filibuster.

Each month that passes without a vote on this crucial piece of
pro-union legislation significantly reduces its chances of success, as
Democrats conveniently "forget" the promises they made during their
2008 election campaigns that inspired their supporters to get out the
vote.

Unions need to mobilize the millions of workers who are enthusiastic union supporters to gain the upper hand in this struggle.

-- 
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ISO Resources:
socialismconference.org
internationalsocialist.org

haymarketbooks.org
socialistworker.org
isreview.org

ISO Champaign Meetings
Mondays, Greg 319 at UIUC, 6pm

All are welcome

Socialist Worker & Haymarket Books Tabling
Tuesdays, Main Quad at UIUC, 2-4pm
(during inclement weather, we will be inside the Student Union)

Socialist Happy Hour!
An evening of informal political discussion

Fridays at 8:00pm: All are welcome
Blind Pig (120 N. Walnut St.)
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