Bankruptcy— Court ruling hits unions
1984 1984-03Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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The U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door for a major escalation in the employers' union-busting drive with its Feb. 22 ruling in favor of the Bildisco Manufacturing Co.
The Bildisco ruling allows a company to nullify a union contract under provisions of the bankruptcy laws before even a ruling is made by the court. To simply file a claim is now enough for the company to throw out the contract. And as the Wall Street Journal noted in its editorial of Feb. 2, 1984, "the employer only has to show that the labor contract 'burdens' the reorganization process," for the nullification to become permanent.
EDITORIAL What the Journal calls "reorganization," is just a code word for union-busting, as the workers at Continental Air Lines know all to well. For them it meant a loss of 12,000 jobs and one-third of the workforce rehired at about 50 percent of their previous wages.
The deadly implications of this ruse for tearing up union contracts cannot be overstated. The employers will now be able to legally impose concessions, wage cuts and other takebacks without the prior approval of the unions. Company demands can be imposed even if they are rejected by the unions.
This is only the latest move by the employers and their government to arm themselves for the showdown class battles on the horizon. The rulers understand full well the depth of the crisis of the capitalist system and have little confidence in their ability to forestall a qualitative worsening of the economy. Their only way out is to drive down the wages and living standards of all working people.
The ruling class has been systematically enacting laws and court decisions designed to sharpen the legal edge of its intensifying assault on the unions. The employers carefully select the more vulnerable union targets for attack. Each blow struck secures for them both immediate benefits, as wages are lowered, and a longer-term advantage, as the self-confidence of the workers is eroded.
The ruling class offensive is being carried out with calculating skill. A little over four years ago, for example, Democratic President Jimmy Carter sought to deliver a major setback to the United Mine Workers. After the miners had been on strike for many months, Carter invoked the Taft-Hartley Act and threatened to bayonet the miners back to work. He was compelled to retreat when the miners defied the injunction and displayed the ability to stand up to government-military strikebreaking.
Less than two years later Republican Ronald Reagan, cheered on by the Democrats, struck down the air traffic controllers. The defeat for the labor movement was all the greater in the absence of any real support for the embattled controllers from the AFL-CIO officialdom.