Rail cutbacks and speedup lead to fatal accidents

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July 23 passenger train accident outside New York City The first six numbers of the Socialist Action Information Bulletin can be purchased this month only for the special price of $12.00 (includes mailing costs.) The Information Bulletin contains the founding documents of Socialist Action, a public faction of the Socialist Workers Party, as well as other theoretical contributions seeking to clarify and defend the program and heritage of the SWP and Fourth International against the attacks by the current SW leadership. The six numbers of the Information Bulletin-each with a complete introduction presenting the mateVol.1, No.J: "A. Platform to Overcome the Crisis in the Party"; *28 Theses on the American Socialist Revolution and the Building of the Revolutionary Party"; *New Norms vs. Old: The Vol.i, No.2: "The Party's Default in the Struggle Against Imperialist War, " by Lynn Henderson and Nat Weinstein; "Socialist Strategy for Class Struggle Transformation of the Unions, " by Frank Lovell and Steve Bloom; "Trade Union Resolution, "by Lynn Henderson and Nat Weinstein; and "If Ever You Surrender Your Right to Criticism, You're Dead!" by Tom Kerry. Vol.1, No.3 (Part I): "Resolving the International Crisis of Revolutionary Leadership": "The Iranian Revolution Four Years After"; and "The Iranian Revolution and the Dangers that Vel.I, No.3 (Part I): "The Cuban Revolution, the Castroist Current, and the Fourth InternaVel.1, No.4: "Cartos Rafadl Rodriguez" 'Contribution' to Marxist Theory, " by Paul Siegel, and "Behind Shafik Jorge Handal's 'Self-Criticism, , 1" by Alan Benjamin. Vol.1, No.S: "Lenin and the Theory of "Democratic Dictatorship, ' " by Les Evans; 'The Debate over the Character and Goals of the Russian Revolution, " by Ernest Mandel; and "The Need for a Revolutionary International, " by Ernest Mandel and John Ross. Vol.t, No.6: "A Challenge to Trotsky's Theory of Permanent Revolution, " by Les Evans.

8 SOCIALIST ACTION AUGUST • MINNEAPOLIS-Workers on the Burlington Northern Railroad are hearing a new slogan from management. It is Corporate Culture. This does not refer to concerts or art exhibits offered to their culture-starved employees. It is a concept of partnership between workers and management-as the bosses see it.

Burlington Northern's concept is not new: Management and workers have an "equal interest" in improving productivity. Workers should therefore "cooperate" with management at every level. They do not need the union.

Burlington Northern brought in a new vice president, Thomas Matthews, to direct the Corporate Culture program. Matthews had just recently completed a stint as labor relations director at Continental Airlines. This is the airline that filed for bankruptcy, abrogated its union contracts, and then reopened after firing two-thirds of its employees.

The sort of "partnership" Matthews plans for the Burlington workers includes bypassing the union wherever possible, laying off workers, and speeding up those remaining on the job. This "partnership" is meant to deepen the attacks that the Burlington workers have already been subjected to for some time.

Corporate greed

Over 19,000 Burlington employees have been laid off since 1980. Traffic on the road has not fallen off. In fact, it has increased. This has meant excessive hours and speedup for those still working. ing. On a railroad, overwork and speedup spell danger and death. For Burlington workers it has meant 10 deaths in three accidents in three months.

A nerve center of a railroad is the train dispatchers' office. Here orders are sent out for the trains to move, stop, and go on to sidings. It is similar to an airport control tower except that trains cannot take evasive action when a collision is imminent.

Budget cuts have been made in this most sensitive department. Dispatchers have been forced to work seven days a week for nearly two months at a time. Training courses for new dispatchers have been cut from four weeks to two.

Harout Kevork, Raffic Balian, and Haig and Melkon Gharakhanian, Armenian residents of Toronto, Canada, have been charged with attempting to murder and conspiracy to murder Turkish commercial counselor Kani Gungor in April 1982.

The accused were first arrested in May 1982 and charged with various counts of conspiracy and extortion. Held without bail for 112 days, all were released after an eight-week preliminary hearing resulting in a number of charges being dropped. The re-arrests of these left-wing activists two years after the event for which they are charged takes place against a backdrop of media hysteria about "Armenian terrorism.

Armenians' around' the world have attempted to expose the still-denied Turkish slaughter of over a million Armenians and to regain their homeland, currently partitioned between NATO-member Turkey and the Soviet Union.

The magazine Azad Hay (Free Armenian), published by one of the accused, has campaigned for a unified, socialist Armenia for many years. It has never advocated terrorism.

The Committee In Defense of Armenian Political Prisoners Inadequately trained dispatchers have been put to work, replacing experienced men who have quit because the long hours and pressure have been too much for them.

Burlington management. has also failed to install safety equipment that modern technology has made available. There are stretches of single track on the Burlington lines where trains travel in both directions. There are no signals to warn the engineer if there is another train heading toward him.

Trainmen call these sections of road "black territory. "

"Driving a 14,000-ton train through black territory can be scary, " declared Robert Palava, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. "You do it in weather when you can't (CIDAPP) is working to defend these activists who are being held without bail. CIDAPP demands that the charges against the four be dropped and that they be freed. The committee has won widespread support for the democratic rights of the defendants.

Forward all contributions to Committee In Defense of Armenian Political Prisoners (CIDAPP), P.O. Box 456, Station Z, Toronto, Canada.

rial--contain the following articles:

Erosion of Proletarian Democracy"; and "Sound the Alarm. "

Threaten It. "

tional, " and "Revolution and Counterrevolution in Poland. " see 40 feet in front of you. By the time you see something, it is too late and you try to jump. You cannot stop 14,000 tons in 180 feet like a car. The minimum is almost one mile.

Not human error The inevitable accident occurred June 15 on a stretch of single track near Brainerd, Minn. Two freight trains collided head on at an impact speed of 100 miles an hour. Three trainmen were killed and a fourth critically injured. A mixup in orders had assigned two trains to the same track at the same time. This was the third accident on the line in three months. Seven more trainmen had been killed in accidents in Colorado and Missouri.

The dispatcher on duty at the time of the crash had just completed his two weeks of training. Veteran dispatchers said no one could be prepared for such a responsible position in two weeks. The responsibility for the accident lay with the management of Burlington, who would not spend the money to properly train the men who had such an awesome responsibility.

Burlington management put the blame on the young dispatcher and suspended him. They also sued the estates of the families of the dead trainmen, suggesting they might have stopped their trains and averted the accident.

Burlington workers responded to this vicious attack on the dead trainmen. Together with family members and other trade unionists, they picketed the Burlington Northern headquarters in Minneapolis, carrying signs that said "Corporate Greed-Not Human Error" and 'Job Count Down-Body Count Up. "

Speaking at a July 2 labor rally to protest Burlington Northern's safety policies, Cindy Burke, president of the Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks Lodge 1310, put the blame for accidents on Burlington's "no frills" approach to rail safety. 'The real threat to safety on the BN railroad, " she stated, "is the massive jobs cuts and speedup which have been instituted for the purpose of increasing profits at the expense of the public and the employees. "

Referring to Matthews' proposed Corporate Culture partnership, Burke said she believed in partnership-partnership between unions. "Our idea of a partnership"' she said, "is symbolized by this rally today where unions unite in defense of one another and take their case to the public."

To further this kind of partnership and fight cutbacks, the various crafts on the Burlington line have formed the Intercraft Association of Minnesota. By taking this step, the rail workers will be in a better position to fight Burlington Northern and its Corporate Culture.

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