[Over 130,000 marched in cold rain in Washington…]

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Over 130,000 marched in cold rain in Washington, D.C., to protest I workers confront new loss of their charter.

These councils are reported to have sent letters after the demonstration stating that they were complying with Kirkland's letter by informing their affiliate union locals of its contents. At the same time these councils continued their endorsement—and in some cases active support-for the demonstration.

Walter Johnson, secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council, remained a co-chair of the Western States Mobilization in his "individual" capacity. Johnson, who played a key role in helping to initiate the West Coast coalition, marched behind the lead banner of the 80,000-strong march i San Francisco.

The debate in the Sacramento (Calif.) Labor Council was led by Susan Paradis, head of the council's public employees section.

In preparation for the meeting, Paradis and a group of council delegates compiled and distributed some 50 packets containing background material on the Central America discussion in the labor movement. Included was information listing the 43 times the U.S. government has intervened with troops in Central and South America over the past 100 years.

Following initial attempts to stifle debate, a letter which had been previously approved by Paradis's council of delegates was presented for consideration. It charged Kirkland with acting against the interests of working people and the AFL-CIO. It also included a sentence indicating that the council was complying with Kirkland by informing its affiliates of his letter. It was approved by a near-unanimous vote.

Over 120 rail workers met on May 8 in Minneapolis, Minn., to confront a new threat from rail management-the shortline. This is a financial ploy by the railroad owners that threatens working conditions, wages, and jobs on every railroad where it is applied.

The meeting was sponsored by the Inter Craft Association of Minnesota (ICAM), a coalition of rail unionists that seeks to promote labor solidarity.

A statement issued by ICAM describes the mechanics of a shortline operation. For 100 years the Minnesota Transfer Railway has shuttled freight cars between railroads in the Minneapolis area. It was owned jointly by the Burlington Northern, Soo Line, and Chicago Northwestern railroads. They operated the line under union contracts. A few months ago the line was sold to a new entity, the "Minnesota Commercial Railroad."

Immediately upon purchase, all agreements and seniority rules were terminated, and all workers were fired.

The open defiance by APL-CIO affiliates of their misleaders and the mass participation of trade-union members in united actions against the racist and pro-war policies of the U.S. government are a sign of the changing times.

A good example of the new wind in the labor movement was referred to in an April 25 article by Rick DelVecchio in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Under the headline, "U.S. Trade Unions Shifting Focus to Foreign Workers," DelVecchio quotes Carl Finamore, a staff director of the April 25 Mobilization, who stated:

"The 'Buy America' consciousness, pitting American workers against foreign workers, is still dominant. But what is a growing minority consciousness is that workers in America and South Africa, for example, have a common need to raise both our working conditions."

DelVecchio interviewed a young South African woman, Nomonde Ngubo, representative of the United Mineworkers of America and a coordinator of the UMWA's boycott of Shell Oil. Ngubo was a featured speaker at the April 25 demonstration in Some of the jobless workers were permitted to re-apply for employment—at about 80 percent of their former wages. They returned to their old jobs as new employees, with no accrued seniority and no union.

The Staggers De-Regulation Act of 1980 allows the sale of railroad property to "nonrailroad entities" and permits the termination of all labor agreements. This invitation to union-busting is being eagerly seized by railroad bosses who set up nonrailroad entities controlled by themselves.

Aside from the Minneapolis shuttle road, the first born-again railroads were rural lines of under 100 miles, hence the designation "shortlines." But railroad managers soon moved to bigger things.

A 600-mile regional railroad was carved out of Illinois Central trackage. The Soo Line sold its 2000-mile Lakes States Division, converting it overnight to a non-union operation at the cost of over 900 union jobs. Other union-busting conversions are planned. "Clearly the disease has become an epidemic," the ICAM statement said. San Francisco. DelVecchio reports that she "was hired by the UMWA to attempt to persuade South African mining companies to improve miners' wages and conditions."

His article continues:

"The UMWA says it is losing jobs because a South African coal mining company owned by Royal Dutch Shell...is underpricing American coal producers by 10 percent in the United States. Hoping to restore American jobs as well as improve the welfare of South African miners, who earn a tenth of American miners' wages, the union is leading an international boycott of Shell oil and gasoline."

Ngubo stated, "The corporations themselves are united. So labor solidarity is an important tool."

DelVecchio reports that workers at a Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. plant in South Africa struck last year in sympathy with American union members laid off when a New Jersey plant closed down.

He continues by describing the financial support given to striking Salvadoran textile workers by the Bay Area Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. The low wages of the Salvadorans effectively Cynthia Burke, president of Brotherhood of Railway and Airline Clerks Lodge 1310 and chairperson of ICAM, spoke at the meeting about the bosses' attack and outlined a union strategy to defeat it.

Strategy to defeat attack "One problem," Burke said, "is that the rail managers and the federal regulators share the same goals-and, increasingly, the same personnel. Drew Lewis, who fired PATCO air controllers when he was secretary of the Department of Transportation, is now chief executive of the Union Pacific Railroad."

Burke continued: "A key component of our self-defense strategy will be exposing the financial deals behind these shortlines. ICC regulations, which permit these overnight sales, have been carefully written to deprive the public of any information, much less say, about planned shortlines. The rail magnates fear public scrutiny and public debate on this issue."

Burke proposed that the unions challenge the railroads' secret shortline operations by calling for hearings, Congressional investigations, and full disclosure of all the financial documents involved in these transactions.

"We can point out that Congress has a responsibility to investigate and open up the books on these sales," she said. "If they Socialist Action/Tina Beacock U.S. policies abroad.

reduce the counterparts.

Similarly, the Communication Workers of America has initiated a program to monitor the worldwide wage polices of IBM Corporation.

DelVecchio concludes, "The attempt to redefine the problem of foreign competition as not only a parochial economic issue for labor but also as a human rights question has helped labor unions enlist the support of civil rights and church groups."

The government-promoted corporate austerity drive is convincing increasing numbers of U.S. workers that they have no common interest with the bosses or their twin parties of war, racism, and poverty.

U.S. workers are learning by experience that their real allies are the working people in every country, who have no other interest but to live in a world where there is peace, jobs, and justice for everyone.

The capacity of the red-baiting union bureaucrats to derail the growing struggle against war and for jobs and human rights has been dealt a great blow. The credit belongs to all those who worked so hard to make April 25 a truly historic event. do not, our unions can consider setting up independent boards of inquiry with representatives from farmers, unions, consumer groups, and others."

Burke continued: "The carriers are using every trick in the book to attack our unions. We need to campaign on every front and use every resource we possess to stop this de-unionization process in its tracks. But if it is not enough, we should make it clear that we are prepared to defend our unions by whatever means necessary, including the exercise of our ultimate strike weapon.

"As the most unionized industry in the United States, we possess enormous economic power," Burke concluded. "We have to begin now to organize and build the kind of intercraft, interroad solidarity that can win."