Deepening recession spurs rank and file ferment

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activities, contact the Socialist Action The 1990-1992 recession has been called a! "white-collar" recession by the big-business media because tens of thousands of professionals have already lost their jobs, including upper-income Wall Street financial managers.

In 1981-82, professionals were barely touched. Manufacturing jobs ("blue-collar" workers), on the other hand, lost some 2.2 million jobs. This included tens of thousands of union-organized, highly paid production jobs in auto, steel, and other basic industries.

In truth, the current recession is hitting production workers extremely hard. Five times more production and service jobs have been lost this recession than professional positions. Overall, jobless rates are twice the level for wage workers than "white-collar" employees. (The broad category of "blue-collar" jobs as defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics includes skilled and manual laborers.)

In November, the unemployment rate for production workers was 9.1 percent. By contrast, the white-collar unemployment level stood at 4.1 percent. And most of the production jobs, especially those in union-organized factories—and which employ the most Blacks—are probably gone forever. Labor productivity has increased to the point that fewer industrial workers are needed today than 10 years ago to produce greater amounts of goods.

General Motors' announcement that it will close 21 assembly plants and fire/lay off more than 70,000 workers over the next few years is only the latest hit against labor by the employers, as thoy rein in costs and seek to increase profits. In the last year alone, three major airlines have permanently shut down-Eastern, Midway, and Pan Am. Silicon Valley electronic firms have laid off thousands. And clerks and other low-paid bank workers have seen thousands of their jobs eliminated in new mergers.

Not surprisingly, workers who are still employed are lowering their expectations. At United Airlines, where I'm employed as a mechanic, most workers recently approved a very weak contract because of fear of the recession. (See story on page 4.)

Dead-end policies Worse, however, is the policy of the top labor officialdom. Instead of organizing the declining union movement to fight back for higher unemployment benefits and a national healthcare plan for all working people, the AFL-CIO and its affiliates have stepped up a reactionary "Buy American" protectionist campaign as their solution to international competition.

Their answer to the bosses' anti-labor attacks is to blame "foreign competition," and thus workers abroad. The fact that corporations like GM employ as many workers abroad as they do in the United States is irrelevant to the union misleaders.

What workers want is a decent wage and living standard, no matter who owns the company they work at. This is true for workers of all countries.

The officials also continue to root their horn for the Democratic Party-as the 1992 presidential year begins. Yet the Democrats, like their Republican cousins, support antilabor policies to "reduce the deficit" and make "America more competitive." No wonder more working people are turning away from traditional politicians and looking for alternatives!

The question is, will hard-hit workers and farmers be sucked up in demagogic rightist campaigns aimed at tapping the genuine anger of working people-as David Duke did in Louisiana and Patrick Buchanan is also seeking to do in his campaign against Bush?

Or will the labor unions offer an alternative on the left? So far, the labor tops have shown that their policy will not change one bit. They are out of touch with the rank and file.

Even those labor leaders seeking to tap that sentiment for change are doing so with kid gloves. The best example is the initiative by former secretary-treasurer of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union (OCAW), Tony Mazzocchi. He's formed the Labor Party Advocates, hoping it will be a nucleus of a workers' party, while not asking those who join it to break with the Democratic Party. He does not see it running candidates in 1992.

Richard Trumka, president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), is open to a labor-party option some day too. "But first," he said recently, "we have to demonstrate to the worker that the Democratic Party won't be a voice for him." The UMWA has started running its own members in Democratic Party primaries.

Rank and file ferment But there are some signs that the membership of the unions are open to a new policy, even if it is confused and not yet a clear-cut class struggle orientation.

The first example occurred last spring in the railroads. After railroad workers were routed in April by the employers and government Cloveland P.O. Box 6151 Cleveland, OH 44101 (216) 429-2167 Dotrolt P.O. Box 1613 Detroit, MI 48231 Kanans City P.O. Box 32543 Westport Station, Kansas City, MO 64111 For information about other areas, contact the national office of Socialist Action at (415) 821-0458. after a failed strike, two unions threw out their old leaderships.

The second example is the election that took place in December in the sizable Teamsters union. The insurgent campaign for president of the union by Ron Carey and his slate was victorious.

While none of this yet reflects a movement toward independent political action and a new class-struggle policy in the unions, it does indicate that the rank and file is fed up with the current top leadership and its policies.

In this period of economic instability and recession, and growing international capitalist competition and class polarization, opportunities for revolutionary-minded workers to help forge a new leadership in the unions will arise.

It can begin around a democratic fight to throw out an old entrenched leadership or a campaign against a bad contractor even a fight to hear all points of view at a union meeting before the presidential elections. That's what's on the horizon in the 1990s. ing the Good Fight-An Autobiography of the Spanish Civil War."

After World War II, John Tisa was elected president of the International Food, Tobacco and Agricultural Workers Union in Camden, N.J. He subsequently organized workers in canneries and packinghouses throughout the country. During the period of the anti-Communist witch hunts, Tisa was fired from his union job after being called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Since it was hard to find work afterward, John Tisa and his wife, May, opened a pet shop. It was always a treat for me to visit the shop or to go over to the house on a Sunday to play with their sons, Kenny—who was my age-and Willy. Johnny always seemed to have a joke and a wide grin ready for us kids. I'll miss him.

A reader, San Francisco, Calif.

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By Malik Miah John Tisa

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