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in September
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Featuring Essays by:
Edward Said, Robert Fisk, Michael Neumann, Shahid Alam, Alexander
Cockburn, Uri Avnery, Bill and Kathy Christison and More
Today's
Stories
August 13, 2003
Linville and Ruder
Tyson Strike Draws the Line
Gary Leupp
Condi's Speech: From Birgmingham
to Baghdad, Imperialism's Freedom Ride
Recent
Stories
August 13, 2003
Joanne Mariner
A Wall of Separation Through the
Heart
Donald Worster
The Heavy Cost of Empire
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
Elaine Cassel
Murderous Errors: Executing the Innocent
Ralph Nader
Make the Recall Count
Alexander Cockburn
Ted Honderich Hit with "Anti-Semitism" Slur
Website of the Day
Defending Yourself Against DirectTV Lawsuits: 9000 and Counting
August 12, 2003
William Blum
Myth
and Denial in the War on Terrorism
Ron Jacobs
Revisionist History: the Bush Administration, Civil Rights and
Iraq
Josh Frank
Dean's Constitutional Hang-Up
Wayne Madsen
What's a Fifth Columnist? Well, Someone Like Hitchens
Ray McGovern
Relax,
It Was All a Pack of Lies
Wendy Brinker
Hubris in the White House
Website of the Day
Black
Mustache
August
11, 2003
Douglas
Valentine
Homeland Security for Whom?
Mickey
Z.
Bush's Progress
Bill
Glahn
RIAA Watch: Meet the New Bitch, Same
as the Old
Elaine
Cassel
Indicting DNA
Dr. Mohammad
Omar Farooq
Civil Liberties and Uncivil Super-Patriotism
Uri
Avnery
Who Will Save Abu Mazen?
Website
of the Day
RIAA Subpoena Clearinghouse
August
9 / 10, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
California's Glorious Recall!
Saul
Landau
Bush and King Henry
Gary
Leupp
On Terrorism, Methodism, "Wahhabism"
and the Censored 9/11 Report
Paul de
Rooij
The Parade of the Body Bags
Michael
Egan
History and the Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Rob Eshelman
A Home of Our Own
Daoud
Kuttab
Life as an ID Card
Philip
Agee
Terror and Civil Society: Instruments of US Policy in Cuba
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
Walt Brasch
Schwarzenegger, "Hollyweird"
and the Rigtheous Right
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush, Bribery and Berlusconi
Josh Frank
Mean, Mean Howard Dean
Elaine
Cassel
Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?
Sean Carter
Total Recall
Poets'
Basement
Hamod, Engel, Albert
August
8, 2003
John
Chuckman
What the US Says Goes
Roberto
Barreto
Defend the Vieques 12!
Bruce Gagnon
Iraq War Emboldens Bush Space Plans
Elaine
Cassel
The Reign of John Ashcroft
Dave
Lindorff
Snoops Night Out
Website
of the Day
Zero Boy
August
7, 2003
M.
Shahid Alam
It the US a "Terrorist Magnet?"
Toni
Solo
Neo-liberal Nicaragua: a New Banana
Republic
Adam Lebowitz
Hiroshima Commemorated: the View from Japan
Hanan
Ashrawi
When the Bully Whines
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Conscience Takes a Holiday
Jason
Leopold
Wolfowitz Lets Slip: Iraq Not Behind 9/11; No Ties to Al-Qaeda
Mike Kimaid
What's the Score?
Elaine
Cassel
The Smell of VICTORY: Ashcroft's Latest Stinkbomb
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
August 6, 2003
Steve
Higgs
Going to Jail for the Cause: It's Not
Easy Confronting King Coal
David
Krieger
Remembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Robert
Fisk
The Ghosts of Uday and Qusay
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's War on the National Forests
Elaine
Cassel
No Fly Lists
Stan
Goff
Military Equipment and Pneumonia
Hugh Sansom
An Open Letter to Nicholas Kristof on the Nuking of Japan
August
5, 2003
Uri
Avnery
The Prisoner of Ramallah: Arafat at
74
Forrest
Hylton
Terrorism and Political Trials: the
View from Bolivia
Ray
McGovern
"We Cook Estimates to Go"
David
Morse
Poindexter's Gambit
Edward
Said
Orientallism: 25 Years Later
George
W. Bush
My Darn Good Resumé
Hammond
Guthrie
It's Incremental, Watson!
Website
of the Day
National Prayer Day
August 4, 2003
Bruce
K. Gagnon
Another Peace Activist Detained by
Airport Cops: My Story
David
Lindorff
Fear-Mongering About Social Security
Mark
Zepezauer
George F. Will: Descent into Self-Parody
James
Plummer
Tracking You Through the Mail
Mickey
Z.
Marriage Insecurity from Sharon to Bush
Bruce
Jackson
News that Isn't News: How the NYT's
Pimps for the White House
August
2 / 3, 2003
Tamara
R. Piety
Nike's Full Court Press Breaks Down
Francis
Boyle
My Alma Mater, the University of Chicago, is a Moral Cesspool
David
Vest
Sons of Paleface: Pictures from Death's Other Side
Neve Gordon
Nightlife in Jerusalem
Uri
Avnery
Their Master's Voice:
Bush, Blair and Intelligence Snafus
Robert
Fisk
Paternalistic Democracy for Iraq
Jerry
Kroth
Israel, Yellowcake and the Media
Noah Leavitt
What's Driving the Liberian Bloodbath: Is the US Obligated to
Intervene?
Saul
Landau
The Film Industry: Business and Ideology
Ron Jacobs
One Big Prison Yard: the Meaning of George Jackson
Thomas
Croft
In the Deep, Deep Rough: Reflections on Augusta
Amadi Ajamu
Def Sham: Russell Simmons New Black Leader?
Poets'
Basement
Vega, Witherup, Albert and Fleming
August
1, 2003
Joanne
Mariner
Stopping Prison Rape
Alex Coolman
Who Moved My Soap: Trivializing
Prison Rape
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Stan Goff
Injury and Decorum: The Missing Wounded in Iraq
Wayne
Madsen
Europe Unplugs from the Matrix
Robert
Fisk
Wolfowitz the Censor
Elaine
Cassel
Ashcroft Loses Big in Puerto Rico
Website
of the Day
Stop Prisoner Rape
July
31, 2003
Ray
McGovern
The Prostitution of Intelligence
Brian
Cloughley
Wolfowitz's Operative Statement
Sheldon
Hull
The RIAA's Jihad:
The Devil's Music (Industry)
Elaine
Cassel
The Next Time You Crack a Lawyer Joke, Think of These Attorneys
Sheldon
Rampton
and John Stauber
True Lies: Propaganda and Bush's
Wars
Hammond
Guthrie
Speculation Blues
Website
of the Day
Army of One?
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
July
30, 2003
David
Lindorff
Poindexter the Terror Bookie
Marjorie
Cohn
Why Iraq and Afghanistan? It's About
the Oil
Elaine
Cassel
How Ashcroft Coerces Guilty Pleas
in Terror Cases
Zvi
Bar'el
The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War
Lisa Walsh
Thomas
Killing Mustafa Hussein: Death of a Child, Birth of a Legend?
Sean
Carter
Pat Robertson's Prayer Jihad: God, Sodomy and the Supremes
ND Jayaprakash
India and Ariel Sharon
Steve
Perry
Bush's Top 40 Lies
Standard
Schaefer
Correction about Bloomberg and Outscourcing
Website
of the Day
Bring Them Home Now!
Hot Stories
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
|
August
14, 2003
Standing Up to Corporate Greed
Tyson Strike Draws the Line
By BILL LINVILLE and
ERIC RUDER
"In the United States right now,
the working class of America is getting lost because the corporations
are allowed to have so much power," says Chuck Moehling.
He should know. Moehling is among the
470 workers on strike against corporate giant Tyson Foods in
Jefferson, Wis., east of Madison.
For six months now, the members of United
Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 538 have stood strong
against Tyson's never-ending greed. Throughout the long fight,
only three workers have crossed the picket line--a testament
to the determination of these workers.
Tyson wants blood from UFCW Local 538.
The company--which ranks 177th on the Fortune 500--wants to impose
a two-tier wage structure and cut two holidays for new hires,
slash sick leave benefits by 50 percent, cut vacation time by
33 percent, freeze pension benefits and impose dramatic increases
in workers' contributions for health care. And those are just
some of the big-ticket items.
Meanwhile, Tyson executives won't be
feeling any of the pain. Especially, Tyson CEO John Tyson in
particular, who in 2002 received a $1 million salary and $3.5
million bonus.
The contempt that the company has shown
for workers at its Jefferson plant has united the rest of the
community behind the strikers. "The amount of support for
the strikers is really inspiring," Jim Cavanagh, president
of the South Central Federation of Labor in Madison, Wis., told
Socialist Worker. "If you drive into Jefferson, there are
signs in almost every business's window, there are signs in people's
yards. This is not the most politically progressive part of the
country, but these citizens had a knee-jerk understanding that
this big corporate giant was moving into their town and trying
to undermine their standard of living."
In particular, workers at the Tyson plant
were infuriated by the company's attempt to knock more than $2
off the pay for new hires--a proposal that, like all two-tier
schemes, is intended to save money and drive a wedge between
union workers.
Last year, Tyson earned $383 million
on $23.4 billion in sales of beef, pork, poultry and processed
food products. But with boycott efforts and production crimped
by the strike, Tyson is feeling the pinch. The Dane County Board
and the Madison School Board both voted overwhelmingly to stop
buying Tyson products, and similar efforts are underway at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison and elsewhere. Tyson recently
announced third-quarter earnings of $79 million--down 25 percent
from a year ago--and John Tyson admitted to shareholders that
the strike was eating into profits.
"They're losing an awful lot of
money trying to prove the point that they want to be the big
bully and not let people make a decent wage," Moehling told
Socialist Worker. "Part of the problem in our society right
now is people are working two jobs trying to make a decent living,
which makes it hard on parents spending too much time away from
their families. And I think corporations like Tyson are behind
a lot of that because of not wanting to let people make a decent
wage to bring up a family."
Tyson admits that this is exactly what
they're up to. "They want to bring the 'cost of labor' at
this plant more in line with their other plants, and some of
their other plants are in the South--unorganized and so horrific
in terms of conditions that they even resorted to smuggling in
undocumented workers because they couldn't find enough residents
to staff them," said Cavanagh. "So the long list of
concessions that they're trying to ram down the throats of these
workers is an effort to wind up with a contract that is more
in line with how they treat their unorganized workers in the
poultry industry."
To break the strike, Tyson has turned
to a mass scabbing operation, busing in replacements from outside
Jefferson. "They're trying to take advantage of the way
the economy is, without a lot of jobs, and they're taking advantage
of the group of people that they're busing in from Beloit, where
there's a really high unemployment rate," says Moehling.
"A lot of the people have criminal records, and they're
taking advantage of a group of people that normally wouldn't
get hired by anyone."
Unfortunately, union leaders are trying
to wage a public relations campaign based on the fact that the
scabs are "convicted felons"--rather than come up with
a strategy to stop the scabs from getting into the plant.
In struggle after struggle over the last
decade--such as the "War Zone" struggles at Caterpillar,
A.E. Staley and Bridgestone-Firestone in Illinois--workers have
waged heroic strikes and sacrificed tremendously, but still weren't
able to win because they had no strategy for mobilizing mass
support to stop scabs from crossing their picket lines. Experience
has shown that the slogan "one day longer" plays into
management's hands--because corporations have deep pockets and
resources that allow them to wait out a lengthy strike.
This is an issue that labor movement
as a whole must confront. The Tyson strikers in Jefferson have
shown their determination--and deserve our support. Building
solidarity and shutting down production is the way to win a victory
against Tyson's corporate greed.
Bill Linville
and Eric Ruder write for the Socialist
Worker.
Weekend
Edition Features for August 9 / 10, 2003
Alexander
Cockburn
California's Glorious Recall!
Saul
Landau
Bush and King Henry
Gary
Leupp
On Terrorism, Methodism, "Wahhabism"
and the Censored 9/11 Report
Paul de
Rooij
The Parade of the Body Bags
Michael
Egan
History and the Tragedy of American Diplomacy
Rob Eshelman
A Home of Our Own
Daoud
Kuttab
Life as an ID Card
Philip
Agee
Terror and Civil Society: Instruments of US Policy in Cuba
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Marc Racicot: Bush's Main Man
Walt Brasch
Schwarzenegger, "Hollyweird"
and the Rigtheous Right
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush, Bribery and Berlusconi
Josh Frank
Mean, Mean Howard Dean
Elaine
Cassel
Will the Death Penalty Ever Die?
Sean Carter
Total Recall
Poets'
Basement
Hamod, Engel, Albert
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