US labor speaks out against warUS caves on labor rights in Ecuador

By Shawn Gaynor

Asheville, NC, Nov. 20 (AGR)— In a bold post-midterm-election move, President Bush announced plans to cut nearly half of all federal jobs, and allow private companies to bid for the work. According to the AFL-CIO, prior to the election, Bush had been calling for the privatization of 15 percent of federal jobs.

The privatization move mirrors some of the “structural adjustment” programs that have been forced on weaker nations by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. These programs have lead to a decrease in wages, a destabilization of economies, and an accelerated concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich.

“This administration is selling the federal government at bargain basement prices to their corporate friends, who then make campaign contributions back,” said Bobby L. Harnage, President the American Federation of Government Employees(AFGE). “This is not about saving money, it’s about moving money to the private sector.” The Union represents 600,000 federal workers.

The jobs have become open to privatization because of the rewriting of the OMB Circular A-76, which governs the public-private competition process. The administration believes this process doesn’t allow contractors to take federal employee jobs often enough or fast enough.

Federal employee trade unions vowed on Friday to keep fighting plans by the Bush administration to open nearly half of government jobs to competition from the private sector, but the new concentration of federal power in the traditionally anti-union Republican party leaves unions with little recourse.

According to the Associated Press, “After a 30-day public review period, [President] Bush can impose the new rules without congressional approval.”

The plans is said to involve only workers in “commercial activities,” which the corporate mainstream media has reduced to “lawn mowing.” In reality the privatization will likely include such government services as the running of federal prisons and national parks.

The Government Accounting Office has determined that public-private competition will save taxpayers 30 percent on each contract. But Paul Light of the Brookings Institute said “They may low-bid to get the contract, and once the Federal Government denudes itself of its capacity, they start ratcheting up their costs.”

The move comes as the house and senate voted to create the new Office of Homeland Security, the largest shift in government programs since the New Deal. The legislation mandates the elimination of union rights and whistleblower protections for over 170,000 federal workers that will be moved from 22 federal agencies into the newly created department. Many of these workers currently belong to unions.

“Undermining the collective bargaining rights and civil service protections of federal employees on the front lines of the war on terrorism does not improve the security of our homeland,” stated Harnage

“Now we see the real White House agenda -- it’s not homeland security, it’s union busting,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“This proposal means that the safety of our communities could be entrusted to the administration’s favorite companies and their lobbyists instead of to dedicated, trained federal workers. It’s wrong to entrust our homeland security to the lowest bidder,” he said.

Also buried in the 484 pages of the new Homeland Security legislation are provisions relaxing rules on giving federal contracts to overseas companies, opening the door for federal jobs to be out-sourced to countries notorious for sweatshop labor practices.

“How serious are [Republicans] about coming up with a good bill if they’re going to protect companies who declare that they don’t want to do business in the United States of America, to avoid paying taxes?” asked Tom Daschle, the Democratic Senate leader.Bush to privatize 850,000 federal jobs for ‘market based government,’

LABOR BRIEFS

Wal-Mart ruling
favors fired employee

Saying Wal-Mart had “eviscerated” the rights of an employee it fired last spring, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) judge last week ruled the employee should be reinstated and given back pay. The ruling comes as the United Food and Commercial Workers nationwide campaign to unionize the discount retail chain heats up.

There are no unions among the more than 1 million workers in Wal-Mart’s 3,000-odd US stores, and the company said it wants it to stay that way. The UFCW said Wal-Mart’s efforts to keep workers from organizing have strayed into illegality, pointing to a string of complaints against the company, some settled, some pending.

Judge Burton Litvack cautioned that his decision may be reversed. The NLRB, which will hear an appeal, has flip-flopped before on the law at the heart of Litvack’s ruling. The case centers around employees’ right to have a co-worker present during a disciplinary talk with management. (Anchorage Daily News)

Students rally
for living wage

The Student Worker Alliance of Towson (SWAT) of Towson University in Maryland demanded on Nov. 15 the implementation of a living wage for the Towson University Aramark and Chartwells staff. A living wage, according to SWAT representatives, refers to the minimum amount of compensation to be given to a worker in order to keep him or her above the poverty line based on the cost of living in a specific locale.

The national minimum wage of $5.15 will not prevent workers from living in poverty. A living wage standard would force employers to maintain increased wages coupled with further provisions including health insurance and paid vacations. The rally’s objective was simply to have the group’s message heard by Towson’s administration. (The Towerlight)

R.J. Reynolds
accused of
money laundering

For the past decade, R.J. Reynolds has illegally funneled millions of dollars worth of cigarettes into Iraq in direct violation of US trade sanctions and has knowingly helped Russian organized crime and Colombian drug traffickers launder billions of dollars more, the European Union alleged in a lawsuit filed Oct. 31.

The lawsuit claims R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. and its subsidiaries set up special operating units to help launder money for criminal organizations, using special accounting methods, offshore tax havens, and false invoicing. In exchange, the suit said, the criminal groups pushed Winston and Camel cigarettes into markets the company was seeking to penetrate.

In a statement, RJR called the lawsuit “absurd.” But European and US law enforcement sources said the detailed allegations in the suit were developed by the law enforcement resources of the 10 European countries that filed suit. US officials said there is one ongoing criminal investigation of cigarette smuggling into Iraq, but they would not say which tobacco company is the focus of the probe. (Washington Post)