From xcruz@webtv.net Thu Oct 1 03:10:28 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAsAhQ80QeXFbNgMutxri8tzCTZdDwCGAIUH/tb067RLY0D0P3NB+8YVVC5VJ4= From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 03:10:02 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: The Hedge Fund Debacle (fwd) From:    janet@wwpublish.com To:    "Workers World News Service" Subject:    The Hedge Fund Debacle Date:    Wed, Sep 30, 1998, 10:46pm (MDT+1) Sender:    listserv@wwpublish.com THE HEDGE FUND DEBACLE: MASSIVE BAILOUT REVEALS FEARS OF FINANCIAL OLIGARCHY By Fred Goldstein While the capitalist media are keeping public attention focused on the Clinton scandal and the Republican attempt to dislodge the Democrats from the White House, the ruling class is fixated on the turmoil in the financial markets and the growing symptoms of an emerging world capitalist crisis. Clinton is staying afloat mainly because the capitalist economy in the United States is still booming--but also because there is disgust among the masses over the witch-hunt tactics of Kenneth Starr, Newt Gingrich and Henry Hyde. Furthermore, sections of the ruling class are undoubtedly working behind the scenes to ease what is really a relatively superficial political crisis, caused by a partisan struggle over the spoils of government. It has become an obstacle to dealing effectively with the far more dangerous and profound problems flowing from the deepest contradictions of the profit system. NEAR-COLLAPSE SHAKES FINANCIERS' CONFIDENCE A dramatic demonstration of how the economic crisis can hit home has now shaken the confidence of U.S. finance capital and the bankers of the world. Long-Term Capital Management, a Wall Street "hedge" fund, nearly collapsed. It was saved only by a hasty and massive rescue effort. Hedge funds are giant gambling operations for the super- rich. In the latest Wall Street boom, their numbers have mushroomed to about 3,000. The various currency speculations of billionaire George Soros, for example, have been through hedge funds. Hedge funds are unregulated private partnerships. An individual must invest at least $5 million to join one; an institution must kick in $25 million. Other than that, there are no rules. The theory is that the super-rich won't let themselves be taken in by shady practices. The original 1940 law that established hedge funds free of regulation allowed them to accept up to 99 investors. The super-rich in the United States have multiplied in the 1990s with the intensified plunder of the globe. To accommodate them, in 1996 the government expanded the number of investors allowed in hedge funds to 499--Alan Greenspan's comments about "irrational exuberance" aside. The name hedge fund implies low risk and a lower rate of profit. A hedge works like a pair of bets. The speculators make simultaneous bets on things that tend to balance each other out. They tend to win on one and lose on the other. So they either win a little or lose a little on each bet. That's the theory. But in truth these high-rolling gamblers take enormous risks, on everything from foreign currency to stocks to bond prices to interest rates to various stock indexes. They are total parasites who will bet on anything if they think it will turn them a profit. BEATING DOWN CURRENCIES These funds have played a significant role, directly and indirectly, in destroying the currencies of the oppressed countries, particularly in Asia. But they have also figured in the inter-imperialist currency wars--such as Soros' raids on the British pound, which forced it out of the European monetary union. While they enjoy the legal privilege of secrecy, the hedge funds are really fronts for the biggest bankers and financiers. This has emerged in bold relief in the latest crisis. As recently as last July, Long-Term Capital Management had $150 billion in assets on its books and an estimated $1.2 trillion in projected trade transactions. Yet on Sept. 23 it was hours from collapse. That's when 16 of the capitalist world's biggest commercial and investment banks stepped in, under the aegis of the Federal Reserve Board of New York, to ante up $3.65 billion for a last-minute bailout. When the bailout took place it was revealed that the $150 billion in assets was backed up by only $2.3 billion in capital. The rest was all borrowed money--borrowed from the giants of finance capital. What a trauma for the bankers! LTCM was one of the most prestigious hedge funds on Wall Street. Its head, John Meriwether, was well known there. On his team at LTCM were two Nobel Prize laureates in economics. Meriwether, however, was also a known swindler. He had been forced to leave the Salomon Brothers investment house in 1991 when a bond trader under him, Paul Mozer, was caught making false bids on U.S. government bonds. Meriwether had been in line to take over Salomon. He was regarded as one of the "masters of the universe" before he was forced to resign and settle up with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He retreated to Greenwich, Conn. There he teamed up with Nobel Prize winners Myron Scholes and Robert Merton. Scholes, of Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won his prize for inventing a mathematical method of pricing stock options in the 1970s. It led to a whole new area of gambling called the stock options industry. Merton, of Harvard Business School, shared the prize with Scholes in 1997 for similar work. LTCM also hired an insider, David Mullins. In 1994 he quit as vice-chair of the Federal Reserve Board to join the hedge fund. As assistant secretary of the treasury, Mullins had been assigned to investigate the 1987 stock market crash to make sure it wouldn't happen again! Scholes and Merton were in charge of creating computer programs to track all sorts of financial instruments and figure out how to make money off trends in interest rates on bond and stock prices. Their computer programs seemed to be working magic. They made billions of dollars for themselves and their clients. The problem was that their computer programs did not take into account a crisis of capitalist overproduction, with the totally predictable ensuing defaults in government bonds and volatility of the stock market. Their projections were based on capitalist stability, not capitalist crisis. `MASTERS OF UNIVERSE´ MEET RUSSIAN DEFAULT The big shock came in August when the Russian capitalist government defaulted on its bonds. That sent shock waves through the bond markets. Speculators dumped bonds from the oppressed countries and corporate bond prices dropped for fear of an economic slump. Those dumping corporate bonds rushed to buy low-risk U.S. treasury bonds and German government bonds. LTCM had bet the other way. But not only in bonds. According to the Sept. 25 Wall Street Journal, "The fund also had huge positions in stocks _ essentially assuming that the markets would become more stable." By Sept. 15 its assets had shrunk from $150 billion to $80 billion and its capital to $600 million. The "masters of the universe" had met the laws of capitalist development, and they were reeling. At that point the big banks rushed in to protect their loans and investments. Jon Corzine, co-director of Goldman Sachs, got on the phone with the New York Federal Reserve and top executives of Merrill Lynch, Union Bank of Switzerland and J.P. Morgan. What resulted was the Sept. 23 meeting in which Bankers Trust, J.P. Morgan, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Chase, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Salomon Smith Barney put up $300 million each, Societe Generale put up $125 million, and three other banks each put up $100 million. Of course, the banks took over 90 percent of the company on the spot, without even lip service to the bourgeois legal process. The had their own lightning bankruptcy hearing without benefit of courts, judges, trustees, etc. When they left the room, they were the owners. Against charges of a bailout, the bankers claimed they did it all to protect the world financial structure. But, in fact, they were protecting their loans. Many of the banks had invested in the company; some were owed money by LTCM. Others were protecting their own positions because they imitated or "piggy-backed" on LTCM's speculation. Furthermore, they were protecting investments in other spheres that would be threatened if the company were liquidated and massive amounts of its bonds and stocks were sold. So much for the transparent, arms-length, free-market, pristine capitalism that U.S. bankers have preached so hypocritically to the oppressed countries and Japan. As for transparency, this company wouldn't accept less than $10 million per investor and the money couldn't be withdrawn for three years. If anyone--other than the big bank insiders--wanted to know what was being done with their money, they were told "none of your business." As for reckless lending, the biggest and most "respectable" of all banks in the entire capitalist world were lending money at low interest, with no questions asked, to high-leverage speculators who had an unheard-of asset-to- capital ratio of 54 to one. As for so-called "crony capitalism," the biggest cronies of all--J.P. Morgan, Chase, Bankers Trust, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Societe Generale--were in a completely illicit relationship, lending money to a firm in which they invested and for which they traded. Some of the directors even had personal money in LTCM. Many of these same bankers had sat around conference tables with government officials and financiers from south Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan, telling them to let firms that made bad investments fail. That's free-market discipline, they said. Never mind the masses of workers who would suffer, the middle classes that would go bankrupt, and the social catastrophe that would follow. These imperialist financial officials want transparency for everyone but themselves, so they can get in and take advantage of inside information. They have no objection to "crony capitalism" as long as they are the cronies. What their pressure on other countries has done is break up structures that impeded imperialist plunder--nothing more. They are against bailouts for everyone but their own ruling classes. THE FED AND INTEREST RATES The LTCM crisis has affected the Federal Reserve Board. Chair Greenspan has reversed his recent position and dropped interest rates. This is an attempt to further extend capitalist overproduction beyond its current limits. But this attempt will likely fail because it is coming at the end of the cycle when overproduction is too far advanced. This is partly because Greenspan and his advisers fear that this latest trauma involving wild lending will send a chill to the bankers, slowing down lending. The hope is that lowering interest rates will tend to promote lending. The LTCM affair is another signal that the underground channels of finance capital, which operate anarchically, have grown so convoluted that the ruling class has no idea where the next eruption will come from. But they know it is coming and could threaten a collapse. Easing credit is their antidote. But easing credit does not work at the end of the capitalist cycle. The later stages of a capitalist boom can be taken to great heights by credit. Karl Marx observed long ago that credit allows the capitalist system to break through its natural limits and extend overproduction to a higher precipice. Speculation is always present in the capitalist system, but it grows wildly in the later phases of the capitalist cycle. The enormous wealth that the bosses and bankers have acquired cannot sit idle. To them, as Marx observed, the most urgent thing in the world is to acquire money. But the next most important thing is to take that acquired money and make more money from it. Sitting idle, it is of no use to them. In the early phases of a capitalist upswing, this can be done easily by investing in businesses--that is, by exploiting the workers, appropriating the lion's share of the new wealth they create. In the case of banks, the newly created wealth is appropriated in the form of interest on business loans, as opposed to currency trading and other forms of speculation where no new wealth is created. But as capitalist overproduction grows and it becomes ever more difficult to find markets, the lust for wealth must be channeled more and more into pure speculation. The banks of all types, taken together, control the money capital of society and fuel the engine of speculation. The more recklessly they fuel it, the more they threaten the well- being of the working class and the oppressed--those who suffer the most when capitalism crashes. The workers cannot sit idly by and let these gambling parasites risk their lives and their material well-being. The only real answer is to fight for an end to the profit system, which drives this mad scramble, and establish collective socialist ownership by the workers in place of dog-eat-dog capitalism.                                                  - END - (Copyright Workers World Service) From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Thu Oct 1 10:55:31 1998 Thu, 1 Oct 1998 09:52:24 -0700 (PDT) Thu, 1 Oct 1998 09:46:59 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 09:46:59 -0700 (PDT) To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: [Fwd: TIAA-CREF Tobacco Divestment] I beg pardon for useless or otherwise crosslisting this. A mass mailing seemed efficient. As I am writing about accountability in the apparel business as we speak, so to say, if I have inconvenienced or offended you, fire away. It is, I note, six years, three months, 24 days since my last puff. Bob -- Robert J.S. Ross, Ph.D 508 793 7376 Professor and Chair of Sociology fax: 508 793 8816 Clark University Mailto:Rross@clarku.edu 950 Main Street Http://Www.clarku.edu/~rross Worcester, MA 01610 Return-path: 30 Sep 1998 22:00:19 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 22:00:19 -0400 (EDT) From: Eugene Feingold Subject: TIAA-CREF Tobacco Divestment To: Feingold@sph.umich.edu HELP SPREAD THE WORD: THERE'S ANOTHER CHANCE, IN EARLY OCTOBER, TO VOTE FOR GETTING EDUCATORS' CREF RETIREMENT SAVINGS OUT OF LETHAL TOBACCO Former Surgeon General C.Everett Koop, M.D., is co-sponsoring a tobacco divestment proposal which nearly two million CREF participants will have a chance to vote on this October. TIAA-CREF has confirmed that our proposal will appear on the mail-in ballot which CREF participants should receive in early October. If you have not received TIAA-CREF's mailing by October 15, phone them (800, 842-2733) to request it. In a supporting statement that will be included in the CREF mailing, Dr. Koop and his three co-sponsors declare it is financially risky and ethically outrageous that CREF has invested nearly $2 billion of educators' retirement savings in "tobacco products which when used as directed produce disease and premature death for a third of their longtime users, including our own students." The proposal calls for CREF to "begin an orderly divestment of all tobacco investments." Please be sure to vote FOR our proposal. If you can, use e-mail to urge your friends and colleagues to vote for it. Call prospective voters' attention to the fact that the issue will be on the ballot by making announcements at campus meetings and/or sending press releases or letters to the editor to campus newspapers. And consider attending the CREF annual meeting (10 a.m. on Tuesday, November 10, in the TIAA-CREF building, 730 Third Ave., New York City), to ask questions and/or speak for tobacco divestment. The TIAA-CREF mailing will include instructions about requesting a ticket to the annual meeting. Last year support for CREF tobacco divestment increased significantly. With your active help we can win this battle to end collegiate camouflage for cancer ! From: Educators for Tobacco-Free Investments by TIAA-CREF, Box 4151, Ann Arbor, MI 48106; Phone (734), 662-8788; FAX (734) 662-2713. From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Thu Oct 1 23:12:30 1998 Thu, 1 Oct 1998 22:08:45 -0700 (PDT) Thu, 1 Oct 1998 22:03:01 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 22:03:01 -0700 (PDT) To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Threat to Free Speech in Copyright Law "The bill, which would overturn 200+ years of Copyright law without the benefit of even a single Senate hearing, creates a new form of intellectual property for databases....The bill would impact myriad databases, ranging from a list of 100 chemical compounds in an experimental drug or the 5,000 brightest stars in the galaxy to a new Web-based collection of publicly-available stock quotes. However, rather than protect the creative organization or selection of the information, as copyright law does, this new right would, in effect, allow control of the facts themselves." FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- September 29, 1998 Congress Poised to Turn Back 200+ Years of Intellectual Property Law for Databases Broad Private and Public Sector Coalition Rallies Behind FTC Letter to Congress Raising Serious Flaws in Bill Washington, DC -- The Federal Trade Commission sent Congress a letter today outlining several serious flaws in a legislative attempt to create new intellectual property protections for databases. An unprecedented private and public sector coalition immediately rallied behind the letter, which follows similar communications from the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and called on Congress to defer consideration of the "Collections of Information Anti-Piracy Act," to the next session when necessary hearings could be scheduled. "No entirely new intellectual property regime should be created without thorough vetting by all affected parties, least of all one opposed by many of the very businesses for whose benefit it was supposedly offered," said Jean Cantrell of Dun & Bradstreet. The bill, which would overturn 200+ years of Copyright law without the benefit of even a single Senate hearing, creates a new form of intellectual property for databases that was tacked onto the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the House of Representatives hours before passage. The Senate passed a much different form of the DMCA, which did not include database protection. A conference committee has begun meetings to reconcile the two versions. The bill would impact myriad databases, ranging from a list of 100 chemical compounds in an experimental drug or the 5,000 brightest stars in the galaxy to a new Web-based collection of publicly-available stock quotes. However, rather than protect the creative organization or selection of the information, as copyright law does, this new right would, in effect, allow control of the facts themselves. "This would put simple facts under potential lock and key for the first time in our history," said Adam Eisgrau of the American Library Association. "This 'sea change' in American intellectual property law will have been made despite the principled opposition of a 'Who's Who' in the public and private sectors and without benefit of a single minute of formal scrutiny by the Senate," he added. "The database bill will undermine our much-hailed 'information economy,'" said Jonathan Band, representing the Online Banking Association. "This bill will overprotect information and chill creation of innovative products and services. Many exciting new Internet endeavors involve fact-based information services. These companies and individuals draw information from many sources, reorganize it, combine it with other information and offer valuable new products and services to online consumers. Under the proposed bill, such activities could trigger liability." "In the end it is the individual investors who will be hurt," concluded Frank Kelly of Charles Schwab, Inc. in echoing concerns held by industry representatives about the monopoly power this new right would confer, particularly for industries based upon a sole-source provider of information. Brokerage houses already experiencing price increases for access to stock quote information worry that the stock exchanges could considerably hike prices. This point was also emphasized in the FTC letter to Congress today. "The FTC largely got it right," added Alex Fowler of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "If we're to successfully deal with online piracy of databases, it must not happen at the expense of what made the Internet possible in the first place, namely Internet users building an open platform for accessing, collecting, and linking together bits of information." The education and research communities will be perhaps the first to feel the affects of this new legislation. "We worry that the costs of time and money this bill triggers will hinder science and research, delay some projects and possibly kill others. The advancement of knowledge depends on a researcher's ability to access and utilize data," said Mark Frankel, Director of the Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The coalition called for the House and Senate conferees to remove the database bill from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. "The database bill has nothing to do with implementing the World Intellectual Property Organization treaties and should not be part of this bill," said Prue Adler, of the Association of Research Libraries. "We can achieve a workable and balanced compromise on database protection if Congress makes time for all interested parties to engage in serious discussions." The broad spectrum of groups that oppose the database bill include Internet companies, research scientists, value-added database providers, librarians, consumer groups, educators, online brokerage and banking firms, free speech organizations, telecommunications companies and computer manufacturers. "These organizations and the people and industries they represent all recognize the value of public access to knowledge and information," noted Peter Jaszi, American University Law Professor. Among the groups which have communicated concerns about the database legislation to Congress are: Amdahl Corporation American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association of Law Libraries American Association of Legal Publishers American Committee for Interoperable Systems American Historical Association American Library Association Art Libraries Society of North America Association of American Geographers Association of Research Libraries AT&T Ball Research, Inc. Bell Atlantic Bloomberg Financial Markets Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. Chief Officers of State Library Associations College Art Association Commercial Internet eXchange Association Computer & Communications Industry Associations Conference on College Composition and Communication Consortium of Social Science Associations Consortium for School Networking Consumer Project for Technology Digital Future Coalition Dun & Bradstreet Electronic Frontier Foundation Emerging Communications, Inc. Hyperlaw, Inc. Information Technology Association of America International Society for Technology in Education MCI WorldCom, Inc. Medical Library Association Modern Language Association Music Library Association National Association of Elementary School Principals National Council of Teachers of English National Education Association National Humanities Alliance National Writers Union NetAction Online Banking Association Practice Management Information Corporation Society of American Archivists Special Libraries Association Storage Technology Corporation Sun Microsystems United States Catholic Conference Yahoo!, Inc. CONTACT INFORMATION Adam Eisgrau, American Library Association, (202) 628-8410, E-mail < Marc Pearl, Information Technology Association of America, (703) 284-5351, E-mail < Prue Adler, Association of Research Libraries, (202) 296-2296, E-mail < Jonathan Band, Online Banking Association, (202) 887-1555, E-mail < Alex Fowler, Electronic Frontier Foundation, (415) 436-9333, E-mail < LINKS TO FURTHER INFORMATION Letter from Federal Trade Commission to Congress, September 28, 1998 (Not on the Web, yet...check http://www.ftc.gov) Letter to the Senate from 47 Companies and Organizations that Oppose the Collections of Information Antipiracy Act, September 10, 1998 http://www.dfc.org/issues/database/jntltr/jntltr.html Letter from Department of Commerce to Senate, August 4, 1998 http://www.itaa.org/dbadmin.htm Letter from Department of Justice to Clinton Administration, July 28, 1998 http://www.acm.org/usacm/copyright/doj-hr2652-memo.html Also check... The Digital Future Coalition http://www.dfc.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alexander Fowler Director of Public Affairs Electronic Frontier Foundation E-mail: afowler@eff.org Tel: 415 436 9333; Fax 415 436 9993 You can find EFF on the Web at < EFF supports the Global Internet Liberty Campaign < ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From meisenscher@igc.apc.org Fri Oct 2 17:56:55 1998 Fri, 2 Oct 1998 16:53:06 -0700 (PDT) Fri, 2 Oct 1998 16:44:02 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 16:44:02 -0700 (PDT) To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Michael Eisenscher Subject: Re: UNION ORGANIZER WANTED: TELECOMMUNICATIONS [THIS FROM A FRIEND. DIRECT ALL INQUIRIES TO THE PHONE NUMBER BELOW, NOT TO ME.] Just got something of true interest in the mail from National Educ. Assoc. The headline reads: "NEA REpport Documents Link Between Anti-Worker and Anti-Pulic Eduction Initiatives." Story links an "ultraconservative network that is pursuing an aggressive political agenda nationwide, including a 'state-by-state assault on public education.'" It goes into the funding behind anti-worker initiatives, outlining the contributions and activities of individuals and organizations, which go to the many millions. The report has been called "the most thorough guidebook available for charting -- and predicting -- the influence of the political right in America." They identify the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Tax Reform, the Christian Coalition and the Family Research Council. They work together, coordinate action and enjoy the contributions of wealthy conservatives (Richard Mellon Scaife, John Walton, Gover Norquist, etc.). "Many otherwise well-informed citizens will be astounded to leaern of the breadth and depth of the conservative network across America," Call NEA for the complete report: 202-822-7213 or 7251. Sounds very important and should be given wide publicity. ---------- From xcruz@webtv.net Sat Oct 3 02:24:35 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhQ5MtkxAce/KnV2gbrplD33GlH51wIVAIfFuvBKqpzqoYppGoTrvD9RQoqe From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 02:24:27 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Capitalist Russia in Free Fall (fwd) From:    janet@wwpublish.com To:    "Workers World News Service" Subject:    Capitalist Russia in Free Fall Date:    Fri, Oct 2, 1998, 8:46pm (MDT+1) Sender:    listserv@wwpublish.com RUSSIA IN FREE FALL: WORKERS PLAN MASSIVE STRIKE FOR JOBS, BACK PAY By Gary Wilson The 50-million-member Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia is planning a one-day general strike Oct. 7. Union leaders predict that more than 36 million workers will join the protest action. The massive day of protest is to demand full back pay and job guarantees. Some left parties are also calling for the protest to continue longer than one day--until President Boris Yeltsin resigns. Some are predicting a winter of strikes and demonstrations as the economic crisis brought on by the return of capitalism grows worse by the day. The next big action is expected on Nov. 7, the anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution led by the Bolsheviks. The pro-capitalist pollsters are anxiously trying to gauge the extent of working class resistance. They are asking questions like, Do you support another communist revolution? The Institute of Social and National Problems in Moscow found that only two in 10 Russians prefer capitalism. Almost 80 percent prefer the former Soviet socialist system, finding it far superior in all areas. They also prefer Leonid Brezhnev to Boris Yeltsin by five to one. In the years since the overturn of the socialized economy, Russia has become severely impoverished and dependent on foreign imports. As much as 70 percent of the food consumed in big cities like Moscow comes from abroad. The International Red Cross is predicting that some regions of the country will face mass starvation this winter. The economic crisis gripping the country continues. Industrial output fell by 11.5 percent in August. Inflation is now at 43 percent, with prices for some basic foods doubling or tripling. Official unemployment is now at 11.5 percent, or just over 8 million people. The Russian gross domestic product--goods produced--had already fallen about 45 percent from 1989 to 1997, reported the Oct. 5 U.S. magazine Business Week. Oil output, for example, was down 50 percent from its peak. And investment in new plants and equipment has plunged downward by 92 percent. Meanwhile, Business Week reported, "some two-thirds of the federal budget in mid-1998 was devoted to debt servicing." That means two-thirds of the government's funds went directly to the Western imperialist banks, primarily in the United States, Germany and Britain. Since the plunge of the ruble and the Duma's refusal to approve a prime minister representing the new billionaires, Yeltsin has replaced his cabinet with former members of the Mikhail Gorbachev government that introduced the capitalist "reforms." But there is no sign that this move has won any popularity with the working class. There has been no enthusiasm for the new prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov. As long as the government in Moscow upholds capitalist relations in Russia, the wealth of the country will continue to be drained by profiteers, at home and especially from the imperialist West. And even if the Oct. 7 general strike wins promises of back pay, there won't be money of any real value to pay the workers unless they fight to take back their rightful ownership of all the industries and land that have been sold off, privatized and looted for the benefit of the new exploiting class. More protests are sure to follow. Mine worker leaders have already said they will continue their ongoing strikes and protests, whatever happens in October.                                                  - END - (Copyright Workers World Service. For more information contact via e-mail: ww@workers.org. Web: http://www.workers.org) From xcruz@webtv.net Sun Oct 4 23:42:38 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhRFjhK0aRYRamN5zDiGnSwHHvHXvgIVAINF4VuP6SYgZykILVqPnGJpNjms From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 23:42:33 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Japanese Tell U.S. That Their Banks Are in Big Trouble(fwd) Japanese Tell U.S. That Their Banks Are in Big Trouble By DAVID E. SANGER WASHINGTON -- Japan's top financial officials told their American counterparts this weekend that their country's banking system was acutely short of capital, with the top 19 banks in deeper trouble than Tokyo has ever before admitted, according to officials familiar with the discussions. At a private meeting Saturday, the governor of the Bank of Japan, Masaru Hayami, told Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, that the capital supporting those 19 major banks has dwindled to dangerously low levels in recent months. The capital reserve levels are now so low that these banks of the world's second largest economy might be banned from operating internationally "if the rules were vigorously pursued," said a senior Japanese official, relating the conversation. But on Sunday, in a reflection of the enormous confusion surrounding Japan's financial crisis, other senior Japanese officials disputed Hayami's presentation and insisted that the reserve levels have not declined to dangerous levels. Banks that want to operate globally are required to keep on hand capital amounting to at least 8 percent of their outstanding loans. Few and fewer of Japan's banks can meet that standard today. Hayami's remarks suggest some may fall below the 4 percent minimum for operating within Japan's borders. Japan's conflicting explanations came as leaders of the world's major economies met here for a second day at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to grapple with an economic crisis that many fear has spun out of control. On Sunday, Rubin again pressed for changes at the fund and the bank that would improve their ability to head of crises. "Strengthening the response to the current crisis and creating a modern framework for the global markets of the 21st century will not be easy or quick," Rubin said before the committee that oversees the IMF's operations. But many officials here, including James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, argued on Sunday that countries should focus their energies on the immediate crisis and postpone a broader discussion of remaking the global financial system. Rubin's meeting with Japanese officials on Saturday took place in the ornate private conference room adjacent to his office at the Treasury. The session also included Japan's finance minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, a 78-year-old former prime minister who has negotiated with the United States since the U.S. occupation ended nearly a half-century ago. Later, Hayami discussed the problem publicly, though in less detail, telling reporters that Japan's major banks were "undercapitalized." He called on Japan's parliament to inject billions of taxpayer dollars into the banks to restore them to health, a hugely controversy question within the country. Bolstering Japan's ravaged banking system is considered by many experts the single most critical factor in quelling the global financial turmoil that has rocked markets around the world. But there are still disputes, inside Japan and beyond its borders, over just how much trouble the banks are in. Much depends on how the figures are calculated -- and there are many ways to manipulate the numbers. Hayami, who runs Japan's independent central bank, appeared to be painting a bleak picture in the meeting at the Treasury, describing how banks have been forced to eat into their capital to write off enormous bad loans in real estate. He used, Japanese officials said later, a narrow definition of the banks' capital that put their condition in the most perilous light. On Sunday night officials of the Ministry of Finance, which has been accused of greatly mismanaging its regulatory responsibility over the banks, insisted that Hayami's presentation to Rubin and Greenspan was deeply flawed. In response to queries on Sunday, they offered an alternative calculation, based on accounting standards set out by the Bank of International Settlements, that they said demonstrated that the biggest Japanese banks largely exceeded the 8 percent standard. The disagreement seemed to underscore the enormous disarray within the Japanese government at a time that the country is being portrayed, by U.S. and European officials, as a major cause of the continuing turmoil. But it is also possible that some Japanese officials are hoping that the disclosures with prompt enough foreign pressure to help force parliament to inject billions of dollars into the banking system. U.S. officials said that at the meetings on Sunday they were successfully building support for a proposal by President Clinton to change the strategy of the IMF, so that it can offer pre-emptive aid to countries that are fundamentally healthy, but in danger of runs on their currency or their banking systems because of "contagion" from other striken nations. They said it would probably be a number of weeks or a few months before the plan is adapted, however. Clinton is expected to press for changes in the IMF and an increase in social spending in a presentation to finance ministers from 22 nations on Monday evening. At the same time, Britain, which has supported Clinton's plan, offered a pointed reminder on Sunday that the U.S. proposal to restructure the fund would be sharply undercut if Congress failed to approve $18 billion in money the United States has committed to it. "The starting point of this is the American government voting the resources the IMF requires," the British chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, said at a press conference on Sunday. From xcruz@webtv.net Sun Oct 4 23:47:27 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhUAycNm+61GLGpLi4bTAcH5r74kmMUCFA59yN0h9uWNz05AvJE+w4kVeWny From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Sun, 4 Oct 1998 23:47:20 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Japanese Tell U.S. That Their Banks Are in Big Trouble(fwd) Japanese Tell U.S. That Their Banks Are in Big Trouble 10/5/98 New York Times By DAVID E. SANGER WASHINGTON -- Japan's top financial officials told their American counterparts this weekend that their country's banking system was acutely short of capital, with the top 19 banks in deeper trouble than Tokyo has ever before admitted, according to officials familiar with the discussions. At a private meeting Saturday, the governor of the Bank of Japan, Masaru Hayami, told Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, that the capital supporting those 19 major banks has dwindled to dangerously low levels in recent months. The capital reserve levels are now so low that these banks of the world's second largest economy might be banned from operating internationally "if the rules were vigorously pursued," said a senior Japanese official, relating the conversation. But on Sunday, in a reflection of the enormous confusion surrounding Japan's financial crisis, other senior Japanese officials disputed Hayami's presentation and insisted that the reserve levels have not declined to dangerous levels. Banks that want to operate globally are required to keep on hand capital amounting to at least 8 percent of their outstanding loans. Few and fewer of Japan's banks can meet that standard today. Hayami's remarks suggest some may fall below the 4 percent minimum for operating within Japan's borders. Japan's conflicting explanations came as leaders of the world's major economies met here for a second day at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to grapple with an economic crisis that many fear has spun out of control. On Sunday, Rubin again pressed for changes at the fund and the bank that would improve their ability to head of crises. "Strengthening the response to the current crisis and creating a modern framework for the global markets of the 21st century will not be easy or quick," Rubin said before the committee that oversees the IMF's operations. But many officials here, including James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, argued on Sunday that countries should focus their energies on the immediate crisis and postpone a broader discussion of remaking the global financial system. Rubin's meeting with Japanese officials on Saturday took place in the ornate private conference room adjacent to his office at the Treasury. The session also included Japan's finance minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, a 78-year-old former prime minister who has negotiated with the United States since the U.S. occupation ended nearly a half-century ago. Later, Hayami discussed the problem publicly, though in less detail, telling reporters that Japan's major banks were "undercapitalized." He called on Japan's parliament to inject billions of taxpayer dollars into the banks to restore them to health, a hugely controversy question within the country. Bolstering Japan's ravaged banking system is considered by many experts the single most critical factor in quelling the global financial turmoil that has rocked markets around the world. But there are still disputes, inside Japan and beyond its borders, over just how much trouble the banks are in. Much depends on how the figures are calculated -- and there are many ways to manipulate the numbers. Hayami, who runs Japan's independent central bank, appeared to be painting a bleak picture in the meeting at the Treasury, describing how banks have been forced to eat into their capital to write off enormous bad loans in real estate. He used, Japanese officials said later, a narrow definition of the banks' capital that put their condition in the most perilous light. On Sunday night officials of the Ministry of Finance, which has been accused of greatly mismanaging its regulatory responsibility over the banks, insisted that Hayami's presentation to Rubin and Greenspan was deeply flawed. In response to queries on Sunday, they offered an alternative calculation, based on accounting standards set out by the Bank of International Settlements, that they said demonstrated that the biggest Japanese banks largely exceeded the 8 percent standard. The disagreement seemed to underscore the enormous disarray within the Japanese government at a time that the country is being portrayed, by U.S. and European officials, as a major cause of the continuing turmoil. But it is also possible that some Japanese officials are hoping that the disclosures with prompt enough foreign pressure to help force parliament to inject billions of dollars into the banking system. U.S. officials said that at the meetings on Sunday they were successfully building support for a proposal by President Clinton to change the strategy of the IMF, so that it can offer pre-emptive aid to countries that are fundamentally healthy, but in danger of runs on their currency or their banking systems because of "contagion" from other striken nations. They said it would probably be a number of weeks or a few months before the plan is adapted, however. Clinton is expected to press for changes in the IMF and an increase in social spending in a presentation to finance ministers from 22 nations on Monday evening. At the same time, Britain, which has supported Clinton's plan, offered a pointed reminder on Sunday that the U.S. proposal to restructure the fund would be sharply undercut if Congress failed to approve $18 billion in money the United States has committed to it. "The starting point of this is the American government voting the resources the IMF requires," the British chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, said at a press conference on Sunday. From xcruz@webtv.net Mon Oct 5 17:06:31 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhUAq0epvXQegQiO4S7kfyL56b3q5YsCFGG80bMd2aHMr75+fq7OgR9mdvk1 From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 17:03:59 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fwd: Guestworker Update and Thanks --WebTV-Mail-170953102-4718 --WebTV-Mail-170953102-4718 [207.79.35.91]) by postoffice-122.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/po.gso.24Feb98) mailsorter-101.iap.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.graham.14Aug97) with Mon, 5 Oct 1998 10:33:02 -0600 (MDT) Mon, 5 Oct 1998 10:31:32 -0600 (MDT) Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 09:34:16 -0700 (PDT) Sender: owner-frontera-l@nmsu.edu From: Texas Rural Legal AidEl Paso To: frontera-l@nmsu.edu Subject: Guestworker Update and Thanks Thanks to all of you who called Members of Congress about the Joe Kennedy-Howard Berman-Xavier Becerra-David Minge letter to House-Senate conferees telling them to eliminate the Senate's agricultural guestworker amendment from the proposed conference report on the appropriations bill for Commerce Justice State and the Judiciary. About 105 Democrats have agreed to sign the letter (including Minority Leader Dick Gephardt). Newt Gingrich is now considering whether to order the House Republicans (primarily Rep. Harold Rogers) who control the conference committee to include the guestworker amendment, even though about 80 Republicans, led by Rep. Lamar Smith and Elton Gallegly, have expressed opposition (based on anti-immigrant sentiments that led to last night's rejection of a Treasury appropriations bill partly because it contained a legalization program for some Haitian immigrants). Latino groups are weighing in with Gingrich to tell him that their opposition to the guestworker amendmdent is a high priority. Gingrich would prefer not to alienate the Hispanic vote any more than he has, but he's under heavy pressure from the nation's fruit and vegetable growers. The Clinton Administration remains strongly opposed to the agricultural guestworker amendment. Other objections to the CJS bills also exist. As of now, we expect that the Administration will include the guestworker amendment in a veto message if it is forced to deal with a CJS appropriations, or an omnibus appropriations bill, that contains a guestworker amendment and other objectionable items. But the appropriations process (not to mention Congress generally) is in disarray and anything could happen. Congress is due to adjourn on October 9th, but an extension is likely. Thanks again. Mail Sent: October 5, 1998 9:35 am PDT Item: R01EPsK --WebTV-Mail-170953102-4718-- From xcruz@webtv.net Mon Oct 5 22:54:46 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAsAhRvmM2TRb9pJjmv+/0LKmmVZ1AeYQIUXki+77dej1RMRkV15q9TRN9dUE8= From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 22:54:34 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fwd: Who Approved This House Resolution? (fwd) --WebTV-Mail-570076828-5801 --WebTV-Mail-570076828-5801 [207.79.35.93]) by postoffice-121.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/po.gso.24Feb98) [207.79.35.90]) by mailsorter-103.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.gso.01Apr98) id UAA01560; Mon, 5 Oct 1998 20:38:04 -0700 (PDT) X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhR3VSM9AUUKlRE1VVcNqSHByiAT+QIVALBnYD0jmK1t6O4iFltGovn7taaM From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 21:38:04 -0600 (MDT) To: xcruz@webtv.net Subject: Who Approved This House Resolution? (fwd) Who approved this house resolution? 10-5-98 American Cause Plant Closings, IMF Expansion and MAI - HR 4569 While all of us, including Congress were focused on the funding amount for IMF - increasing it from $3.5 to $18 billion - behind closed doors IMF expansion and the MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investments) were slipped into Section 601(a) of the Foreign Operations bill (HR 4569). This bill along with eight other appropriations bills have been crammed into one massive Continuing Resolution which will come up this Thursday or Friday. Hidden in Section 601 of the Foreign Operations bill are two of the issues we've been tracking: expanding the funding for the IMF and the dreaded MAI. The word from our contact on the Hill is that this Resolution is set up so that "no member of Congress will vote against the Continuing Resolution because "no" votes will be construed as supporting a government shutdown". Note: Section 601(a) has had no House hearings by any committee and the bill's language constitutes a significant end-run for the globalists and multinational corporation free trade agenda. Section 601(a) of the Foreign Operations Appropriation bill contains investment deregulation conditions that would automatically apply if a deal is made appropriating the $14.5 billion quota increase to the IMF. This section conditions the quota increase appropriation on requiring that the IMF board of directors "publicly agree" to require borrowing countries to: "liberalize restrictions on investment" and establish the equivalent of the MAI standard of national treatment on investment through "guaranteeing nondiscriminatory treatment in insolvency proceedings between domestic and foreign creditors". Section 601(a) will have the effect of encouraging plant closings in the U.S., since the IMF will be guaranteeing conditions that multinational corporations seek when they transfer capital from the U.S. to developing nations. Those conditions are also now the subject of multilateral negotiation in the MAI. It will slip in a backdoor MAI by requiring the IMF to change its charter to add core provisions of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, a controversial treaty viewed by conservatives and liberals alike as a threat to global economic stability and national sovereignty. MAI was to have been signed last year, but opposition by Congress and parliamentarians in other countries has kept MAI from being signed to date. (Sec. 601(a)(3.) Importantly, Section 601(a) will apply to South America, Central America and Africa as well as other regions of the world. This fact underscores the danger posed to U.S. jobs by this section of the bill, since those regions are more likely to be utilized as export platforms for production intended for the U.S. market than Asia. Promote further IMF mission expansion by requiring that the IMF now become the enforcer of NAFTA, GATT-WTO and any future-agreed trade and investment pacts. (Sec. 601(a)(1) Patrick J. Buchanan - Chairman Angela "Bay" Buchanan - President THE AMERICAN CAUSE 6862 Elm Street, Suite 210, McLean, Virginia 22101 theamericancause@theamericancause.org --WebTV-Mail-570076828-5801-- From johnston@mail.cruzio.com Tue Oct 6 13:37:24 1998 Reply-To: "Paul Johnston" From: "Paul Johnston" To: "Labor Research and Action Project" Subject: Johnston/Against the Work Stoppage: A New Strike for a New Labor Movement Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 12:39:51 -0700 boundary="----=_NextPart_000_008A_01BDF126.6987CA40" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_008A_01BDF126.6987CA40 charset="iso-8859-1" Against the Work Stoppage: A New Strike for a New Labor Movement by Paul Johnston =20 With last year's UPS strike by the Teamsters and this year's GM strike = by the United Auto Workers, the labor movement in the U.S. may at last = have turned a very important corner. Finally, two decades after a = series of disasterous setbacks made strikes taboo in union circles, we = may be recovering our most important weapon.=20 =20 It's about time, because without the capacity to strike and win, labor = movement revival is impossible. Like any social movement, the labor = movement only exists through collective action, and the strike is our = form of collective action. =20 But a new danger looms as we pick up the picket signs. The new danger = is that after all the efforts our unions are making to unlearn the old = ways of business unionism, when we turn to the strike we'll do it the = old way. After all, a strike is a strike is a strike... isn't it? No = way.=20 =20 Another term for the strike as we know it is the work stoppage. The = work stoppage was shaped in conditions that prevailed in the 1950s and = 1960s. Unlike, for example, the two-day general strike led by public = workers in Puerto Rico in June to protest the sale of the public = telephone company to GTE, the work stoppage is not a political = mobilization. It's a withdrawal of labor power, a bargaining tool for = business unionism. By cutting profits, it aims to force an economic = decision favorable to workers. And typically-- though union officials = don't like to be quoted on this-- the pain of the extended strike is = also often intended to force workers to moderate their expectations and = settle for less. The work stoppage IS the most common form of the strike in the U.S., and = it certainly is our common notion of what a strike is and can be. But = in fact the simple withholding of labor only delivers power where we = have cornered our labor market, or where we somehow enjoy an advantage = that protects us from competition. And in the public sector it's rarely = EVER an effective source of power, since public employers aren't = capitalists and don't lose profit when we strike, and since public = employers learned a long time ago how to turn public anger over the = disruption of public services against "those greedy public workers." = By the late 1970s in the public sector and by the early 1980s in the = private sector, employers in both sectors had learned how to use strikes = as weapons against unions, and routinely sought to manipulate unions = into striking. Small wonder, then, that when someone shouts "strike" in = a crowded union hall so many of us run for the exit. So now we are in a situation, public sector and private, less similar to = that faced by our fathers thirty or forty years ago, and more similar to = that faced by workers in most of the rest of the world. The simple = withholding of labor power is not enough, especially when a company with = an eye on long-term strategy calculates its ability to take a strike for = a year or more to break the union and allow it to re-open at lower cost = and with a freer hand, and ESPECIALLY where an employer is able and = inclined to disinvest in higher-wage areas and move production = elsewhere. Does that mean we don't strike? No! But it does mean that we should = study when we win and when we lose and learn the lessons. The main = lesson to be learned is that a whole new world of possibilities for = union power opens up when we stop seeing the strike as an "off button"-- = put down your tools, walk out, stand in front of the worksite, keep = people from crossing the lines-- and start seeing it as an "on button." = =20 After all, suddenly in a strike situation the union has dozens or = hundreds or even thousands of full-time folks on the payroll, so to = speak... What kind of creative and effective organization and tactics = can we put together with that many folks? What are our adversary's = points of vulnerability, and how can we hit them? Who are our potential = allies, what are THEIR issues, and how can we use mutual support and = common concerns to bring them into the fray? How can we use this = suddenly huge "strikeforce" to escalate, to spread the strike, to = organize the unorganized and/or to accomplish other kinds of = objectives-- in our community or in the political process as well as in = our industry-- that leave us stronger than we were before the strike? =20 This is what the United Farm Workers did in the grape strike of the = 1960s. And although both unionists and scholars are used to seeing the = UFW as some kind of strange deviant case, different from the rest of the = labor movement, it seems more and more sensible to seem the old UFW as a = pioneer. The Justice for Janitors campaigns, labor-community = coalitions, immigrant worker organizing, and corporate campaigns-- all = pioneered by the UFW-- were at one time on the fringes of the old labor = movement, but are now in the middle of the new labor movement. =20 =20 But unless we shake our taken-for-granted notion of the strike as work = stoppage, the dead hand of the past will hold us back from learning such = lessons. This could easily lead to more PATCO-style debacles. And so = today's strike revival could wind up reinforcing our fear of collective = action, instead of opening the doors to a new labor movement.=20 =20 And here's an even greater obstacle to unleashing the potential power of = the new strike: our unions are used to being run by just a few people. = The staff is used to it, and the members are used to it. This is = understandable when only a few folk are actively involved. The problem = comes when suddenly we have a "staff"-- a strikeforce-- of dozens, = hundreds, thousands. We don't know how to open things up. But when we = DO open up, the payoff is tremendous: not only in organizational = capacity and strike power, but also in the long-term internal life of = the union. =20 =20 When we open up our minds to the new strike, and when we open up our = unions in the new strike situation, then maybe we'll learn (to = paraphrase Peter Sellers) to stop worrying and love the strike again. (Paul Johnston is a strike groupie, who works for the Central Coast = Citizenship Project) johnston@cruzio.com ------=_NextPart_000_008A_01BDF126.6987CA40 charset="iso-8859-1"
Against the Work Stoppage:
A New Strike for a New Labor=20 Movement
by = Paul=20 Johnston
 
With last year's UPS strike by the Teamsters and = this year's=20 GM strike by the United Auto Workers, the labor movement in the U.S. may = at last=20 have turned a very important corner.  Finally, two decades after a = series=20 of disasterous setbacks made strikes taboo in union circles, we may be=20 recovering our most important weapon.
 
It's about time, because without the capacity to = strike and=20 win, labor movement revival is impossible.  Like any social = movement, the=20 labor movement only exists through collective action, and the strike is = our form=20 of collective action.
 
But a new danger looms as we pick up the picket = signs. =20 The new danger is that after all the efforts our unions are making to = unlearn=20 the old ways of business unionism, when we turn to the strike we'll do = it the=20 old way.  After all, a strike is a strike is a strike... isn't = it?  No=20 way.
 
Another term for the strike as we know it is the = work=20 stoppage.  The work stoppage was shaped in conditions that = prevailed in the=20 1950s and 1960s.  Unlike, for example, the two-day general strike = led by=20 public workers in Puerto Rico in June to protest the sale of the public=20 telephone company to GTE, the work stoppage is not a political=20 mobilization.  It's a withdrawal of labor power, a bargaining tool = for=20 business unionism.  By cutting profits, it aims to force an = economic=20 decision favorable to workers.  And typically-- though union = officials=20 don't like to be quoted on this-- the pain of the extended strike is = also often=20 intended to force workers to moderate their expectations and settle for=20 less.

The work stoppage IS the most common form of the = strike in=20 the U.S., and it certainly is our common notion of what a strike is and = can=20 be.  But in fact the simple withholding of labor only delivers = power where=20 we have cornered our labor market, or where we somehow enjoy an = advantage that=20 protects us from competition.  And in the public sector it's rarely = EVER an=20 effective source of power, since public employers aren't capitalists and = don't=20 lose profit when we strike, and since public employers learned a long = time ago=20 how to turn public anger over the disruption of public services against=20 "those greedy public workers."   By the=20 late 1970s in the public sector and by the early 1980s in the private = sector,=20 employers in both sectors had learned how to use strikes as weapons = against=20 unions, and routinely sought to manipulate unions into striking.  = Small=20 wonder, then, that when someone shouts "strike" in a crowded = union=20 hall so many of us run for the exit.

So now we are in a = situation, public=20 sector and private, less similar to that faced by our fathers thirty or = forty=20 years ago, and more similar to that faced by workers in most of the rest = of the=20 world.  The simple withholding of labor power is not enough, = especially=20 when a company with an eye on long-term strategy calculates its ability = to take=20 a strike for a year or more to break the union and allow it to re-open = at lower=20 cost and with a freer hand, and ESPECIALLY where an employer is able and = inclined to disinvest in higher-wage areas and move production=20 elsewhere.

Does that mean we don't strike?  No!  But it = does=20 mean that we should study when we win and when we lose and learn the=20 lessons.  The main lesson to be learned is that a whole new world = of=20 possibilities for union power opens up when we stop seeing the strike as = an=20 "off button"-- put down your tools, walk out, stand in front = of the=20 worksite, keep people from crossing the lines-- and start seeing it as = an=20 "on button." 
 
After all, suddenly in a strike situation the union = has dozens=20 or hundreds or even thousands of full-time folks on the payroll, so to=20 speak...  What kind of creative and effective organization and = tactics can=20 we put together with that many folks?  What are our adversary's = points of=20 vulnerability, and how can we hit them?  Who are our potential = allies, what=20 are THEIR issues, and how can we use mutual support and common concerns = to bring=20 them into the fray?   How can we use this suddenly huge=20 "strikeforce" to escalate, to spread the strike, to organize = the=20 unorganized and/or to accomplish other kinds of objectives-- in our = community or=20 in the political process as well as in our industry--  that leave = us=20 stronger than we were before the strike?
 
This is what the United Farm Workers did in the = grape strike=20 of the 1960s.  And although both unionists and scholars are used to = seeing=20 the UFW as some kind of strange deviant case, different from the rest of = the=20 labor movement, it seems more and more sensible to seem the old UFW as a = pioneer.  The Justice for Janitors campaigns, labor-community = coalitions,=20 immigrant worker organizing, and corporate campaigns-- all pioneered by = the=20 UFW-- were at one time on the fringes of the old labor movement, but are = now in=20 the middle of the new labor movement. 
 
But unless we shake our taken-for-granted notion of = the strike=20 as work stoppage, the dead hand of the past will hold us back from = learning such=20 lessons.   This could easily lead to more PATCO-style = debacles. =20 And so today's strike revival could wind up reinforcing our fear of = collective=20 action, instead of opening the doors to a new labor movement. =
 
And here's an even greater obstacle = to unleashing=20 the potential power of the new strike: our unions are used to being run = by just=20 a few people.  The staff is used to it, and the members are used to = it.  This is understandable when only a few folk are actively=20 involved.  The problem comes when suddenly we have a = "staff"-- a=20 strikeforce-- of dozens, hundreds, thousands.  We don't know how to = open=20 things up.  But when we DO open up, the payoff is tremendous: not = only in=20 organizational capacity and strike power, but also in the long-term = internal=20 life of the union. 
 
When we open up our minds to the new = strike, and=20 when we open up our unions in the new strike situation, then maybe we'll = learn=20 (to paraphrase Peter Sellers) to stop worrying and love the strike=20 again.

(Paul Johnston is a strike groupie, who works = for the=20 Central Coast Citizenship Project)
johnston@cruzio.com
<= /DIV> ------=_NextPart_000_008A_01BDF126.6987CA40-- From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Tue Oct 6 15:00:20 1998 Tue, 6 Oct 1998 14:00:14 -0700 (PDT) Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 14:00:14 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: Re: Denmark: Get your own job back - as workfare! (fwd) To: labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 13:57:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley To: Carsten Agger labmovs@sheffield.ac.uk, publabor@relay.doit.wisc.edu, labor-l@yorku.ca, labor-rap@csf.solorado.edu, united@cougar.com, union-d@wolfnet.com Subject: Re: Denmark: Get your own job back - as workfare! Thank you for the information, Carsten. This should interest anyone in the trade union movement anywhere on the planet. The issue you raise is the extent to which the powers that be get away with substituting lower paid workfare labour for statute and union protected fairly paid labour. And I don't doubt that they will try many more clever ways to go about it before this is resolved. FWP. On Tue, 6 Oct 1998, Carsten Agger wrote: > [Note: In Denmark, workfare is usually called "activation", wherefore I retain it here. > Please notify me if it seems very inappropriate.] > > The new social legislation in Denmark means that the activation benefit added to the social security benefit is reduced from 15 to 10 kroner an hour for activated recipients more than 25 years old and increased from 8 to 10 kroner an hour for activated less than 25 years old. > Ejvind Larsen, leader of the largest care centre for adults, criticizes the »wages« in the law's activation offer: »I should say that it's indecent to let grown people who incidentally have ended up in the welfare system do a normal work for 53 kroner an hour when others get at least 85 kroner an hour.« (Information, July 7). > BiD (an association for activated welfare recipients) points out that there is an obvious speculation in the profit in making forcibly activated persons do normal work for a lower price: »I have an example in Frederiksværk, where an employee of the municipality was fired after 20 years. The first activation job the person in question was assigned by the municipality was the person's own job,« states Birgitte Videbæk til Politiken in Politiken on August 1. > > > More information on workfare and the human rights situation in Denmark > at http://www.faklen.dk/en > > Carsten > > -- > agger@faklen.dk > The Torch: http://www.faklen.dk/en > Biblioteca Circular: http://www.encomix.es/~espada/circulo.html > > > -> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally > -> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@icomm.ca > -> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/ > *** British Columbia-the world's first direct electronic democracy under development http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/BCPolitics; http://users.uniserve.com/~culturex *** From xcruz@webtv.net Tue Oct 6 16:13:08 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAuAhUAhq60YfWrtOh+bOQJ5tCwlk8xkHYCFQCDrGiq/WctIqNhdDMcuyFhxJcn4Q== From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1998 18:30:14 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Green Party Could Play Spoiler in California (fwd) GREEN PARTY COULD PLAY SPOILER IN CALIFORNIA Las Vegas Sun SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Former Rep. Dan Hamburg doesn't have a prayer of becoming California's next governor, but the Green Party candidate could play spoiler by emphasizing liberal causes and siphoning votes from Democrat Gray Davis. Hamburg, on the Nov. 3 ballot with Davis and Republican Dan Lungren, is running against the death penalty and the war on drugs. The one-term congressman is pro-environment and supports universal health care and campaign finance reform. Hamburg's only goal is to make people pay attention. "I don't regard the election as the political equivalent of the Super Bowl. I don't think it's all over Nov. 3. We're planting seeds for the future," the 49-year-old told reporters. Every vote Hamburg wins will likely come from Davis, California's lieutenant governor. And most votes that Libertarian Steve Kubby wins would likely have been votes for Lungren, the state's attorney general. The Green Party has only 93,000 registered voters in California, just 0.6 percent of the state's 14.6 million voters. The Green Party has never before entered a candidate in the race for governor, but Green candidates have won as many as 248,000 votes in other statewide races in past elections -- enough to tip the balance in the kind of close race that California traditionally has for governor when there is no incumbent on the ballot. Republican George Deukmejian, for example, was elected to his first term as governor in 1982 by a margin of just 93,345, and Democrat Jerry Brown won his first term by 175,000 votes. This year's race for governor is shaping up to be just as close, with Davis and Lungren rated as a tossup in the most recent poll of likely voters. Davis' campaign manager, Garry South, says he isn't worried about Hamburg being a spoiler. "This guy wears a ponytail," South told The Sacramento Bee. "Do you think Californians are ready to vote for a middle-aged guy with a ponytail?" Hamburg acknowledges the Catch-22 of his quest and that of other minor party candidates: The better they do, the more they help elect the candidates least sympathetic to their causes. But, he says, "You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs, and we may have to break some eggs." Hamburg says he meets people every day who say they agree with him, but don't want to throw their vote away on a candidate who can't win. So he tells them to vote their conscience, but he has also come up with a gimmick that he believes will solve the Catch-22. In his plan, voters would list their first, second and third choices on their ballots. If their first choice failed to make the cut, their vote would automatically go to their second choice, or to their third choice if both their first and second choices didn't get enough votes. That way, Hamburg said, their first choices would be counted, advancing the issues of their parties, and voters wouldn't fear that they were throwing their votes away. "Most people who vote Green will vote Democratic as a second choice. It totally eliminates this whole spoiler issue," Hamburg said. For Hamburg, the spoiler image is nothing new. Hamburg got his opportunity to go to Congress as a Democrat in 1992 because two years earlier a Peace and Freedom Party candidate siphoned off 15 percent of the vote in a Democratic-leaning district along California's northern coast, and that helped elect the Republican whom Hamburg defeated two years later. Hamburg says he will lead an initiative drive after his current campaign is over to place his instant runoff proposal on California's statewide ballot in 2000. That task would require gathering more than 500,000 signatures and could cost $1 million or more. All contents copyright 1998 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. From galaxie300@hotmail.com Wed Oct 7 08:19:35 1998 X-Originating-IP: [152.2.242.193] From: "Jen A" To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Salting Information Request Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 07:19:27 PDT Hello all, I am looking into a project regarding salting and I was wondering if anyone might be able to point me in the direction of getting information about the proportion of union salting attempts to salting hires. I am trying to use NLRB cases as a way of studying salting but I need to know the kind of selection bias I'll be dealing with. Also, if you have any anecdotes, broad estimates, or advice about studying salting in *general*, please let me know that too. I would really appreciate any kind of information you all could provide because I have much to learn about this strategy. I have posted similar requests on other labor listservs and in case anyone is suspicious of my request about salting, please know that I am a pro-union sociology person. All information will be kept extremely confidential and if you wish, we can set up alternate ways of arranging a talk. If anyone has any questions about why I am studying salting, I am happy to discuss that too. ** Please e-mail me directly at galaxie300@hotmail.com Apologies to those who have gotten this message before on publabor or labnews. Many thanks Jennifer Ashlock Department of Sociology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3210 ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Thu Oct 8 08:56:25 1998 Thu, 8 Oct 1998 07:56:07 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 07:56:06 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: P.O.W.E.R. (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1998 09:19:51 +0200 From: Viggo Andersen To: Workfare-Discuss@icomm.ca Subject: P.O.W.E.R. http://www.sfo.com/~coh/power.html POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights) organizes workfare workers to win fair and equal treatment for people doing workfare in San Francisco. POWER was initiated in January 1997 as a project of the three-year old General Assistance Rights Union (GARU). GARU has since changed its name to POWER to incorporate Workfare Workers from other benefits programs. POWER is fighting to change workfare into a fair work program, a program which pays workers a prevailing wage for the work they perform and which provides a safety net for those who cannot. Organizing is the heart of POWER's work. POWER members are at the worksites every day, informing workfare workers of their rights and inviting them into the organization. POWER has already collected authorization cards from more than 2,800 of San Francisco's 3,000 workfare workers, won 'employee status' for workfare workers from Cal-OSHA, and pressured the City to create a "workfare ombudsperson" position to field workfare workers' complaints. In this campaign, POWER has employed direct action on countless occasions to demand accountability from City officials. Over fifty POWER members, dressed in bright orange t-shirts and fedoras (mayor Willie Brown's trademark) and carrying a 30-foot Will-Lie Brown puppet, "joined" the Mayor's tour of the City when he hosted the U.S. Conference of Mayors, winning extensive media coverage. POWER has also utilized direct action to represent workers whose rights are abused at worksites. As part of this campaign, POWER is offering San Francisco's non-profit agencies the opportunity to sign the "Pledge for Fair Work." The Pledge proposes a basic set of criteria to be met before anyone else is forced into a workfare placement. Signatory organizations agree to accept workfare placements only if the workers have voluntarily agreed to this placement, the organizations will not displace other workers, and the organization will join in the campaign for equal treatment, equal protections and equal compensation. POWER is building a collaboration between workfare workers and organized labor. Recognizing that living wages for all workers cannot be won without cooperation between organized labor and workfare workers' organizations, POWER fought for and won equal representation on an influential Labor/Management Welfare Reform Committee which is charged with developing San Francisco's public apprenticeship program. With workfare workers' involvement in this process, POWER plans to stop the development of any two-tier system. POWER will continue to fight the attack on poor people until everyone who wants to work can find meaningful full-time employment and until everyone receives the same rights, opportunities and respect as everyone else-regardless of economic status. "We reject the notion that poor people have no rights," says POWER Director Steve Williams. "We know that by working together we can make a change for all poor people and for all workers. So we'll keep organizing until everyone in this City understands that slavery is dead, and we're not letting ANYBODY bring it back." For further information about POWER , or for information about receiving the POWER newsletter or the Pledge for Fair Work, contact Steve Williams or Ilana Berger at (415) 346-9693; fax (415) 775-5639. Workfare Facts Toxic Facts P.O.W.E.R. Demands --------------------------------- Homelessness in San Francisco | What's Up | About the Coalition Affiliated Projects and Activities | What You Can Do | Links COH Projects: Civil Rights | Housing Not Borders | Shelter Outreach Substance Abuse Mental Health Work Group (SAMH) | Street Sheet | P.O.W.E.R. --------------------------------- Coalition on Homelessness 468 Turk Street San Francisco, CA 94102 Phone: 415.346.3740 | Fax: 415.775.5639 | Email: coh@sfo.com -> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally -> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@icomm.ca -> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/ From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Fri Oct 9 10:52:11 1998 Fri, 9 Oct 1998 09:51:52 -0700 (PDT) Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 09:51:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: Press Release from Mayday, Ireland (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 22:48 +0100 (BST) From: Donald Hounam To: workfare-discuss@icomm.ca Subject: Press Release from Mayday, Ireland I was sent the following press release today: --------------------------------------------- Fighting Unemployment Supporting the Welfare State Press Statement 3/10/1998 A public meeting held by the Mayday organisation, comprising of Unemployed, Trade Union and Community activists was held in Dublin on Thursday 1st October. The well attended meeting was addressed by Mayday's National Spokesperson Joe Barrett a prominent Community and Unemployed activist from Laois, Seamus Carragher, a Wicklow unemployed activist, Paul Johnston representing Scheme Workers, and other Community and Trade Union activists. The main topics of the meeting were Workfare and attacks on the Welfare State. Activities planned for the coming weeks include: A campaign to demand that Local Employment Service and dole office workers throughout the country refuse to allow themselves to be used to coerce unemployed people into low paid work. Mr. Joe Barrett called on "workers in Social welfare and Local Employment Services offices and all those concerned with the plight of the socially excluded to make a stand with the unemployed to defeat Workfare". A picket will also be held on a day over the Halloween period on Bewley's of Grafton Street, to highlight the Bewley's well-heeled owner's disgraceful attack on the most vulnerable section of Irish society. Mr Barrett concluded "Following the success of this meeting it was decided to hold another meeting on 10th October in Dublin, whereby delegates from around the country will gather to continue to devise strategies to defeat Workfare and tackle low pay in employment". ENDS/. Joe Barrett email joeb22@hotmail.com ------------------------------------------------- (For more information on the New Deal in Britain, check out my website at: http://www.compulink.co.uk/~drdoom/politics/newdeal.htm) -> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally -> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@icomm.ca -> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/ From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Sat Oct 10 14:46:03 1998 Sat, 10 Oct 1998 13:45:44 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1998 13:45:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: Slave labourer seeks back wages after 50 years (fwd) Hmmm...kind of makes you wonder if Workfarers might some day launch the same kind of law suit. FWP. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1998 22:48:56 +1100 (EST) From: Bill Bartlett To: Workfare-Discuss@icomm.ca Subject: Slave labourer seeks back wages after 50 years Slave labourer seeks back wages after 50 years I just saw this story on Stateline, a local TV current affairs show here, about a Tasmanian of Dutch origin (name of Van Der Hoog) who has been seeking back wages from BMW for the time he spent as a slave labourer in Germany during WW2. He originally wrote to the Dutch Government back in the 1970's sometime, but in typical bureaucratic fashion they requested he support his case with pay slips or some such. Then he found out that the factory he worked in was owned by BMW, and wrote to them. They referred him back to the Durch government again. Now he is publicising his case. The inspiring thing of course is that this old bloke is still seeking justice from these bastards after all this time. He says he doesn't want compensation, but says it would be "nice" if they would just pay him the wages for the work he did. Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas. -> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally -> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@icomm.ca -> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/ From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Sun Oct 11 07:23:20 1998 Sun, 11 Oct 1998 06:23:07 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 06:23:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: WRFE Presentation to Community and Social Services Committee (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 17:22:55 -0400 (EDT) From: John Hollingsworth To: workfare-discuss@icomm.ca Subject: WRFE Presentation to Community and Social Services Committee >Date: Wed, 07 Oct 1998 01:37:14 >To: workfare-discuss@icomm.com >From: John Hollingsworth >Subject: WRFE Presentation to Community and Social Services Committee >Cc: bh295@freenet.carleton.ca, awildman@netcom.ca, ron@tao.ca, valki@magma.ca, achs@glen-net.ca, mrobitai@chat.carleton.ca, Brian_W._Edgecombe@jungle.ott.on.ca, jshantz@ccs.carleton.ca, timusk@magi.ca > >Hello, to all of you in the struggle to end workfare internationally, > >Two social assistance recipients (and wobs!) in Welfare Recipients for Fair Employment (WRFE), an autonomous group for social assistance recipients and workfare workers started by a small group of IWWs here in Ottawa last year, presented the following two statements to the CSS of our regional government. I thought their statements might be of interest to the list, so here they are. If you give me questions or comments I'll pass them on to the group. (Also both Carlos and Audrey are on the c.c. list.) > >The group followed the presentation of the research work of the Monitoring Ontario Works project here in Ottawa-Carleton. We were not the only people who were social assistance recipients who presented, however. > >* * * > >My name is Carlos Murray. I haven't been personally affected by workfare yet. I'm here to make a statement on the part of Welfare Recipients for Fair Employment. The first and only thing for now that we'd like to say about the research is that many people on social assistance are unhappy about the threat of losing their right to volunteer for community groups that they have belonged to for some time, as is the case under the current regulations after six months have passed for community placements. Children are being left unattended by adults because of participation requirements in spite of the lack of adequate child care. people can't afford to "participate" in the program, as the costs of participation reduce incomes on which one can barely survive, and causes hardship to recipients and their families which many cannot or choose not to recognize. > >Welfare Recipients for Fair Employment's position as an organization has been clear, and we work on a participatory, democratic and consensus basis. We don't support mandatory participation in Ontario Works, even if it is a "paper exercise" in the eyes of regional officials, and we don't support mandatory volunteerism. Agencies that try to make us of mandatory volunteers are compromising themselves, and we work to discourage agency participation in this slave labour scheme. > >We also know that pretty well everyone on community placement wants to get work experience and a job. We believe that a better alternative would be a wage subsidy program for the legitimate community-based non-profit sector, and that this work be recognized as work and not merely as a "community placement activity". Also, working on an unpaid basis for non-profit organizations that are professional or industrial associations, under penalty of suspension of social assistance, is completely unacceptable. We demand that these organizations hire their community placements now at regular wages, including the right of said workers to unionize. > >The position of the region has been that Ontario Works was imposed by the province, and the region is in the position of having to comply with it. They say that they need to implement it in a way that doesn't violate people's human rights. When the next recession hits us, and it will soon, we learn that this is impossible. Unless we shut down this program soon, we might be left with an army of conscripted labour doing the dirty work for the politicians, bureaucrats and comfortable classes. > >Thank you, and in the remaining time Audrey Wildman of WRFE will say a few words about Ontario Works. > >* * * > >Audrey Wildman: > >Welfare recipients for fair employment does not see any connection between workfare and employment. Workfare is a means to blame the poor for being poor. If we are committed to a " hands up approach " we would then look at providing support including childcare and job skills training that are needed for today's labor market. Workfare does not create jobs. > >Welfare recipients for fair employment is very concerned about sole support parents who are usually mothers. The right to parent is not even considered in the workfare plan . parenting is work and that if should be recognized as a full time job. Sole support mothers need to have the choice of staying home and raising their children. Sole support mothers need to have fair employment . the right to have a after high school education which would allow them the opportunity to provide for them and their children and to allow them to "break the cycle of poverty. Poor parents and in particular sole support mothers are being penalized by the clawing back of federal support for children (national child tax credit ) This money belongs to the poor families. Not recognizing differences is discrimination. > >Ottawa-Carleton region give the same rights to poor citizens as other citizens of and therefore do not allow for the maintenance workers more power than the police as to the searching of welfare receipts house. >It is interesting that Regional Council has put in place "buffers" to "soften the harshest effects of the changes", but only for "homeowners" and "business owners". > >Welfare for Fair Employment has a mandate to Stop Workfare. We will be at all times supporting and lobbying for the end of workfare employment for welfare recipients. We can be reached at 748-7476. > >Recommendations: > >1. that the Ottawa Carleton region not become a workfare employer. >2. that the Ottawa Carleton region put in place the right to parent until children are no longer the responsibility of the parent. >3. that the Ottawa Carleton region fund agencies that provide for the advancement of sole support mothers for fair employment. >4. that agencies that participate in the workfare program be responsible for providing fair employment at the end of six months and that if they do not, they will no longer be able to participate in abusing poor people for cheap labor. > >-> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally >-> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@icomm.ca >-> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/ > > -> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally -> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@icomm.ca -> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/ From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Tue Oct 13 12:14:59 1998 Tue, 13 Oct 1998 11:13:01 -0700 (PDT) Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 11:12:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: TEARING UP THE EUROPEAN RULEBOOK (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1998 05:47:45 +0200 From: Viggo Andersen To: Workfare-Discuss@icomm.ca Subject: (fwd) TEARING UP THE EUROPEAN RULEBOOK http://www.egroups.com/list/chiapas-l/?start=7816 [Fwd: The unemployed loosen the noose] Monday October 12, 1998 02:23 PM PST By Monique Lemaitre @corn.cso.niu.edu Le Monde diplomatique wrote: LE MONDE DIPLOMATIQUE - October 1998 TEARING UP THE EUROPEAN RULEBOOK The unemployed loosen the noose Since the 1970s, unemployment has been part of the social landscape. Yet the unemployed themselves remained in some way invisible, their voices never directly heard. However, a few months ago they erupted on to the social and political scene in France, Germany, Italy and other European countries. The movement which they have started has been greeted with sympathy by the public at large. And it has inspired other new organisations determined to agitate for other economic and social priorities. by CATHERINE LIVY and CHRISTOPHE AGUITON * The new movement of the unemployed has turned itself into a physical presence and acquired a voice of its own. But it did not appear out of thin air: it was by walking, becoming pedestrians on France's roads, that the unemployed began to make their presence felt as a distinct group. In addition, for several years the movement has been the major component of a still larger grouping which is in turn now gathering behind it and helping it develop. Its history goes back as far as May 1994, when AC! (Action against Unemployment - Agir contre le chtmage) organised a number of marches in the provinces, converging in Paris. Over several weeks, the unemployed took to the roads, passing through towns and villages, talking to trade unionists and sympathetic activists who made them welcome. Twenty thousand people met up at Bastille, and the demonstration ended up by occupying an apartment building on rue Biranger. From that point on, the movement gathered strength month by month. In December 1994, a building in rue du Dragon, under siege by DAL (Right to Housing - Droit au logement), was occupied with, for the first time, help from the associations of the unemployed. Workshops were set up for the members of campaigning groups, trade unionists, researchers and teachers. Young members of the CDSL (Committee of the Homeless - Comiti des sans-logis) posed the question: how are you supposed to survive when you can't find a job and don't qualify for income support? For those who took part in these discussions, only one thing was sure: the state could not be relied on to change the equation between work and income. Every December since 1994, activists have organised more special actions. Because for those living on basic welfare, the acquisitive seasonal frenzy that grips most of the population is the final straw. In December 1995, in the middle of a major rail strike, an initiative by DD (Rights to the Fore - Droits devant) led to the occupation of the Beaubourg in Paris and the "manifesto of the have-nots". It was a significant date. The trade unions at the forefront of the strike were very much in evidence at the plenary meeting; but the mode of expression was new. Alongside the notion of rights (civic, political and social), there now arose its negative corollary: the absence of rights, a concept that has finally emerged as a dominant theme. So far, this was still just a movement in embryo, involving no more than a handful of trade unionists and other activists. But now it was to benefit from the fall-out from the railwaymen's action. There was a frenzy of activity: the requisition of housing by DAL and the CDSL; the requisition of jobs (1) by AC!, MNCP (National Movement of Unemployed and Insecure Workers - Mouvement national des chtmeurs et pricaires) and Apeis (Association for Employment, Integration and Solidarity - Association pour l'emploi, l'insertion et la solidariti); campaigns for access to free public transport; campaigns directed at workers in the major public utilities (Ilectriciti de France, Gaz de France) and intended to prevent people's supplies being cut off; the occupation, in December 1996, of the Maison des "ensemble" (Centre for Unity) in rue d'Aligre. Then, in May 1997, came the occupation of the Bank of France, seized as one of the symbolic high places of capitalism. Its directors finally agreed to meet the unemployed associations, the banking section of the CFDT (French Democratic Confederation of Labour - Confidiration frangaise dimocratique du travail), the financial section of the CGT (General Confederation of Labour - Confidiration ginirale du travail), the SNUI (Unified National Union for Taxes - Syndicat national unifii des imptts), the Group of Ten (2), DAL and DD. The protesters demanded access to financial rights and raised the problem of excessive debt. On 15 December 1997, activists from associations combating exclusion and insecurity, in conjunction with trade unionists, launched a week of action for "social emergency". It began with the occupation of the Pyramid at the Louvre and the holding of discussions in the Salle du Carrousel. The week culminated in the "Louvre appeal", signed by numerous organisations and demanding, among other things, increases in basic welfare payments and a Christmas bonus for the unemployed. In addition, all these groups gave their support to the struggle being fought by illegal immigrants. Within the movement, some people devoted themselves to the question of rights and how to see them exercised. Just as the public had felt that the right to a home had legitimised the "occupations", so the marches against unemployment (and other such actions) came to acquire a similar legitimacy. Their message was clear: no household with three members could survive on 3,000 francs a month. At the same time, occupying Assidic offices over a period of several weeks had the desired effect of publicising locations where all those unprepared to venture out on demonstrations could emerge from their state of isolation. The actions of the unemployed raised fundamental questions concerning the basic means of survival: despite the creation of the RMI and the overall increase in the number of beneficiaries, since 1982 the amount spent by the state on basic welfare has remained unchanged at 1% of GDP. Average benefit therefore remains at best between 30% and 40% of average disposable income, at worst between 20% and 30% - that is to say, significantly below the poverty line. (This remains true whichever definition is used: 50% of average income across the European Union, or 50% of median income as calculated by the Office of National Statistics.) Since 1982, the average standard of living of all households has increased by more than 15%. Over the same period, however, basic welfare levels have barely maintained their purchasing power, and some of those living on benefit have seen a decrease of 10% in the unemployment benefit (Action spicifique de solidariti - ASS) and 20% in the emergency welfare benefit (allocation d'insertion - AI). The unemployed movement should also be seen, however, in a wider context than the mere raising of basic welfare levels. By denouncing inequalities, it is also laying claim to a more democratic deployment of fiscal policy. Currently, only 15% of revenues in the financial sector are taxed. Yet no income from permanent or temporary employment escapes the fiscal net. And casual and part-time work pay only very low wages, sometimes less than basic welfare. As a result, both the unemployed and those in work are mobilising around these forms of employment. A report by the Commission for Economic Planning has estimated that seven million people are affected by unemployment or are victims of unfair wage agreements arising from the economic policy currently pursued by most European governments. The movement of the French unemployed must thus be seen as part of a wider picture encompassing the different EU countries. It unites all those living on work-derived income who are struggling to make the question of insecurity and the creation of a new attitude to paid work a central issue within the European project. There are various forms of employment - involuntary part-time work ("under-employment"), fixed-term contracts, subsidised work, job-shares - that are really so many forms of partial unemployment. These shadowy areas are usually overlooked in European statistics. In 1993 (the last year for which figures are available), 57 million Europeans were categorised as "poor", of whom 35% were of working age and in employment. The European marches "against unemployment, insecurity and exclusion" have underlined this link between the situations in neighbouring countries. To march across Europe has, in effect, become the chosen means of expression of several thousand people who are either unemployed or in insecure jobs. In April 1997 they began walking through town and countryside in Italy, Spain, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, etc. Marching became an expression of solidarity, a way of discovering places, meeting people, and also of affirming the rejection of a present situation that seeks to impose itself permanently. Marching is another way of proving that there is still a story to be told, that the course of events can be affected. It makes the struggle against the insecurity of life visible. It allows us to demonstrate together in affirmation of our rights. The movement originated when representatives of organisations and trade unions from several European countries met in Florence in June 1996. Here in Tuscany - just as later in Brussels - the assembled activists wanted to set a European movement in motion. There was no general organisation of the marches. Instead, individual patterns emerged from the different national contexts, reflecting, in each country, the current state of the resistance to European policy. In France, the organisation of the "Euromarches" was atypical, with national trade union officials marching side by side with campaigning groups. In Italy, the movements of the unemployed and those in insecure work were organised at local level; and, although the two major centralised trade unions offered their services in organising the marches, they did not actually take part (3). Nevertheless, the "sincobas" (inter-sectional unions representing an important minority of the General Italian Confederation of Labour) took an active part in the movement at both national and local level, especially in Turin. In Spain, where various "reforms" to the labour code, signed by the two major groups of affiliated trade unions, have increased the insecurity of labour while reducing its cost, the marches brought together many organisations and associations organised both regionally and nationally. They set off on 14 April 1997, the anniversary of the Spanish Republic. In Belgium, 80% of the unemployed are members of trade union organisations, since these are responsible for paying unemployment insurance. Although demands by the unemployed for autonomy provoked tensions, they also sparked off debates on trade union democracy. In addition, many associations campaigned around the issue of the "social sick-room". There, as in Germany, emphasis was placed on the threat of workfare (the obligation placed upon the long-term unemployed to accept any job, preferably part-time and underpaid). This idea underpins a parliamentary bill being proposed by the Belgian government. In the Netherlands, as in Spain, the key issue is one of part-time work on fixed contracts: even the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has corrected the Netherlands' unemployment figures from the official 5.3% to a more plausible 20% (4). The minority of Dutch trade unionists who support the marches have suggested that there are a million poor for whom public education and health services have become inaccessible. There, as in Belgium, the opposition of the trade unions is less unified, and the debate has penetrated cracks in the consensus on national policy. By making themselves visible, the "pedestrians of the highways" have raised a whole series of current social problems. A few years ago, when the English unemployed started their own marches - an example followed by activists from AC! - it created no more than a minor disturbance heard only by a few selective ears. Now, little by little, it is becoming heard of abroad. "How many of us are there?" asked some young members of the CDSL four years ago. Statistics always follow the same pattern and it takes a long time for the state to take account of those who live on the margins, without income or home. It is not just a question of access to civic and social rights. The existence of thousands of people is denied and there are often no structures able to take them into account. Official research is beginning in various countries, but until European institutions create a statistical apparatus common to all fifteen EU members, it will remain difficult to make precise comparisons between nations. Valid comparisons between the different earnings of the unemployed or those in insecure jobs are extremely complex to make. In France alone, there are eight basic welfare allowances, each specifically targeted (for example, housing benefit) and subtracted or added to the total on a case by case basis. Just for one country, the result is a complete jungle: the Commission for Economic Planning talks of "incoherence". Faced with the maze of provisions specific to each country, the idea of a relevant European comparison is unsustainable. Any assessment of the marches must take into account the hundreds of kilometres covered and the thousands of people encountered along the way. The marchers have changed traditional trade union attitudes, chalked up a new stage in the assessment of unemployment and job insecurity and contributed to the evolution of the political debate in the EU countries - even European institutions are now including them in their research programmes. The marchers have given concrete expression to the various claims being made right across Europe. Like a choir intoning the popular will, they have articulated and amplified criticisms of the inverted priorities of the European project, with its emphasis on monetary policy over employment. In this great concert, there may be a few dissonant voices questioning the process that has begun. But most share a common concern to voice a pressing social need. ______________________________________________________________ * Respectively engineer at the Centre international de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and spokesman for Agir contre le chtmage (AC!). (1) Advised by the trade unions of situations where certain companies were under-staffed, the unemployed went there, occupied the premises and demanded the creation of jobs (2) The Group of Ten, which transformed itself into a trade union last January, counts among its members many trade unionists from SUD (Solidaires, unitaires, dimocratiques), the Syndicat national des journalistes, and the Syndicat national unifii des imptts (SNUI) (3) Except for the FIOM (the metallurgy federation of the CGIL), which, as a national federation, worked beside them. (4) See Dominique Vidal, "Miracle or mirage in the Netherlands?", Le Monde diplomatique English Internet edition, July 1997. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ) 1998 Le Monde diplomatique -> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally -> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@icomm.ca -> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/ From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Thu Oct 15 07:04:39 1998 Thu, 15 Oct 1998 06:03:53 -0700 (PDT) Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 06:03:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: (fwd) Full Employment & Equity Conference in Newcastle, NSW, Australia December 3rd & 4th (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 14:55:55 +0200 From: Viggo Andersen To: Workfare-Discuss@icomm.ca Subject: (fwd) Full Employment & Equity Conference in Newcastle, NSW, Australia December 3rd & 4th --------------------forwarded message---------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 21:29:08 +1000 From: Martin Watts Subject: Full Employment & Equity Conference in Newcastle, NSW, Australia December 3rd & 4th To: workfare-discuss@icomm.ca ANNOUNCING...... The Economics Department, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia is pleased to announce a two day Conference entitled The Path to Full Employment and Equity on Thursday December 3rd and Friday December 4th at the Industrial Development Centre, adjacent to the University. The speakers include Ed Nell, Randy Wray, Mathew Forstater, Warren Mosler, Stephen Bell, Raja Junankar, Peter Kenyon, Peter Kriesler, John Nevile, Glenda Strachan and Bill Mitchell. The registration fees are $120A (or $60A for students and the unemployed). Further details are contained in the enclosed attachment. [50 kb attachment removed - Viggo] For updated information, please also consult the Conference Web site: http://econ-www.newcastle.edu.au/cleer/ Academic enquiries should be directed to Bill Mitchell (ecwfm@cc.newcastle.edu.au) or Martin Watts (ecmjw@cc.newcastle.edu.au) and administrative enquiries (registration, travel and accommodation) to Denise Kite (ecdek@cc.newcastle.edu.au). Martin Watts Department of Economics University of Newcastle New South Wales 2308 Australia Email: ecmjw@cc.newcastle.edu.au Office: (61) 2 4921-5069 (Phone) Office: (61) 2 4921-6919 (Fax) Home: (61) 2 4982-9611 (Phone/Fax/Modem) Home: (61) 2 4982-9158 (Phone) -> Workfare-Discuss, the list for fighting workfare internationally -> To subscribe, send subscribe workfare-discuss to majordomo@icomm.ca -> List web site, http://www.icomm.ca/workfare/ From culturex@vcn.bc.ca Sat Oct 17 16:00:46 1998 Sat, 17 Oct 1998 14:41:55 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 14:41:53 -0700 (PDT) From: Franklin Wayne Poley Subject: Re: How to Solve the Economic Crisis in Russia? To: m225690@public.szonline.net labmovs@sheffield.ac.uk, publabor@relay.doit.wisc.edu, labor-rap@csf.colorado.edu, united@cougar.com, chnun@undp.org, scmplet@scmp.com, rusun@undp.org, seapost@intergate.bc.ca, sunbusiness@pacpress.southam.ca, money@cbc.ca, pwl@sympatico.ca, www@duma.ru, Future.Cities@lists.sn.apc.org, GovtAware-l@citadel.net, htc@mindlink.bc.ca, ladd@tcp.ca, Workfare-Discuss@icomm.ca, manlej@parl.gc.ca In-Reply-To: <36280F02.6ABB@public.shenzhen.cngb.com> This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text, while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools. --1920443027-532309994-908660513:#8539 On Sat, 17 Oct 1998, chang wrote: > Besides, "My Homepage" has published the latest and most complete > economic theory in the world. I do hope the Russian people may obtain > more inspiration and help from My Homepage at > http://www.geocities.com/~juchang, and I do hope it will help the > Russian people to solve their present economic problems. > > -- > Sincerely, > Ju-chang He > > SHENZHEN, P.R. CHINA > Welcome to visit My Home Page at > > or Dear Chang: With all due respect I have to say that your recommendations will have validity only within a time span of one generation (20-25 years). The race is now on to attain 100% automation for the most advanced of the world economies and some could come very close even now. I am working on a book called "The Psychology of Everyday Robots" which will explain this in more detail. For now a good starting point would be Professor Warwick's 1997 book "March of the Machines" which gives more detail than Rifkin's "The End of Work". Now China has undertaken the biggest civil engineering project in world history. It will dwarf even the Great Wall. This project was announced by Dr. Wally N'Dow, Chair of Habitat II when he spoke here in Vancouver, on Oct. 30, 1995. China will be constructing 500 new cities over C21 and I think they will be the economic engine for an economy which "The Economist" says will surpass the US economy by the first quarter of C21. Each new city will learn from those preceding it as newer airplanes improve upon previous models. At some point China will have 100% automated cities as I am proposing for British Columbia (see attachment). FWP. *** British Columbia-the world's first direct electronic democracy under development http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/BCPolitics; http://users.uniserve.com/~culturex *** --1920443027-532309994-908660513:#8539 RnJvbSBmd3BAdmNuLmJjLmNhIFNhdCBPY3QgMTcgMTQ6MTg6MjYgMTk5OA0K RGF0ZTogU2F0LCAxNyBPY3QgMTk5OCAxMzo0OToxOSAtMDcwMCAoUERUKQ0K RnJvbTogRnJhbmtsaW4gV2F5bmUgUG9sZXkgPGZ3cEB2Y24uYmMuY2E+DQpS ZXBseSB0bzogdHJhZGVhbmRjb252ZW50aW9uQG9uZWxpc3QuY29tDQpUbzog Qi5Hb29kd2luQHVlYS5hYy51aw0KQ2M6IEJDUG9saXRpY3NAb25lbGlzdC5j b20sIEZhbHNlQ3JlZWtAb25lbGlzdC5jb20sDQogICAgVHJhZGVhbmRDb252 ZW50aW9uQG9uZWxpc3QuY29tLCBpbmZvQENpdHlhdFNlYS5jb20sIGluZm9A TmV3LVV0b3BpYS5jb20sDQogICAgaXNvbWVAc3BvLnNoaW16LmNvLmpwLCBo YXJpQHNvYy50aXRlY2guYWMuanAsIGt3QGN5YmVyLnJlYWRpbmcuYWMudWsN ClN1YmplY3Q6IFtUcmFkZWFuZENvbnZlbnRpb25dIEEgQzIxIENpdHkgZm9y IEJyaXRpc2ggQ29sdW1iaWEuDQoNCkZyb206IEZyYW5rbGluIFdheW5lIFBv bGV5IDxmd3BAdmNuLmJjLmNhPg0KDQpQcm9mZXNzb3IgQmFyYmFyYSBHb29k d2luDQpVbml2ZXJzaXR5IG9mIEVhc3QgQW5nbGlhDQpVLksuDQoNCkRlYXIg UHJvZmVzc29yIEdvb2R3aW46IEJlbG93IHlvdSB3aWxsIGZpbmQgdGhlIHJl cXVpcmVkIG9uZSBwYXJhZ3JhcGggDQpzdW1tYXJ5IGZvciBteSBzdWJtaXNz aW9uIHRvIHlvdXIgMTk5OSBjb25mZXJlbmNlIG9uIHV0b3BpYW4gcHJvamVj dHMuDQonVXRvcGlhJyBpcyB0YWtlbiB0byBtZWFuICdub3doZXJlIGxhbmQn LiBJdCBpcyBteSBvYmplY3RpdmUgdG8gbWFrZSB0aGlzIA0KYSAnc29tZXdo ZXJlIHJlYWxpdHknLg0KU2luY2VyZWx5LUZXUC4NCg0KICAgICAgICAgICAg ICAgICAgICAgQSBDMjEgQ0lUWSBGT1IgQlJJVElTSCBDT0xVTUJJQQ0KDQog ICBQcm9qZWN0aW5nIGN1cnJlbnQgbWFya2V0IGdyb3d0aCBvZiB0aGUgaW50 ZXJuZXQgd2UgY2FuIGV4cGVjdCANCmludGVybmV0IHRvIGJlIGFzIHViaXF1 aXRvdXMgYXMgdGVsZXBob25lIG9yIHRlbGV2aXNpb24gaW4gNS0xMCB5ZWFy cy4gSXQgDQp3aWxsIGFycml2ZSBzb29uZXIgd2l0aCBlZmZlY3RpdmUgcG9s aXRpY2FsIGxlYWRlcnNoaXAuIEF0IHRoYXQgdGltZSBJIA0Kd2lsbCBzdWJt aXQgYSBtb2RlbCBjaXR5IHByb3Bvc2FsIHRvIHRoZSBjaXRpemVucyBvZiBC LkMuIGJ5IGludGVybmV0LCANCnVzaW5nIHRoZSBwcm9jZWR1cmVzIG9mIHRo ZSAxOTk2IFJlY2FsbCBhbmQgSW5pdGlhdGl2ZSBBY3QuIFNvbWUgb2YgdGhl IA0KY3JpdGVyaWEgYXR0YWluYWJsZSB3aXRoIHN1Y2ggYSBjaXR5IGFyZSBz ZXQgb3V0IG9uIHRoZSB3ZWIgc2l0ZXMgDQpodHRwOi8vdXNlcnMudW5pc2Vy dmUuY29tL35DWCBhbmQgaHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbHRlcm5hdGl2ZXMuY29tL0ZD Lg0KSG93ZXZlciwgYXV0b21hdGlvbi9yb2JvdGljcy9BSSB3aWxsIGhhdmUg cHJvZ3Jlc3NlZCBtdWNoIGZ1cnRoZXIgYnkgdGhhdCANCnRpbWUuIFRoZXJl IG1heSBiZSBzdWZmaWNpZW50IGludGVyZXN0IHRvIGF0dGVtcHQgdGhlIGNv bnN0cnVjdGlvbiBvZiBhIA0KMTAwJSBhdXRvbWF0ZWQgIlJvYm90aXplZCBN ZWdhZmxvYXQiLiBOb3JtYW4gTml4b24ncyBmbG9hdGluZyBjaXR5IGF0IHNl YSANCmZvciAxMDAsMDAwIChodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZyZWVkb21zaGlwLmNvbSkg bWF5IGV2ZW4gaGF2ZSBldm9sdmVkIHRvIHRoYXQgDQpzdGFnZSBpbiA1LTEw IHllYXJzLiBJZiBhIEZsb2F0aW5nIENpdHkgaXMgMTAwJSBhdXRvbWF0ZWQg aXQgaXMgb25lIGdpYW50IA0Kcm9ib3QgaXMgaXQgbm90PyBBZGp1c3Rpbmcg dG8gbGl2aW5nIGluc2lkZSBhIHJvYm90IGFuZCBiZWluZyBkZXBlbmRlbnQg DQp1cG9uIGl0IGZvciB0aGUgbmVjZXNzaXRpZXMgb2YgbGlmZSBpcyBpdHNl bGYgYW4gaW50ZXJlc3RpbmcgcHJvYmxlbSBpbiANCiJtYWNoaW5lIHBzeWNo b2xvZ3kiIChyZWZlciB0byBwLjIwNiBvZiBLZXZpbiBXYXJ3aWNrJ3MgZXhj ZWxsZW50IDE5OTcgDQpib29rLCAiTWFyY2ggb2YgdGhlIE1hY2hpbmVzIi4p DQoNCg0KKioqIEJyaXRpc2ggQ29sdW1iaWEtdGhlIHdvcmxkJ3MgZmlyc3Qg ZGlyZWN0IGVsZWN0cm9uaWMgZGVtb2NyYWN5IHVuZGVyDQpkZXZlbG9wbWVu dCBodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm9uZWxpc3QuY29tL3N1YnNjcmliZS5jZ2kvQkNQb2xp dGljczsNCmh0dHA6Ly91c2Vycy51bmlzZXJ2ZS5jb20vfmN1bHR1cmV4ICoq Kg0KDQoNCg0KLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0t LS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tLS0tDQpUbyB1bnN1 YnNjcmliZSBmcm9tIHRoaXMgbWFpbGluZyBsaXN0LCBvciB0byBjaGFuZ2Ug eW91ciBzdWJzY3JpcHRpb24NCnRvIGRpZ2VzdCwgZ28gdG8gdGhlIE9ORWxp c3Qgd2ViIHNpdGUsIGF0IGh0dHA6Ly93d3cub25lbGlzdC5jb20gYW5kDQpz ZWxlY3QgdGhlIFVzZXIgQ2VudGVyIGxpbmsgZnJvbSB0aGUgbWVudSBiYXIg b24gdGhlIGxlZnQuDQo= --1920443027-532309994-908660513:#8539-- From xcruz@webtv.net Mon Oct 19 17:54:06 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAsAhQ6W9rt4gsgHCXwJ5FsVr5j2n+hrQIUVTJioIiaVhJXRMOEIwCEnKA0SC4= From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 17:53:54 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Loggers Protest at US-Canada Border (fwd) OCTOBER 19, 1998 Loggers Protest at US-Canada Border FORT KENT, Maine (AP) — Maine loggers upset with Canadians being hired for state jobs protested Monday by blocking a border checkpoint with pickup trucks. No violence or arrests were reported. Protesters parked 15 pickups in the narrow road before dawn near the U.S. Customs gate across from St. Pamphile, Quebec. About 30 Canadian woodsmen who tried to enter the country had to turn back and use another border checkpoint about an hour away, said Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland. Authorities were not attempting to clear the way because it is a private road, McCausland said. ``Americans are leaving the state to work and there are Canadians working all around us,´´ said Bonita Hafford, wife of Hilton Hafford, an Allagash logger who organized the protest. The state labor department dispatched investigators to meet with protesters, said Alan Hinsey, director of the state's Bureau of Labor Standards. Federal and state labor officials said Canadians have been given permission to work in Maine because not enough Americans are applying for the logging jobs. Over the past year, only 17 U.S. workers applied for 670 logging jobs in Maine, said John Chavez, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor in Boston. Fourteen were hired. From xcruz@webtv.net Tue Oct 20 15:03:12 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAsAhQG2nRzcT+r0HOj3EzUJ89q+gh27QIUQXoboE9gPS4unlXSGXQj8TMjp1s= From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 15:02:59 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fwd: SIERRA BLANCA [borderlines UPDATER] --WebTV-Mail-216143531-2503 --WebTV-Mail-216143531-2503 [207.79.35.91]) by postoffice-121.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/po.gso.24Feb98) mailsorter-101.iap.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.graham.14Aug97) with Tue, 20 Oct 1998 14:07:57 -0600 (MDT) Tue, 20 Oct 1998 14:06:17 -0600 (MDT) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 14:08:53 -0600 Sender: owner-frontera-l@nmsu.edu From: borderlines To: frontera-l@nmsu.edu Subject: SIERRA BLANCA [borderlines UPDATER] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ borderlines UPDATER October 20, 1998 Sierra Blanca Protests Sweep Both Sides of the Border: TNRCC Decision Set for October 22 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Editor: George Kourous Reporter: Kent Paterson An occasional electronic service of the Interhemispheric Resource Center's (IRC) U.S.-Mexico Borderlands Project. For more information read the footer of this message or visit our website at http://www.zianet.com/irc1/ Our apologies for any duplicate postings. CONTENTS: 1. Sierra Blanca Protests Sweep Both Sides of the Border: Final TNRCC Decision Set for October 22 2. A Movement Blossoms: Cross-border Activism Picks up Speed: CEC Submission Possible if License Granted 3. Sierra Blanca Rises to Top of Mexican Political Debate, But Official Condemnation Not Likely 4. Resources and Contacts for Further Action ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SIERRA BLANCA PROTESTS SWEEP BOTH SIDES OF THE BORDER Activists and Residents Fear Safety Concerns Go Unaddressed by Kent Paterson* With just days remaining before an expected Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) decision to license the proposed Sierra Blanca low-level radioactive waste disposal site in west Texas, cross-border opposition to the dump is picking up steam. On October 11 and October 12, for example, citizens in both Mexico and the United States staged rallies to demand that Texas state authorities reject the facility, planned for a location roughly 80 miles southeast of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and only about 15 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Opponents charge the dump site is located on earthquake-prone ground and could eventually leak radioactive elements into underground aquifers and the nearby Rio Grande river. Over the last 70 years, some 64 quakes of 3.0 or greater on the Richter scale have occurred within 200 miles of Sierra Blanca. According to the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the West Texas Geological Society, one regional fault runs directly under the proposed site: In 1931 the small town of Sierra Blanca experienced a quake that measured 6.1 on the Richter scale. All six existing low-level radioactive waste burial sites in the United States have registered leaks. Supporters counter that earthen covers and other measures will prevent any leaks or spills from occurring. Although Texas Gov. George Bush Jr. has stated that the project won't be approved if new information indicates any danger, all the legal steps to make the dump a reality have been, for all practical purposes, set in place. According to Bush, "the evaluation of the safety of the project [should be] based upon sound science, not hysteria." Bush's aggressive lobbying on behalf of the dump has convinced many that the governor's concern with safety only runs skin deep. After years of debate, the fate of Sierra Blanca now rests with the TNRCC, having recently cleared a number of hurdles at the federal level. In late July, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Radioactive Waste Compact permitting the exportation of radioactive waste to Texas from the States of Vermont and Maine, stripping the bill in the process of amendments designed to limit waste received by Texas to just those two New England States. The axed amendment would also have provided a means for residents of Sierra Blanca to register official opposition to the dump on grounds of environmental justice. Saddled with a high poverty rate, the largely Latino town of Sierra Blanca already receives 250 tons of New York City sludge each week at a disposal facility constructed there in 1992. In 1994, President Bill Clinton issue an Executive Order on Environmental Justice that was supposed to, argue activists, protect less politically powerful communities of color like Sierra Blanc! ! ! ! a from being sited with dumps unwanted elsewhere. The Senate followed up with a vote in favor the compact on September 2nd, and sent the bill to President Clinton. Clinton signed the bill into law soon after. A MOVEMENT BLOSSOMS Sierra Blanca Encourages a New Activism On Sunday, October 11, about 150 people from Mexico and the United States joined hands on the Bridge of the Americas between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez to symbolize the international alliance against the waste dump. Before they were chased off by U.S. bridge security personnel, who also warned photographers not to take officers' pictures, the demonstrators chanted slogans at passing motorists and vowed to oppose any radioactive dumping in the Chihuahua Desert. The same day, Greenpeace-Mexico and other organizations rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. According to the Mexican daily La Jornada, actress Ana Colchero and members of the popular rock group Cafe Tacuba were among those in attendance. On October 12, Dia de La Raza, hundreds of Juárez schoolchildren briefly blocked three international bridges on the Mexican side of the border. Earlier, Felix Perez, Juárez spokesman for the International Ecologist Alliance of the Rio Bravo, accused the backers of the Sierra Blanca project of pursuing an environmentally racist policy. Besides siting a dump close to the Mexican border, the facility is in a majority Hispanic, low-income community on the U.S. side. "The demonstration against the dump has been a reaction to the racist attitude that's been manifested in different actions. One of the them is the establishment of this nuclear cemetery," charged Perez. On the U.S. side, activists also kept busy. Members of the Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund recently marched for three days in the August heat from El Paso's Lower Valley to Sierra Blanca. In September, they also delivered petitions with nearly 30,000 signatures to Gov. Bush and the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission. SBLDF organizer Ed Patrykus, the owner of a small lot in Sierra Blanca, said he enrolled in the movement "to protect that beautiful stretch of scenery and the wildlife and the Rio Grande." On the political front, Sierra Blanca became an issue in this year's Texas state gubernatorial race. The latest protests cap a year of intensive organizing against the dump. In March, the Border Environmentalist Coalition emerged at a Juárez conference and united anti-Sierra Blanca dump activists with Native American opponents of the Ward Valley project in California and Mexican residents of Hermosillo, Sonora, who've been battling toxic lead waste disposal in their own community. The spring also witnessed a hunger strike by Juárez City Councilman Jose Luis Rodriguez and the first protest by the city's public school students. In many ways, the Sierra Blanca movement represents the kind of cross-border linkages activists have envisioned ever since the NAFTA debate raised awareness regarding the deteriorating border environment. Thousands of citizens from both sides of the frontier have taken a stand on preserving their shared ecology while remaining divided by a politically imposed border. Veteran El Paso community activist and SBLDF activist Andy Mares identified Sierra Blanca as the catalyst for future efforts to protect the vast Chihuahua Desert bioregion from further environmental degradation. Felix Perez considered the current groundswell of anti-nuclear sentiment to be the fruit of six years of hard work by NGOs and environmental groups. Today political parties, churches, public and university students, educators, and civic organizations have all enlisted to the cause. "Teachers are participating and talking to their students and parents," commented Perez. "They're educating themselves on this subject in order to have sustainable development in the future. This obviously doesn't stop here. This is a permanent struggle." The Juárez organizer added that vigils are planned in different Mexican cities for October 21, the day prior to the expected Sierra Blanca license decision. Turning to international tribunals, one group of Mexican legislators joined with Greenpeace and other environmental organizations last month in filing a notice with the Canada-based Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC)-- the body charged under the NAFTA side agreement with considering environmental disputes between the trade partners-- advising that if Sierra Blanca is licensed they will formally complain to the CEC. In addition to charging the U.S. with failing to honor the 1983 La Paz accords between Mexico and the United States, intended to protect the border environment, activists working on the planned CEC submission will also try to focus the institution's attention on Texas' compliance with the federal Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act and what they assess as a recurring failure by the U.S. federal government to enforce radiation regulations in the state. The siting seems to clearly violate the terms of La Paz, which prohibits the construction of such dumps in a specified area on both sides of the border. Alberto Szekely, one of the 1983 agreement's principal authors, told the Mexico City News in a recent interview that the U.S. is obligated under the agreements to re-site the dump. "As chief negotiator for the peace accord," said Szekely, "I am worried about the attempts to deny that this document [the La Paz agreements] is a genuine legal obstacle to the construction and operation of the radioactive dump site. The peace accord was signed precisely to prevent a project of this nature to be placed within the border area that both parties agreed to respect." If the Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission gives a green light to Sierra Blanca on October 22, activists are prepared to explore various strategies to keep the dump from opening. They include pursuing the NAFTA complaint with the CEC, going to the United Nations and World Court, and lobbying Texas state legislators to deny funding for the waste dump. SIERRA BLANCA RISES TO THE TOP OF MEXICAN POLITICAL DEBATES At the same time, the dump issue has risen to the forefront of Mexican political discourse. Sierra Blanca was transformed into an unusual unifier in a usually fractious political scene: All the country's five major political parties came out against the project. Mirroring the federal congress' anti-dump stance, the state congresses of Chihuahua and Coahuila passed resolutions against the dump, as did the city councils of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua and Ciudad Acuña. The common battle cry was the defense of Mexican sovereignty against what's widely viewed as a violation by Washington of La Paz. (Others in Mexico have pointed out that the siting also flies in the face of the UN's 1972 Conference on the Environment, which states that while countries can manage their toxic wastes according to their own laws as long as they shouldn't pollute or threaten to pollute the borders or territories of neighboring countries.) Nonetheless, the Sierra Blanca debate also generated contradictory signals from the Zedillo Administration. Statements by the heads of the federal environment and energy departments that Sierra Blanca appeared to be safe as planned appeared to be at odds with earlier protests by the Secretariat of Foreign Relations. Pressed by opposition party legislators, Foreign Secretary Rosario Green stated in September that resorting to international law would probably do little good since Washington doesn't genuinely respect the jurisdiction of the World Court. However, Green added to the confusion days later when she added that Mexico still retains the option of going to the international tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands. One possible explanation for the Zedillo Administration's hedging could rest with Mexico's own looming need to get rid of radioactive waste from the Laguna Verde nuclear plant and other facilities. Activists such as Felix Perez fear Chihuahua and other border areas are under consideration for such a facility. If erected, a site built within the restricted zone as defined by the La Paz Accord would certainly undercut any Mexican opposition to Sierra Blanca based on the binational agreement. * Kent Paterson is a freelance writer based in Albuquerque, NM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SOURCES OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund Website http://www.compassionate.org/sbldf/ "Nuclear Dump Near Border Passes First Step," borderlines, vol. 4., no. 4, April 1996. http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline/1996/bl23/bl23dmp.html Richard Boren, "Waste on the Way? West Texas Town Targeted for Nuclear Dump," borderlines, vol. 5, no. 7, July 1997. http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline/1997/bl37/bl37wast.html "Decision on Proposed Sierra Blanca Nuclear Waste Dump Pending," borderlines UPDATER, February 1, 1998. http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline/updater/feb10sierra.htm INCITRA Action Kit: Hazardous Waste (Directory of contacts and resources for border hazardous waste issues). http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline/1998/bl46/bl46inci.html KEY CONTACTS Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund, El Paso: Voice: (915) 369-2541 Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund, Austin Voice: (512) 447-8906 Binational Coalition Against Toxic and Nuclear Dumps: Voice: (915)-543-9378 International Ecologist Alliance of the Rio Bravo: Voice: 0-11-52-(16)-11-43-14 or (16) 17-26-55 El Paso Solar Energy Association: Voice: (915) 772-SOLR Texas Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority: Voice: (512) 451-5292 Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission: Voice: (512) 239-5500 Texas Governor George Bush: Toll Free: (800) 252-9600 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DISCLAIMER: This story is not a press release but an original article authored by the Interhemispheric Resource Center. Please feel free to repost or reprint it as long as proper credit is given the IRC/borderlines. Thank you. ABOUT US: The Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) is a non-profit policy research institute dedicated to providing information and progressive analysis to citizens, activists and policymakers regarding U.S. foreign policy, environmental and economic justice, and sustainable development. The IRC's U.S.-Mexico Border Project seeks to provide information and analysis regarding the way these issues play out in the U.S.- Mexico borderlands. borderlines and INCITRA (Information for Citizen Transboundary Action) are the two main components of the Border Project. borderlines is our primary publication, consisting of a monthly print edition focusing on one specific border topic, and occasional electronic updates. INCITRA is a binational project of the IRC and La Red Fronteriza de Salud y Ambiente (Hermosillo, Sonora). Its mission is to function as a clearinghouse of information and resources related to sustainable development issues in the U.S.-Mexico border region and to respond to the needs of border citizens with appropriate and useful information related to the struggle for environmental, social, and economic justice on the border. Funding for the IRC's Borderlands Project is provided by The Ford Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Kellogg Foundation. CONTACT INFORMATION: IRC Borderlands Project P.O. Box 2178 Silver City, NM 88062 Voice: (505) 388-0208 Fax: (505) 388-0619 Email: irc1@zianet.com borderlines on-line: http://www.zianet.com/irc1/bordline INCITRA on-line: http://www.zianet.com/irc1/incitra ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --WebTV-Mail-216143531-2503-- From johnston@mail.cruzio.com Wed Oct 21 08:41:40 1998 Wed, 21 Oct 1998 07:41:28 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: "Paul Johnston" From: "Paul Johnston" To: "English Plus" , "Labor Research and Action Project" , "publabor" Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Citizenship_Project/=A1VOTE!_website?= Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 07:44:27 -0700 boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0038_01BDFCC6.A17D27A0" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0038_01BDFCC6.A17D27A0 charset="iso-8859-1" Friends-- =20 The Central Coast Citizenship Project, where I work, has finally got a = website up, at www.newcitizen.org It's rapidly improving but we're not ashamed to let you see us in our = embryonic state. The Citizenship Project is a labor & immigrant = community-based organization dedicated to expanded citizenship, VERY = broadly defined. Also, reflecting our growth beyond the California = Central Coast region, we've just changed our name to =A1VOTE!. =A1VOTE! = has always been the name we've been known by in the community because = it's on our T-shirts.=20 =20 for citizenship-- Paul Johnston ------=_NextPart_000_0038_01BDFCC6.A17D27A0 charset="iso-8859-1"
Friends--
 
The Central Coast Citizenship Project, where I work, = has=20 finally got a website up, at www.newcitizen.org
  It's rapidly improving but we're not ashamed = to let you=20 see us in our embryonic state.  The Citizenship Project is a labor = &=20 immigrant community-based organization dedicated to expanded = citizenship, VERY=20 broadly defined.  Also, reflecting our growth beyond the California = Central=20 Coast region, we've just changed our name to ¡VOTE!.  = ¡VOTE!=20 has always been the name we've been known by in the community because = it's on=20 our T-shirts. 
 
for citizenship--
Paul Johnston
------=_NextPart_000_0038_01BDFCC6.A17D27A0-- From xcruz@webtv.net Wed Oct 21 20:56:53 1998 X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhQWHZyR4Y6IqgcCxP1FMgfddVr93gIVAKCJxU8IlbM/K8e/F3C+6bLJAtVY From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 20:56:39 -0600 (MDT) To: Labor-Rap@csf.colorado.edu Subject: Fwd: Hunger in Russia's Heartland (fwd) --WebTV-Mail-234809205-475 --WebTV-Mail-234809205-475 [207.79.35.93]) by postoffice-121.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/po.gso.24Feb98) [207.79.35.89]) by mailsorter-103.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.gso.01Apr98) X-WebTV-Signature: 1 ETAtAhQg0q20OGrJk0YX/WpwAgx76g0QQgIVAIY9Pwass20ZdvxqRxQ+X/6ZwfzE From: xcruz@webtv.net (Robert Chavez) Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 19:34:55 -0600 (MDT) To: xcruz@webtv.net Subject: Hunger in Russia's Heartland (fwd) Hunger in Russia's Heartland LA Times 10/20/98 Devastating summer drought caused worst grain harvest since 1953. Despite official reassurances, many in impoverished regions fear winter will bring starvation. By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG PALLASOVKA, Russia--In July the wheat crop failed, roasted alive in the dust as the sun baked the hard earth of Russia's southern steppe to 160 degrees. Soviet-era collective farms around here lie in ruins, the livestock killed and butchered, barns and dwellings pillaged by scavengers. The local administration of this isolated, semidesert area has run out of cash, and in the largest town, half of the adult population is jobless. On the threshold of winter, when temperatures on the wind-scoured plains near the Kazakhstan frontier can drop to nearly 40 below, many families have no money and virtually nothing to eat. Some have resorted to making gruel from cattle fodder, or expect to perish from hunger or lack of fuel. In a macabre coincidence, the movie theater in Pallasovka is featuring a Stephen King horror film, "Thinner." "Maybe we'll all die in the winter," said Svetlana Karakusheva, a 44-year-old mother raising five children in a rural settlement. Her kitchen garden has become an infertile dust bowl. Hunger and cold, ancient Russian fears that were supposed to be banished by capitalist abundance, are back to haunt many. This year's harvest of wheat, rye, barley and other grains, withered by prolonged and fierce drought, was 49.7 million tons, the State Statistics Committee reported Monday. That was the smallest harvest nationwide since 1953, the last year of dictator Josef Stalin's reign. The committee also reported that more than 44 million Russians--30% of the population--last month were living below the poverty line of a meager $37 a month in income. Government officials have been reassuring a population already jittery because of economic turmoil that the situation is under control and that there is plenty of wheat and other food in storage to feed the nation. That may well be the macro picture. But the harsh facts of life in the Pallasovka region, 600 miles southeast of Moscow, show that the stomachs of some Russians are far from full and that many fear they will have little or nothing with which to nourish themselves and their families in the months to come. "If you have money, you won't starve; if you don't, you will have problems, even in Moscow," predicted Andrei Y. Sizov, who runs a think tank in the capital that tracks the country's agricultural output. "To escape social shocks--hunger marches, hunger riots--we've got to take care of matters now." Late last month, the Russian Red Cross and its international affiliate launched an appeal for $15 million in emergency aid. Millions across Russia--especially the elderly, the disabled, single-parent families, families with many children and rural dwellers--face the most trying winter in a generation, the Red Cross said. To avert "human catastrophe," the Red Cross targeted 1.4 million people in a dozen regions, from the republic of Buryatia in central Siberia to Kaliningrad on the Baltic coast, as urgent recipients of food parcels, soup kitchen meals, warm clothes and shoes. 'You Can't Exclude Mass Starvation' "With the indicators we have seen now, the crop failure and the financial crisis, you can't exclude mass starvation," said Borje Sjokvist, head of the Moscow delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Those predictions are much more dire than most, and forecasts of cataclysm in Russia have been made before without coming true. But few doubt that nearly seven years after the world's largest country abandoned communism for what was supposed to be the general prosperity of the free market, many people will have to suffer grimly through winter--an ordeal that may well further sap support for post-Soviet changes. Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov said Wednesday that the government had allocated the sum of $600 million for the purchase of emergency food supplies--enough to feed a third of the population. Earlier this month, he had said he was counting on the private vegetable plots doled out to workers in Soviet times to help feed the populace through the long winter. The Defense Ministry has suggested that military units forage for berries and mushrooms, so soldiers who have not been paid for months don't go hungry. How miserable life is for some is instantly visible here on the now-defunct Khutor Yesino farm, where 10,000 sheep once grazed. "There is no coal, no firewood, no work, no money," said Aiman Zukieva, a 41-year-old shepherd's widow frantically trying to raise her two children and a nephew. The petite Chechen-born woman heats her small brick house by burning sheep dung, and a sympathetic neighbor regularly donates a pail of watery whey--sour milk strained through a sieve--to nourish the youngsters. But it is not enough. Zukieva keeps 15 chickens and trades eggs for other food. However, she has no feed to tide her fowl through the winter. Her children receive a single slice of bread each for breakfast, and one other scant meal a day. They suffer spells of dizziness. "I don't like this life," said spindly Rakhmat, Zukieva's 10-year-old daughter, who nonetheless can manage a dazzling smile. "Mother says all the time we'll die in the winter. I don't want to die." Anatoly I. Galichkin, head of government administration in Pallasovka, a rude border town whose 20,000 inhabitants have to fetch drinking water in buckets from tanker trucks, said he would not be surprised if mobs from the countryside arrive to loot shops and drag him from his office. "Crowds of 200, 250 people come to me, and I try to feed all of them with a single loaf of bread, like Jesus Christ," he said gloomily. More than a month ago, Galichkin and his counterparts in five other regions east of the Volga River, where drought singed an area the size of Belgium, sent an open appeal to President Boris N. Yeltsin, warning that the situation was now "a state of emergency." To date, officials here say, they have received no reply from Moscow. Authorities in Volgograd, about 120 miles to the southwest, have sent 200 tons of flour--a sixth of what Galichkin said he needs for the winter. Meanwhile, the government official said, people are dying because they are not eating enough and cannot buy medicines. "If there is absolutely no help from the government, then there is really just one option left for us--most people will simply starve," Galichkin said. The food situation in Russia is a complicated good-news, bad-news story. According to Sizov and his SovEkon think tank, crop losses reached 68% in the important wheat-growing Orenburg region south of the Urals in what has been described as the worst drought in half a century. Outside Pallasovka, one kolkhoz, or collective farm, sowed 1,400 tons of seed and reaped a wheat crop of only 400 tons. But this tableau is not as bleak as it appears, because roughly half of Russia's cattle, sheep, goats and chickens have been killed over the last five years. They were butchered for meat because increases in the prices of fuel and fodder, and the end of government subsidies for animal husbandry, have significantly raised the cost of meat and dairy farming. So with fewer livestock, Russia now needs less grain. The country, which enjoyed an 88.5-million-ton harvest in 1997, also claims reserves of 20 million tons. The official in charge of coping with disasters, natural and human-made, has given his assurance that Russians will have plenty to eat for the winter. "I am totally sure that there will be no sort of famine at all, since there are sufficient reserves in the country," Maj. Gen. Sergei K. Shoigu, minister of emergency situations, said this month. That may be true, one Western agriculture attache in Moscow said. On the other hand, "no one has seen these grain stocks they talk about," said the attache, who estimated that the reserves total no more than 10 million tons. Already strapped for hard cash, Russia will be forced to buy millions of tons of wheat abroad, the Western diplomat said. Unpaid Salaries Worsen the Suffering Whatever the reserves, Tamara Redin, 38, knows her five children are hungry and too thin. Her 36-year-old husband, a diesel locomotive engineer's assistant in Pallasovka, has not been paid for four months. For want of anything else, Redin has had to give her children, ages 7 to 16, a porridge made from low-quality grain intended for use as animal fodder. They each get half an egg a day, along with a glass of milk mixed with water. Day after day, the family, which lives along a dirt road near the town's grain elevator, has eaten an unsavory soup made from unripe tomatoes and boiled potatoes. It's been a month and a half since they've had meat. Redin digs her hand into a half-empty sack to show what's left in her larder--potatoes the size of big marbles. The Redins are hardly an exception. Galina M. Milyokhina, head of family services for Pallasovka district, estimates that 70% of families in town are in similar straits. Local officials say a good share of the suffering could be alleviated if payment resumes of salaries, retirement pensions and child support, frozen for months because the Russian government has been unable to collect taxes. Although this is one of Prime Minister Primakov's avowed priorities, people in Pallasovka have seen few results. The top local government official has not been paid since April. Some specialists contend that the new Russian government also has been recklessly slow to purchase the grain needed to feed armed forces members,Interior Ministry troops, prison inmates and patients in state hospitals. "The state needs to buy 4 million tons. It's only bought 1.3 million so far," Sizov of the think tank said. "Patients in hospitals can't feed themselves." When the Russian market was opened to consumer goods from outside, imported food products--from French yogurt to Danish salami--flooded in. Annual sales reached an estimated $11 billion. For most Russians, frozen U.S.-produced chicken legs became the cheapest meat. Foreign suppliers were meeting 70% of the meat and dairy needs of the 10 million inhabitants of the Moscow region. Now, deliveries of U.S. chicken, which had been running at a yearly clip of $800 million, have ground to a virtual halt. Along with other imports, they stopped in mid-August after Russia effectively defaulted on treasury bills,and the banks used for most commercial transactions shut their doors. A simultaneous tumble in the value of the ruble means that, even if imports resume, U.S. chicken legs will be twice as expensive for anyone paying in Russian currency. "We can do without animal products, but we can't do without bread," Dmitri F. Vermel, a senior member of the All-Russian Research Institute of Rural Economy in Moscow, said bravely. "We are not Americans, who cannot survive if they don't get their 300 grams [about 10 1/2 ounces] of meat a day." To ensure basic sustenance for their people, at least 28 of Russia's 89 regions and republics have slapped embargoes on the shipment of grain and other foodstuffs. In the Volgograd region, which encompasses Pallasovka, officials have effectively banned outside sales of sunflower oil, wheat and 12 other commodities grown by their farmers. In other parts of Russia, that could make it even harder this winter for people shopping for food. And, with the drop in availability of other foodstuffs, bread should be in even greater demand. "The grain harvest should be enough to meet food demands," Sizov summed up. "It's another matter how we distribute it. Winter will be difficult for Russia--very difficult." Meanwhile, people already suffering from privations are struggling to get by, sometimes in circumstances that have more in common with Third World countries than the superpower that Russia once was. Once-Thriving Farm Now a Shambles Twenty miles outside Pallasovka, 38 extended families, totaling 200 people, are hunkering down amid the shambles of what was once a farm that had 500 cows. When state financial support for raising livestock stopped, the animals of Khutor Novy were slaughtered or stolen. Farm managers, residents and vandals ransacked the place for anything they could use or resell. As a cold wind blew from the east, Safkulu Guseinov, 61, wheeled a rickety wheelbarrow containing pumpkins, red beets and carrots down a road to his house. The small load, the grizzled man said, was all he was able to harvest from his drought-stricken garden. Winter is shaping up as a time of hunger for the Khutor Novy man and the 10 members of his household. "They all come to me and say, 'Give me bread,' or 'Give me milk,' but how can I?" Guseinov asked. "I have no money." During the drought, a woman from a nearby village hanged herself and her 3-year-old daughter with clothesline after being jilted by her husband and then by a live-in lover. "I can't live like this anymore," Olga Korobova, 22, said in a suicide note written with a mascara pencil. "I've got no way out." State prosecutor Yuri A. Vlasov said that the single mother's troubles were personal but that the backdrop to her act of despair was depressingly common: no food, no income, no job, suspension of benefits for her daughter,Nina, because no government funds were arriving from Moscow. "I'm frankly amazed that people are putting up with all of this," the prosecutor said. "We should have had an uprising a long time ago." Emergency Appeal These are the regions and republics in Russia for which the Russian Red Cross and its international affiliate have requested $15 million in emergency aid to help them get through winter. 1. Kaliningrad 2. Murmansk 3. Ivanovo 4. Kostroma 5. Perm 6. Bashkir Republic 7. Orenburg 8. Chelyabinsk 9. Kemerovo 10. Khakassia Republic 11. Irkutsk 12. Buryatia Republic. --WebTV-Mail-234809205-475--