>Finally, the workers' movement in this country can only
>make progress by stressing international solidarity with
>workers abroad. Playing the bosses' game by fighting other
>workers over jobs is a dead end.
>
>The AFL-CIO leadership should back off this anti-China
>campaign and stick to what it says it wants to do and what
>it's supposed to do--organize the unorganized and fight for
>labor rights. And it has plenty to do. In fact, if any
>government should be highlighted for expulsion from the
>World Trade Organization on the grounds of denying the
>rights of labor, it's Washington.
>
>U.S. ANTI-LABOR RECORD
>
>The grounds are contained in a report by the International
>Confederation of Free Trade Unions, of which the AFL-CIO is
>the U.S. affiliate, on "Internationally Recognized Core
>Labor Standards in the United States." This was a report
>for the WTO General Council Review of Trade Policies of the
>United States, submitted in Geneva on July 12 and 14, 1999.
>
>According to this report, "The U.S. has not ratified
>either of the International Labor Organization's two core
>conventions on trade union rights." The ILO is the United
>Nations' agency on labor protections. "The right to
>organize and right to strike are not adequately protected
>in U.S. labor legislation. The law is unable to protect
>workers when the employer is determined to destroy or
>prevent union representation.
>
>"The U.S. has not ratified either of the ILO's two core
>conventions on discrimination," the report continues, and
>"the U.S. has not ratified the ILO's core convention on
>child labor. A major area of abuse is the agricultural
>sector, particularly concerning the children of migrant
>workers. .
>
>"There are grounds for concern about commercial production
>by prisoners in the U.S. and about practices amounting to
>forced labor by exploited migrant workers (mainly women) in
>U.S. dependent territories."
>
>The report states that "27,000 of the 1.2 million federal
>and state prisoners in the U.S. are engaged in work for
>pay, receiving between $0.23 and $1.15 a day. The prisoners
>work in several sectors including internationally traded
>products such as computer circuit board assembly, clothing,
>automotive parts, food, telemarketing and telephone
>reservations systems for hotels and airlines (including
>Trans World Airlines, which makes extensive use of prison
>labor) and data entry.
>
>"There is evidence that at least three states are
>exporting prison-made goods, partly in order to evade laws
>restricting trade in prison-made goods between U.S. states.
>Prisoners who refuse such work lose their chance for early
>release, are deprived of privileges or sent to higher-
>security institutions and may be locked in their cells 23
>hours a day."
>
>And what of so-called prison slave labor and child labor
>in China? According to the U.S. State Department 1997
>Country Report on Economic and Trade Policy submitted to
>the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the House
>Committee on Foreign Affairs in January 1998, Section 9,
>entitled Workers' Rights, China has "reform through labor
>facilities which contain inmates sentenced through judicial
>procedure" and also "a network of `reeducation through
>labor' camps.
>
>"Chinese justice officials have stated that in reeducation
>through labor facilities there is a much heavier emphasis
>on education than on labor. Most reports conclude that work
>conditions in the penal system's light-manufacturing
>facilities are similar to those in ordinary factories."
>
>As for child labor, the ICFTU report to the WTO stated
>that 290,000 children in the U.S. are known to be employed-
>-in factories, mines and particularly agricultural work.
>Analysts say this number is probably underestimated because
>of the difficulty of monitoring migrant labor.
>
>China, on the other hand, according to the U.S. State
>Department, "forbids the employment of workers under the
>age of 16 and specifies administrative review, fines and
>revocation of business licenses of those businesses that
>hire minors." While there is a problem with child labor in
>poorer, isolated rural areas, "China's urban child labor
>problem is relatively minor. No specific Chinese industry
>is identifiable as a significant violator of child labor
>regulations."
>
>Then there is the right to organize a trade union in
>China. According to a report by a delegation of the
>International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel,
>Restaurant, Tobacco and Allied Workers Union dated Nov. 24,
>1998, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions had "total
>membership of 103 million workers in 16 industrial unions."
>
>CHINESE WORKERS MORE UNIONIZED THAN U.S.
>
>With 103 million workers in unions, the proportion of the
>working class in China that is organized far exceeds the 13
>percent in the U.S. In fact, the report to the WTO
>reviewing U.S. trade policies points out that the right to
>organize in the U.S. is far below the acceptable standards
>of the ILO. In addition, 7 million of the 14 million state
>and local government workers in the U.S. do not even have
>the right to collective bargaining, let alone the right to
>strike.
>
>No one says there are not major problems for workers in
>China. All partisans of the Chinese Revolution are deeply
>worried about the opening up of China to U.S. banks,
>insurance companies and telecommunications monopolies.
>These concessions to U.S. monopolies, coming on top of the
>already growing unemployment and dislocation caused by the
>market economy, are bound to give a great stimulus to
>growing capitalist elements within China and erode the
>morale of the workers.
>
>But whatever the problems, for workers in the U.S. to
>target the Chinese government is not going to help workers
>in either country.
>
>WHY WAGES ARE LOW IN CHINA
>
>The workers here must understand the question of low wages
>in China. There are two basic causes. The first and
>overriding one is underdevelopment.
>
>China was ruthlessly colonized for 150 years. It was
>"opened up," divided into spheres of imperialist influence,
>and governed by a feudal landlord class propped up by
>imperialism. Under the old regime the workers and peasants
>had no rights--except to be hungry and exploited and die of
>famine and poverty. That changed when the Chinese Communist
>Party led the masses in a socialist revolution, finally
>liberating the country in 1949.
>
>That revolution inherited poverty and underdevelopment,
>which it is still struggling against. The only solution to
>that part of the problem is to build up the national
>economy, which requires unrestricted access to the world's
>technological resources through trade. This will help raise
>the standard of living of Chinese workers and peasants and
>increase commerce and jobs for the workers of the entire
>world, including in the U.S.
>
>While workers should support permanent normal trade
>relations with China, they should not go along with the
>Clinton-Gore administration's arm-twisting on behalf of the
>corporations when it comes to demanding concessions for
>China's entry into the WTO.
>
>The second part of the problem of low wages in China is
>the predatory, super-exploiting capitalist corporations in
>the special economic zones and joint ventures. These have
>negotiated their way into parts of China because the
>government feels it must have that production to meet the
>needs of its population and cannot supply it from the
>limited existing national resources.
>
>In either case, the Chinese government is not the cause of
>low wages in China. It is the history of colonialism on the
>one hand and the present-day capitalist concessions
>extracted by the multinationals on the other.
>
>The problem of low wages in the United States--the richest
>country in the world--is not underdevelopment, however. It
>is brutal exploitation.
>
>No matter how one looks at it, the problem is U.S.
>corporations--GM, Boeing, AT&T, Caterpillar, Microsoft,
>Goldman Sachs, Chase Manhattan, UPS and all the other rich
>exploiters of the world. These corporations restructured
>U.S. capitalism and drove down wages at home by destroying
>decent-paying jobs.
>
>They have been behind the anti-labor offensive in the
>United States, with all its union busting, scab herding,
>and anti-labor court injunctions. They are behind the
>defunding of education, housing and social services, the
>destruction of welfare, the building of prisons and the
>national epidemic of police brutality.
>
>The movement must keep its eyes fixed firmly on the
>target--the profit-hungry capitalist corporations. The
>enemy is at home.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 22:33:24 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] Will the Stock Market Crash?
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 13, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>EDITORIAL : WILL THE STOCK MARKET CRASH?
>
>The wild gyrations of the market the first week of April
>have again raised the question: Will there be a crash?
>
>This is the constant fear of the bankers, financiers and
>corporate bosses, especially with the stock market so
>clearly inflated by a speculative bubble.
>
>The working class also fears a market crash. Job loss and
>unemployment are sure to follow. Pensions will be wiped
>out. Hard times follow any economic crash. No one wants
>another Great Depression like the 1930s.
>
>The economy and the market reflect the computer-driven
>technological revolution. It has been compared to the
>technological revolution brought about by railroads and
>cars. This earlier industrial advance led to the rise of
>corporate monopolies like U.S. Steel, Standard Oil and
>General Motors.
>
>The computer-driven technological revolution has its
>monopoly giants as well, such as Microsoft. Just as earlier
>trust busters--those who are anti-monopoly--were driven by
>capitalist rivalries and not by a desire to eliminate
>capitalist exploitation, today's trust busters who are
>going after Microsoft seem to be primarily driven by
>capitalist rivalries over control of access to the
>Internet. At least, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson's ruling
>against Microsoft on April 3 focused quite a bit on
>Microsoft's move to take control of the Internet browser
>market.
>
>The computer-driven technological revolution is changing
>the way goods and services are delivered--meaning it is all
>in the service-oriented industries. These industries
>support manufacturing and are essential to distribution.
>But they don't replace the manufacturing industries.
>
>While the technological revolution has made labor more
>productive and thereby jacked up profits, it has not
>replaced the economic hard facts of capitalism. The rate of
>profit will certainly decline as the economic efficiencies
>of using computerization and the Internet for business-to-
>business transactions and distribution of goods become
>generalized.
>
>Capitalism's cyclical crises are not eliminated by new
>technology. In fact, it may be that the new efficiencies
>will mean that an economic downturn, a full-blown recession
>or depression, could happen more quickly and suddenly.
>Layoffs could come faster as over-supply is more quickly
>evident.
>
>The service-oriented industry--and the Internet is a
>service industry--is not immune to the laws of capitalist
>crisis.
>
>The recent wave of mergers, acquisitions and buyouts is
>the biggest ever to take place in this country. In almost
>every case, the new corporate entities have not only led to
>layoffs and plant closings but also brought about cutbacks
>in professional and managerial staffs.
>
>The income gap between the rich and the working class has
>never been wider. Never before have so many professionals
>or managers been thrown into the lower ranks of the working
>class. New high-tech jobs are among the lowest-paid in the
>country, with many receiving barely minimum wage--and the
>promise of stock options in the future. And the poorest,
>most oppressed sectors of the population--particularly the
>nationally oppressed peoples--have been largely untouched
>by the economic boom.
>
>The wild swings of the stock market reflect the fact that
>the laws of capitalism have not disappeared with the
>technological revolution. Not until capitalism is replaced
>with socialism can the crises and cyclical ups-and-downs
>that lead to economic hard times be eliminated.
>
>The capitalist ruling class has historically served as the
>organizer of production. But the development of the
>productive forces, particularly as it has been enhanced by
>the computer-driven technological revolution, makes this
>class unnecessary to production. Centralized, collective,
>socialized production, which is what exists now, makes the
>ruling class wholly superfluous. The process of production
>is ready for working-class control.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 22:46:02 -0400
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>Subject: [WW] New Jersey Anti-IMF Rally
>Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Apr. 13, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>NEW JERSEY RALLY HITS IMF, WORLD BANK
>
>By Gery Armsby
>Florham Park, N.J.
>
>Some 250 protesters gathered around the Hamilton Park
>Conference Center in Florham Park, N.J., April 1 to denounce
>World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings held
>there. This was a closing rally of three days of actions
>planned by a New Jersey coalition as a precursor to the
>convergence scheduled in Washington April 9 through April 17
>to shut down the World Bank and the International Monetary
>Fund.
>
>On the morning of March 30, activists Lisa Kuhn, 19, and
>Judith Kapova of the Direct Action Network, posing as IMF
>delegates, fooled hundreds of cops and scaled the fire escape
>stairs of the conference center.
>
>When the two reached the roof, they unfurled a massive
>banner for all to see as delegates arrived for the plenary
>session of the conference. As the forty-foot banner slamming
>"Corporate Colonialism" was draped over the side of the
>conference center, local and federal law enforcement stood
>helplessly below. Both Kuhn and Kapova were later arrested.
>
>The agenda of the IMF/World Bank conference was to "examine
>managing financial and corporate distress in the new financial
>system" according to the World Bank's web site posting about
>the meetings.
>
>Speeches at the April 1 rally, held in a nearby parking lot,
>highlighted the human and environmental distress caused by
>policies of the IMF and World Bank and repeatedly called for a
>cancellation of the debts of poor countries. Speakers included
>labor unionists, HIV/AIDS activists, singers, poets, clergy
>and environmentalists.
>
>Lisa Kuhn, who returned to the Saturday demonstration after
>being released from police custody, told Workers World "It's
>really great. We're exposing the IMF and World Bank. They're
>just there to protect the ones who already control too much
>wealth and power."
>
>A group of youth demonstrators faced off with the cops
>near the close of the rally as they tried to surge past
>police lines toward the conference center. They drummed and
>whistled and cheered, chanting "More world--less bank!" and
>"Cancel the debt now!"
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
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