USX goes global By Arthur Perlo After two decades of "relentless contraction," the nation's largest steel producer, USX, has increased its production capacity by one-third, according to the Nov. 30 New York Times. You would think this would be welcome news. After all, since 1970, steel production in the U.S. is down about 20 percent, employment is down by 80 percent and union jobs have dropped even more. But any celebrating is confined to the executive offices. The new steelmaking facility is not in Pittsburgh, Birmingham or Youngstown. It is located in Kosice, Slovakia, in the heart of Eastern Europe. The VSZ plant was built in the 1960s by the socialist government of Czechoslovakia. Although socialist technology was widely disparaged in the U.S., VSZ is equipped with similar technology to the U.S. Steel plants in Pittsburgh. Throughout the 1980s, i.e., until the collapse of socialism, the government-owned VSZ continued to invest heavily in the plant, keeping it up-to-date. After socialism was overthrown in Czechoslovakia and Slovakia broke away, VSZ was privatized. The new management looted the firm, draining VSZ's assets and leaving it deep in debt. This, according to the Times, is typical of industry in Czechoslovakia and other formerly socialist countries. Thus, USX was able to buy the plant at a bargain rate. The price tag was $485 million, but only $60 million was paid in cash * the rest is in bonds, which will probably be repaid out of VSZ profits. The Slovak steel mill has 17,000 workers * almost as many as the 20,000 USX steel workers in this country. Each U.S. worker produces 2.3 times as much steel as a Slovak worker. But Slovak steelworkers are paid $2 an hour, so the labor cost for a ton of steel in Slovakia is one-seventh the U.S. cost. Initially, production at VSZ will be targeted at providing steel to other multinationals (GE, GM, Whirlpool, BMW) who are also locating in former socialist countries to take advantage of low wages, pro-business policies and bargain prices for plant and equipment. VSZ will mainly compete with other European producers. But that won't stop USX from trying to use its new acquisition as a club against the wages and benefits of workers in the United States. Capitalism in the former Czechoslovakia has brought a new source of insecurity to workers in the United States, but it hasn't been a bed of roses for Slovak workers, either. According to the Times, "For Slovaks, the last few years have been grueling. Unemployment averages about 20 percent ... Real wages have declined more than 8 percent this year." USX may have saved the plant from bankruptcy for now and they have pledged not to reduce the work force, except through attrition, for the next several years. But union workers in this country know, better perhaps than the Slovaks, what those corporate promises mean. I will bet that before the decade is over, the VSZ plant will be producing more steel, with far fewer workers and with relentless attacks against work and safety standards. When Czechoslovakia was socialist, most of its production went to meet its own needs for infrastructure and consumer goods, and the needs of its socialist trading partners. Now, the VSZ plant is being integrated into the global economy of multinational capitalism. The production from Slovakia's modern steel plant will be largely for export to Western European or the United States. The work force will continue to shrink, adding to crisis-level unemployment. Those who keep their jobs will face ongoing speedup and benefit cuts. U.S. foreign policy, in Eastern Europe and throughout the world, has promoted transformations like that in Czechoslovakia. This has provided windfall profits to USX and its corporate brethren, but has hurt workers around the world and in the United States. USX will do whatever it can to play steelworkers from different countries against each other. For workers from the United States, Slovakia, Brazil, Russia, China, or Germany, the only defense is international union solidarity and cooperation. _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
