Vol. 80/No. 15 April 18, 2016
Rail worker, others donate bosses’ bribes to build SWP
The Socialist Workers Party Capital Fund received a $3,500 check from Jim Altenberg, a railroad conductor and member of the United Transportation Union in Oakland, California. Amtrak makes an annual payment to conductors hired before 2000 in exchange for eliminating the second assistant conductor on long haul passenger trains. “Two now do the work of three, and we all pay in injuries, speedup and increasingly dangerous conditions on the trains,” Altenberg wrote.
The bedrock of the SWP Capital Fund, which helps finance the party’s long-term work, is contributions like this of “blood money” — the various “bonuses” that employers use to try to bribe workers to accept worsening conditions.
Twenty-eight Walmart workers recently contributed profit-sharing bonuses totaling $4,876.95. “This is the blood money my employer hopes will keep us quiet. They will learn the hard way,” wrote one worker from Philadelphia.
Rick Young from Chicago sent a check for $2,000 from a United Airlines profit bonus, part of the company’s “campaign to convince workers of the need for speedup and cost-cutting at the expense of safe working conditions and jobs,” he said.
To contribute, contact a party branch near you, listed on page 8.
— ARLENE RUBINSTEIN