The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 72/No. 47      December 1, 2008

 
25, 50 and 75 years ago
 
December 2, 1983
Since the smashing of PATCO, the air traffic controllers’ union, by the federal government in 1981, there has been an obvious, indeed urgent, need for solidarity with workers whose unions are under attack by the corporate owners and their government.

The strike forced by Greyhound Corp. on its 12,700 workers who belong to the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is a well-prepared and deadly union-busting assault on yet another major union in the transportation industry. Under the guise of federal “deregulation,” transportation workers have been forced to make huge concessions in wages and working conditions to increase their employers’ profits.

Clearly, Greyhound chairman John Teets underestimated their determination to fight for their dignity.  
 
December 1, 1958
The personal tragedies that follow the economic swings of capitalism are many.

But when union men and women, in the absence of a militant union leadership, begin to fight each other for jobs, the tragedy is compounded. This is happening in one of the most powerful unions in the country, the United Steel Workers of America.

Demanding that older workers retire, members of Local 1187 carried signs that read, “We got you your pensions—why don’t you retire?”

There is an answer to unemployment. The demand for a shorter work week with no reduction in pay could spread work among all the men who need and want jobs. If the union officials do not organize for such a struggle, the union movement will not survive.  
 
November 25, 1933
New YorkThe Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union is laying the necessary machinery to cope with any emergency that the Hotel Men’s Association and the Restaurant Men’s Association are trying to force through the NRA [National Recovery Administration], which only plays a scabbing role against the food workers.

On November 16, the local compliance board of the NRA ruled that the waiters’ wages must be abolished and the gratuities of the public should be considered a sufficient amount of money to cover the $15 weekly minimum for waiters.

Our Union protested vigorously against this infamous ruling and succeeded in forcing the local NRA to rescind their former decision.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home