7/24/2019 SW 8 (November 1977)

1/9

1ta e ot tbe \n'teYna't\ona\ Soc\a\\s't

0Yga1\\'%.a't\on 2.5cmon'tb\ f

NOVEMBER

19n

NUMBERS

GET THE U S

\

ouToF

.

l i 1 ~

t

1

SOUTH

AFRICA

The truth about South Africa

has been

revealed

by

the South African prime minister

Vorster.

With

a

single decree

he

banned

two news-

papers and every black organization in the

country-from

the

Soweto

Students

Reprto-

sentative Committee right throughout to the

Christian Institute .

At the

same

time, it is now absolutely clear

that Steve Biko, the s tud ent leader who died in

prison w

as

murdered.

is autopsy showed

massive concussions on h

is

head.

For years we were told by

newspapers and

politicians in this country that given time,

South Africa would g radually move towards

greater rights for the black population.

ESSEX STRIKER BEATEN

Next time, I'll

be

prepared

ELWOOD, IND-Georgia

Ellis , of UA

W

Local

11>63.

is

the elected spokesperson fOf

the strikers Bt

Essex

Wire

in

Elwood. Indiana .

She is

tireless

in her

efforts

to

get

the word of the strike

to

Essa plants

elsew

here

and

to all who might sympathltc

with

the

cause or

the two

hun

dred Elwood striken,

who

are

predominantlywt>men .

On the morning of Oct . 12

Ellis was

anacted

and brutally

beaten by a man who h

ad

entered

her

home. She ,. ...

badly bruised

.

her

cheekbone

was cracked. and quantities

of

her

hair

were

pulled out.

Despite

the toll

taken

on her

slight

frame by the

aac;f.

Ellis . who is

a

grandmother.

was soon bact at her job

spreading the news about the

strike .

The next time somebody

comes in ... Ellis said. I'll

be

prepared .

ESSEX

According to Ellis. the man

was not one

sh

recognized

as being

from the

rural

EJwood

community. Essex

has been using out

of

town

scabs and out

of

town goons

in the course of th

.

the

Lake Distritt m

England. and a large of

Qntano

, Can

ada

. Next tlm

t

: : : : : : : : ~ ~ : . :

oetrolt

>

John

C.

Fuller. Ballantine

tinoks. New York. 1975. 2

page. SJ.95 .

We Almool Loot Detroit is

th

7/24/2019 SW 8 (November 1977)

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Duncan Hallas

Portland anti-Bakke

speaks for ISO demo draws 200

PORTLAND.

OR

- With dem

onstrationsacmss

tht'

nation

against the

Bakke

decision.

200 members of the Oregon

Coa lition to Defeat tht Bakke

Decision

marched through

downtown

Portland

to

a r a i l ~

S ~ u _ ' d R y . O c t o b e r

15.

The

Coalition initiated its

activities with a plc.:kct line

J davs earlier when t h ~

U.S

S u p ~ m e Cour1 be-wan hcar

mgs

on thc . Bakkl

case

.

Th

e

:uurd:J.y rally hl"ard militant

spcakt.rs daborncc on

tht

: : ~ ~ ~

a ~ ~ ; i - ~ i ~ : : ~ ~ ~ -

Duncan Hallas .

the national

chairperson of

the Socialist

Workers Part\

(Great Brirain>

is presently

-

on

a

speaking

tOur of ISO branches

and

college

campuses.

Fascism

in Britain.

Euroco

m

munism.

and

The

Need for a

Revolutionary

Party .

Hallas

has

aJso travelled

to Can-da to speak

for

the

International

Socialists-Ca

nada. a fraternal group of the

SWP (08) and the

ISO

.

swp the Anack.s on minori ,

ries

and

women."

"Defend

'

and extend

affirmati\ ' ( altion

injobsandeducation

.

Portland anU-&lle dem.,...lratlon

He has spoken to well

aHcnded meetings in New

England.

Ohi

o.

Pennsylvania.

Indiana and Chicago. and will

traveltotheWestCoast.

The range of topics have

included

The Meaning of

Marxism , the Fight Against

Hallas

wilt

ronclude his

tour

In Boston

on Novembet

12th. at the

ISO

New England

regional conference. He will

be speaking

on Revolutionary

Traditions . 0

SPEAKERS

A

speaker

from the Natic.mal

Lawyers Guild pointed out th

weaknesses

in

Bakke'

s

case

Thccasehadnot

been def end

ed well.

he

claimed. because

the

university was

indifferent

to the needs of minority stu

dents. A

black city worker

i;pok.t

nn

the

special

problems

of minority women and th

e

ncccssitv

for women

of

all

ra ces to unit> and fight

for

their rights.

All speakers empha \ized

that the

way

to fight for affir

mativeactionistohelprebuild

the m o " c m c n t ~ o f b l a c h and

women

that

had gotten

affir

mative "''tiOn

programs

started.

The spokespe

rson

assured

the rally

that

thc t."nli tion

will(. . 'Ontinuctofocuspublic

attcntion on

the Bakke CMC

and other

actions

that will

stand up for the

impurtancc

: ~ a n ~ ~ ~ m a t i v e f''

tion

SOCIALIST

ANITA IN INDY

WORKER ---

FUNDAPPE'AL

INDIANAPOUS. IN-

7/24/2019 SW 8 (November 1977)

8/9

/

y t eY, .

want to close

1

Cleveland's

BETSY LEWIS

schools

he Board of Education and i .cromc a political football ga tiou . schools rc

rei

vcd next year 's

CLEVELAND,

OH-O n Octo its President. Arnold ' Pinck for politicians and business The State Auditor and State budget money.

ber

6.

th

CIC'vcland School ney. an insurance executive. men . Not only are the y using Superintendent both author Amidst great publicity.

Board announced that Cleve along with the

~ p e r i n t e n d e n t

bllsing.. to try to divide ized th e closing of the Cleve teachers voted J to I to con-

land 's schools were dead of Schools, Paul Brigg s a people and set whites and land schools bv Octo

ber 21

tinuc working withou t pay

broke and that

the

y wo uld banker.

arc

determined

to

blacks a g a i

n ~ t

eatl)>other. but -

because of the

ack

of

funds . Cus todians and othe r

wo

rkers

have to close down on Octobe r fight de

segrega

tion and bus the y arc divtded on

th

issue But the Bo

ard

added that voted unanimously to continue

t-7. mg . themselve s . there was one wav for the working: th(' bus driver

s.

This wou ld not have been The

Judge.

on the ot her schools to remain

oPen- if

the being

Teamsters

did nQt \TOll'

the first school closure in hand . is bound and

deter

CRISIS teachers . custodians. bus driv Out also

agreed

to work .

Ohio. Toledo sc hools did mined to earn ou t the

law- to

The School Board figure s if crs and oth

er

workers were But. in all of this excite

close in

October-until

Jan -

desegregate

the Cleveland it c

an't

stop de

segre

gation willing to continue working mcnt. one

imponant

falt was

uarv. 1978.

Other

distrk-ts Schools-a very delayed re-

and

busing . it can at least without pay . ignored . Thi s pnst April ,

have also

been

shut

down .

sponse

to

the struggles

people delay it. And most

imponant. In

Ohio.

sc

hools are not

Judge

Battisti had ruled

that

But in Cleveland. the issue made in the SOs and 60 ' s t

h

Board can use the willing allowed deficit financing to no school oould close

wi

thout

is not money . II is busing . for integrati on and equal newspapers and TV to make meet

th

payroll School

the

Co

urt's

permisston

And Judge Frank Batisti, the opportunity for black and the judge look foolish and to workers would either have to because schools might be

man who has

ordered

busing white

students.

make using seem ridiculous . wait until the legislature closed to further

segregate

}:r ~ : v e

J : n ~ ~ ~ ~ v ~ ~ e

w ~ ~ ~ u :

s t ~ ~ n ~ l a ~ ~ n ~ ~ o ~ ~ = : ~

r u ~ ; ~ ~ h : ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ d ~ : : : : ~

F n a ; s t ~ ~

~ ~ h n t ~ m : : r o a ~ : ; : ~ ~ ~ ; ~ ~ p : c ~ : ~ l the de

: ; u " n ~ ~ . ~ c e m e n t a " publicity : : ~ : : : ~ : t : ~ g d h ~ h ~ r ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ n ~ ~ ~ ~ d ~ ~ : ~ : ~ ~

d ~ ~ ~ ~ \ ~ a ~ ' : t " u : ~ ~ k ~ h ~ k ~ ~ : o o ~ b o ~ ~ r ~ h i : " . : ~ :

... H IS_P_A_N IC

C-O_U_N_C_I_L_R_E_P_O,_R_,T..ai S...--------.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ a d t ~ ~ r r : u ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ;

and

hard o er the

closing

of

s ix school s at the begin

No American dream here j : : g ~ ~ f ; ~ : ~ ~ ; : t ~ : ~ : r : ;

NORTHAMPTON,

MA-Dis

crimination in one way or

another affects all Third

World people in this valley.

In

this area, (Northampton),

the main

.;ctlms are

Latinos.

most

or

whom

are

Pllertor

riquenos. who came here

under the illusion that they

would fiud wort

7/24/2019 SW 8 (November 1977)

9/9

-

'The coal

companies.

for

whom 1 speak. are detennined

to eliminate the wildcat.

TIONAL

COAL CONTRACT

These were the words of

Joseph P. Brennan, the presi

dent of the

Bituminous

Coal

Operators

Association

(BCOA).

EXPIRES IN DECEMBER

He opened this year's nego

tiations with the UMW A with

the threat that, unless the

wildcat strikes are stopped,

"It

could well

mart the

begin

ning of the end of the national

coal agreement.

These

were strong words. of

course. But Brennan and the

BCOA

have

been locked

in

battJe with the coal miners for

years now and they are d e t e r ~

mined to force a victory in

the

nationaJ contract which ex

pires

December

7.

On the other side. the

130.000 coal

miners

covered

by

the

national agreement are

equally determined to win a

breakthrough

in

the contract.

and a substantial number of

tbem believe that it is

now

or

never

on

the issue of the

right

to strike-the tey issue

behind the wildcats.

The three years since the

last contrad have seen a

steady escalation i.n the strug

gle in the mines-a struggle

that is

based

on the funda

mental

relations

in the

mines:

job assignment, bidding, safe

ty.

absenteeism.

A1TACK

The companies. enJoytng

their greatest profrts in his

tory. have tried to push pro

ductivity

up

in

the

mines,

and

to do

this they have attacked

the rights and atganization of

the workers in the mines.

The

coal

miners have resis

ted

and the wildcat strike has

been their chief weapon .

1D 1976. wildcat strikes

BJDDOnted tQ million days

wort lost

to the employe:rs

wou by the miners

.

This was

43%

more

than

in 1975 when

1.4 million

days w e ~ won

on

strike . In J977. strikes were

Rank and file miners waut tbe

up by more

than 50%

and

in

the

Scotia explosion

i.n

1976

August had already surpassed when 26

men

were killed, and

the

total number

in

1976, in the day to day slaughter.

figures already unparalled in Thts year 111 miners have

American industry. been killed in the mines.

ln part as a result of this Other

thousands

have been

struggle. coal

miners

have

seriously injured.

forced productivity down in

, . if ie coal

miners. want the

the Unes

by

nearly since right to strike so

that they

can

1969.

At

the same time, they

defend an d

. extend their rights

have maintaine d relatively in the mines without turning

high wages . Under the cur-

to

the time consuming and

..

rent a g t e e ~ J l e n t .

he

a v e r a ~ e biased grievance and arbitra

hourly straight tune pay tn tion procedur-es. and tee from

J9n s S6.67. the interference of he courts.

CONFIJCT The

companies

are

demand

Jt has been a b' 'Ody con

flict.

however . Hundreds

of

miners

have been jailed,

fined.

fired . Many h4ve been

beaten by the police.

The deaths in the mines also

continue. both in the ever

recurring disasters. such as

mg "stability'' in the mines

that is no strikes in the life

of

the

contract. In return the y

promise

"wages, benefits.

and other

amenities.

Arnold Miller. the

~ s i d e n t

of the UMWA, is negotiating

for the

union.

In

1974. Miller presented

the miners an

agreement most

accepted, including a 64%

increase in wages and benefits

over

three years.

He did

001

win. of

course

nations

coat

production

down

from

68% just five years

ago .

At

the same time. the

steel and powet" compames are

boasting of stockpiles

that will

last

more than

three

months,

while hinting

that

they

will

bring

non-union

coal in

from

the

West if necessary

.

Miller, theTefore, is

despa

rately hoping to avoid a strike.

"We

don't

want

a strike.'' he

told reporters when the nego

tiations weTf convened. His

spokesman. Attorney Ronald

Nathan

went farther and

agreed that the union was

more anxious than the com

panies to senle early.

Millers plan is to settle l0

or 1

J days before

the expira

tior . This

will give him time

to have the

members

vote on

the new contrac1 before the

old one

expires

. Coal miners

maintain the tradition

of

"no

contract-no work.

H a ~ y,c-iali''

\\

U1"kN d d h e ~ t(a ' 4 \ l r d()f)r t ' \ er" month . Jur-t

fill ln ..be form

bdo and

c n d O l ' > ~ SS for a ou t eu ( ) t u l

w

rfpthm

:

SlO fM

a p p o t t l ~

~ u h < n p t k m and S10 for

an

1mtitut.lon.uJ

' O U ~ : : r i p t l n n

the right to strike,..and this

Jed

Both Miller

and

the opera-

directly to the massive wildcat tors fear that a strike. once

strike waves

of 1975

and 1976. begun. will develop into a

when

fust

80.000 and

then major confrontation. right

in

the

heart

of

winter

wheri

120

000

miners

organized

pro- energy demands highes1.

longed

nationwide

strikes.

This year, Miller is incom, Nevertheless. on October

pa.rahly weaker. His admini- 27. MilleT was forced to

stration

disintegrated

in 1976 suspend negotiations, saying

and J9n.

His f