As candidate for president of the United Auto Workers, I call on my brothers and sisters to take a stand with me to fight unsafe and deadly conditions in America’s workplaces and the ongoing sacrifice of our health and lives for corporate profit.
In opposition to the coverup of industrial injuries and deaths by the corporations, government safety regulators and the union bureaucracies, I call for independent investigations by rank-and-file workers to uncover the truth and hold accountable all those responsible for the ongoing carnage in America’s workplaces.
Last week, hundreds of family members, friends and co-workers held a memorial for Ben and Max Morrissey, who were killed in the September 20 fire at the BP Husky oil refinery in Oregon, Ohio. The two brothers, just 32 and 34, left behind wives and small children whose lives will be forever changed by this tragedy.
Friends and family mourn the death of Max and Ben Morrissey, picture right, at the celebration of life ceremony in Oregon, Ohio on Thursday, September 29, 2022
After the deaths, BP issued a perfunctory statement expressing its “deep sadness,” and declaring, “Our highest priority remains the safety of our staff, the responders and the public.”
In fact, BP has a notorious record of sacrificing workers’ lives for corporate profit. In 2005, 15 workers were killed and another 180 injured in an explosion at its Texas City refinery. Investigators found that managers were pressuring workers to increase output and cut costs. In 2010, the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 workers and caused a massive environmental disaster. Again, investigators found that cost-cutting contributed to the disaster.
Workers at BP-Husky and other refineries have long complained that job cuts, exhausting hours, the contracting out of jobs, the lack of maintenance and repair work and the constant pressure for higher production are creating deadly conditions. But the United Steelworkers bureaucracy has blocked any serious struggle by workers, including a strike by 30,000 refinery workers earlier this year. The USW operates joint labor-management safety committees, which constantly bow to profit concerns.
In response to the deadly explosion at the Toledo refinery, top USW officials have warned workers “not to rush to judgment.”
As every worker knows, these deadly conditions are not confined to the oil industry.
On July 9, 22-year-old Casen Garcia died while working in extremely dangerous conditions in the rendering basement at the Tyson Foods meatpacking plant in Joslin, Illinois. Tyson is covering up how he died, but Casen’s family has spoken to numerous coworkers who say that he was electrocuted by faulty machinery, and that management rejected his calls for help and prevented workers from saving his life to keep production going.
“My son was treated like he was one of the livestock,” his mother Allison declared.
The factories, refineries and other workplaces in the US would better be described as “America’s industrial slaughterhouse.” To the American ruling class, the lives of workers are cheap. If we are crippled or killed, they will simply get another worker to fill in for us. Production and profits must keep flowing, no matter what.
According to the “Death on the Job” report, released by the AFL-CIO in April 2022:
Every day in the United States, 340 workers die from hazardous workplace conditions. In 2020, more than 4,700 workers were killed on the job, and an estimated 120,000 died from occupational diseases due to exposure to toxic materials at work.
Nearly 3.2 million work-related injuries and illnesses were reported in 2020. Because of workplace intimidation, the true toll of work-related injuries and illnesses is far larger, totaling between 5.4 million and 8.1 million annually.
There are only 1,700 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspectors for 10.4 million workplaces, or one inspector for every 81,427 workers in the US.
The median federal OSHA penalty for a worker’s death is $9,753 and only $5,825 for state penalties. Only 115 worker death cases have been criminally prosecuted under OSHA since its establishment in 1970.
These figures do not include the hundreds of thousands of workers killed by COVID-19 and the millions more who are suffering the lingering disabilities of Long COVID. A ruling class that can allow 1.1 million people to die during the pandemic could not care less about the tens of thousands crushed, burnt to death, poisoned and mangled in its profit-making enterprises.
Autoworkers know this firsthand. Steven Dierkes, a 39-year-old worker died instantly after falling into a molten iron crucible at the Caterpillar foundry in Mapleton, Illinois, on June 2. Travis Baker, a 49-year-old autoworker and father of four sons, died on August 18 after being injured at the Stellantis plant in Belvidere, Illinois.
At least three of my co-workers at the Mack Trucks plant in Macungie, Pennsylvania, died of COVID-19. Catherine Pace, a Stellantis worker about to retire in Detroit, was one of more than a dozen workers who succumbed to the deadly disease at the Warren Truck plant alone.
In the early days of the pandemic, workers had to take matters into their own hands and carry out wildcat strikes, in defiance of the UAW bureaucracy, to force the shutdown of the global auto industry. But UAW officials like my opponents Ray Curry and Shawn Fain worked with the auto bosses to restart production as soon as possible. Now, in the third year of the pandemic, the corporations and the Biden administration have dispensed with mask mandates and any measures to protect workers, even as a new Fall surge of COVID-19 is upon us.
In my campaign, I have called for the abolition of the UAW apparatus and the transfer of power to workers on the shop floor through the formation of rank-and-file committees. A key function of these committees will be to exchange information and organize collective action, including the shutdown of production if workers deem that conditions are unsafe. The rights of workers, including the right to a safe and healthy workplace, must take precedence over the profit interests of big business.
These committees, working in conjunction with health and safety experts committed to the working class, must conduct independent investigations into the deaths of workers, including the Morrissey brothers in Ohio, and prevent more coverups by the union bureaucracies, OSHA and the companies.
Ultimately, the fight to defend workers’ lives directly poses the need for the working class to take control of the energy and other giant industries and convert them into public utilities, collectively owned and democratically controlled by the workers who produce society’s wealth, as part of the socialist transformation of the economy in the US and throughout the world.
During his debate with Kelly last week, however, Masters once again embraced the notion that 2020 was rigged against Trump. Rather than cite the widespread voter fraud, the Senate hopeful instead elevated claims popularized by MAGA media that Big Tech and the mainstream press conspired to tamp down negative stories about Biden to aid his victory.
“I suspect that if the FBI didn’t work with Big Tech and Big Media to censor the Hunter Biden crime story,” he said when asked at the debate if the election had been “rigged” against Trump. “Yeah, I suspect that changed a lot of people’s votes.”
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
A vault built on an Arctic island to preserve the world's crop seeds from war, disease and other catastrophes will receive new deposits on Wednesday, including for the first time from Iraq and Uruguay, Norway's Ministry of Agriculture and Food said.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set in permafrost caves on Spitsbergen island halfway between mainland Europe and the North Pole, is only opened three times a year to limit its seeds' exposure to the outside world.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden warned that the war in Ukraine could trigger “Armageddon,” i.e., a nuclear war between the United States and Russia.
But within 24 hours of Biden’s warning, the Ukrainian Special Forces, after previously getting a public green light from US officials, staged an attack on the Kerch Bridge connecting Crimea to Russia, a provocation aimed at intensifying the war and making such an “Armageddon” more likely.
In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a series of airstrikes on civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine Monday. Approximately 14 people were killed and 97 injured, according to Ukrainian officials, and power was disrupted in more than half the country’s regions.
The World Socialist Web Site condemns the actions of all parties involved in the conflict. The Putin regime is not engaged in a war to defend the Russian population but to defend the interests of the capitalist oligarchy that came to power after the dissolution of the USSR.
But ultimate responsibility for the escalation of the war lies with the United States and its imperialist allies. By encouraging Ukrainian plans to forcibly retake Crimea and join NATO, the US sought to instigate a war on Russia’s borders, first to “bleed Russia white” and ultimately to carry out a regime change operation and break up the country.
[. . .]
The US media proceeds with a form of collective amnesia about the wars of American imperialism over the past 30 years, declaring that, despite the crimes committed by the US military in the past, its motives in the current conflict are purely altruistic. But the war is a continuation of earlier conflicts, only now involving nuclear-armed powers.
The same ruthless indifference to the deaths of the peoples of the Middle East is driving the US efforts to escalate the war against Russia, using the Ukrainian population as cannon fodder and transforming the entire country into a proving ground. The US and its lackeys in NATO believe that they can achieve a military defeat of Russia which is only a prelude to the conflict with China.
The history of US imperialism reveals that it places no value on the lives of the people it wishes to subjugate and dominate through war. But the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that it also does not put any value on the lives of the American population. The American ruling class fought tooth and nail against any measures to stop the pandemic, leading to the deaths of more than 1 million people in the US alone.
The relentless escalation of the war must be stopped! On Sunday, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) held a meeting to initiate a global mass movement of workers and youth against imperialist war. We urge all of those who agree with this perspective to contact us today.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Muhammad Halbousi announced today that the parliament will discuss the selection of the president on Oct. 13.
A year after the elections, Iraqi political parties have not been able to form a government.
On the anniversary of last year's elections, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi called upon “all political parties to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve the current political crisis through comprehensive national solutions that strengthen our young democracy and support the pillars of stability and prosperity for Iraq and our great people.”
The Tuesday’s announcement by the Iraqi Parliament speaker came a day after he led a delegation to meet Masoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), as rival factions in parliament have been vying for influence and the right to select a new president and government.
Reports said the delegation included Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the Coordination Framework Alliance’s nominee for the post, and Falih al-Fayyadh, Chairman of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Sha'abi.
Halbousi stopped short of providing any details about the meeting in Erbil, in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, and whether an agreement had been struck among the Kurds to put forward a candidate.
Barzani has previously refused to support Salih as president and is reportedly insisting on changing him and picking a "compromise candidate" for the post.
Mr Barzani is still insisting on removing Mr Salih and picking a “compromise candidate” for president, Mr Al Hayani said.
He said a number of names for compromise candidates were discussed at the meeting in Erbil, capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
These included former water resources minister Abdul Latif Jamal Rasheed, Mr Al Hayani said.
He could not confirm on Tuesday if a deal between the Kurds had been reached.
Talabani and Sudani discussed the latest developments in Iraq’s political stalemate, stressing the need to “unify the national efforts towards creating a powerful and serving government that would protect the rights of all,” according to a statement from the PUK leader’s office.
'Cowards will not create freedom', a slogan from Iraq’s 2019 October protests, can still be seen on a building near the capital’s Tahrir Square.
Three years later, however, those responsible for the killing of Iraqi youths during the nationwide anti-government demonstrations have yet to be held accountable.
On 1 October 2019, thousands of angry Iraqis held large demonstrations in Baghdad, Basra, Nasiriyah, and several other provinces in the western and southern parts of the country.
Demonstrators were calling for an end to corruption among Iraq’s ruling elites and the hegemony of Iran and its affiliated political parties and militias in the country.
Soon, the peaceful demonstrations turned violent, with more than 800 protestors killed as Iraq’s security forces and militias used lethal force to silence them. Thousands of others were injured.
Earlier this month, Iraqis commemorated the third anniversary of the protests in two different squares in Baghdad. One group read a statement at al-Nusur Square, while others gathered in Tahrir Square. New protests are scheduled for 25 October.
Zaid al-Asaad, an activist from the October protests, admitted that there is a division inside the protest movement, however, he stressed that the revolution’s goals are still mobilising the different groups.
“Since 2019, the demands of the protestors did not change, including prosecuting the killers and those who were behind the bloodshed, the corrupt people who wasted Iraqi public money, the legislation of a fair election law, and passing a law regulating Iraqi political parties,” al-Asaad told The New Arab.
He also clarified that there is no coordination with the Sadrist Movement in organising the demonstrations.
“We do not think the Sadrists are trying to make real reforms, but they are working to achieve their own political gains similar to the CF. The protest movement is not interested in coordination with the Sadrists because they are part of the problem, thus they cannot be part of the solution.”
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden continues his ongoing persecution of Julian Assange. Julian's 'crime' was revealing the realities of Iraq -- Chelsea Manning was a whistle-blower who leaked the information to Julian. WIKILEAKS then published the Iraq War Logs. And many outlets used the publication to publish reports of their own. For example, THE GUARDIAN published many articles based on The Iraq War Logs. Jonathan Steele, David Leigh and Nick Davies offered, on October 22, 2012:
A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.
Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the
Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the
whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident
US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have
leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters
and civilian killings in the Afghan war.
The new logs detail how:
•
US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse,
torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct
appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.
• A US helicopter gunship involved in a
notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after
they tried to surrender.
• More than 15,000 civilians died in
previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no
official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081
non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.
The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent death.
“So there are no individuals currently in federal prison solely for simple possession of marijuana.”
Quote from a Senior administration official
Joe Biden’s announcement that he would pardon all federal convictions for possession of marijuana was quickly met with excitement. It isn’t hard to understand why that would be the case. Everyone knows that the United States is the world’s biggest jailer, with more than 2 million people behind bars, and that the various “wars on drugs” contributed to this dubious distinction.
But upon examination, the announcement was found to be meaningless. Anyone who thought that thousands of people would be freed from jail was in for a surprise. Most convictions in this country occur at the state level, not federal, so any Biden pardons would impact a small number of people. Also, very few people are convicted solely for possession of marijuana or any other narcotic. They are usually convicted for selling, distribution, or conspiracy as well. By definition, very few people would be eligible for a pardon.
Approximately 6,000 people have been convicted of marijuana possession in the last 30 years, but none of them are currently incarcerated. Biden’s announcement won’t free anyone from prison. Nor does a pardon expunge a criminal record. Those pardoned will still have convictions on their records that can make them ineligible for housing or employment. To use an overused expression, Biden’s marijuana pardon is a huge nothingburger.
This attempt to pull the wool over millions of eyes should be loudly condemned. Many of those 6,000 people convicted were victimized by the 1994 Crime Bill which was championed by a senator named Joe Biden. At the time he bragged that the legislation did “everything but hang people for jaywalking .” Or even send them to jail for marijuana possession.
Not only did Biden make a great show of doing absolutely nothing, but he also tacitly admitted that he has the power to end any possibility of federal marijuana convictions. Marijuana is currently categorized as a Schedule 1 drug on the list of controlled substances, just like heroin and cocaine. Now a few weeks before election day he claims he will look into making a change that he could have made as soon as he came to office.
ere's C.I.'s "
