The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.21           May 27, 1996 
 
 
Bosses' Profit Drive Led To Valujet Disaster
Socialist candidates: Labor must lead fight for safety  

The following statement was released May 16 by James Harris, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. president, and Janet Post, SWP candidate for U.S. Congress in the 17th District in Dade County, Florida. Harris is a meatpacker and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Post is an airline worker and member of the International Association of Machinists in Miami.


The grim consequences of the airline bosses' drive to increase profits through "cost cutting" were driven home with deadly force this week. The ValuJet crash that killed all 110 people aboard also illuminated the complicity of the federal government, which covered up the record of a company that flaunted safety standards.

The labor movement should demand the immediate prosecution of the responsible company executives and complicit government officials. Unions need to champion the fight for safety, regardless of the profit prerogatives of the wealthy corporate barons.

ValuJet was established as an antiunion outfit. Its owners have sought to turn a profit by paring maintenance to the bare bones, organizing to circumvent repair procedures, and imposing speed-up on the workforce. ValuJet planes, with an average age of 26 years, have had to return to the airport of origin after takeoff 68 times in the last two years. Because of its record, even the Pentagon refused for a time to use the carrier and one administration official stated publicly before the crash she would not fly the unsafe airline.

So what did the government do?
Transportation Secretary Federico Peņa flew to Miami to reassure the public that ValuJet is a safe carrier despite the crash. Only days later the Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged the company was not authorized to carry hazardous oxygen generator bottles in its cargo bins that may have caused a fatal explosion. So far the FAA has not taken any measures to curb the unsafe operations of this company.

While the low-fare, nonunion carrier may have a higher incidence of safety violations than its larger competitors, the cost-cutting drive to boost profit rates is rampant throughout the airline industry. While the airline bosses cry crocodile tears over the latest aviation disaster, they are escalating layoffs of airline workers instead of creating more jobs that could be a step toward safer conditions. Among them are larger, unionized airlines such as USAir, which announced layoffs of thousands of workers and the elimination of Miami as a maintenance station the same week as the ValuJet crash.

The human toll of May 11 is the blood payment for antilabor policies and "cost savings" wrenched from airline workers in the form of lower wages, longer working hours, and unsafe working conditions.

Only the labor movement can fight for safety. There is constant pressure on individual workers to identify with the company they work for and go along with concessions and cutting corners on maintenance and safety procedures. Demanding jobs for all, fighting to unionize the unorganized workers, and championing safety every day on the job become more important than ever for the unions.

By leading a fight to protect the lives of passengers and flight crews alike, airline workers can win wide support in their battle against the bosses, who put a price tag on people's lives.  
 
 
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