The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.63/No.13           April 5, 1999 
 
 
Socialist Unionists Help Lead New Stage In Capital Fund For Pathfinder's Printshop  

BY MAGGIE TROWE
DES MOINES, Iowa - When socialist workers in several industrial trade unions met in Chicago March 13-14, one point they discussed was how to help lead the next stage in the capital appeal for Pathfinder's printshop.

Since July 1998, supporters have contributed $710,000 in capital contributions to help transform the printshop that produces Pathfinder books and pamphlets. As a result of this tremendous response, a state-of-the-art computer-to-plate machine now belongs to the printshop, drastically reducing the labor time needed for each book.

At the same time an international volunteer team has been working to put all of Pathfinder books in digital form. These efforts are making it possible to keep every Pathfinder book available as the need and possibilities for expanding their distribution increases.

The next phase of the fund - another $250,000 - is needed to carry out a long-postponed reconstruction of the room that houses Pathfinder's three presses, adding climate control, an air-filtering system that reduces dust and chemicals, new windows and a new floor, and double doors to keep out drafts. These steps are essential for productive, high-quality printing and to help advance the collective work of the press crew, needed to succeed in maintaining a smaller shop.

The response to the fund so far has come both in contributions of up to a few thousand dollars and in larger donations from those in a position to give tens of thousands from capital sources. Both kinds of contributions will be crucial to raising the $250,000 needed in this stage of the capital fund.

At the March 13-14 meeting in Chicago of members of the Young Socialists and Socialist Workers Party in five industrial unions, SWP Trade Union Committee leader Joel Britton said, "We are reaffirming at these meetings the importance of the bonuses that communist workers in industry give to the capital fund."

Britton noted that the communist movement has a proud history of making it a practice to give the movement the so- called bonuses and "profit sharing" checks. Because the money is what capitalist bosses give workers in return for concessions on wages and working conditions, conscious workers view it as "blood money," Britton said, and proudly put it to good use for the capital fund that makes major improvements of the communist book production apparatus possible.

While in general the Capital Fund is for contributions of $1,000 or more, an exception is made for these contributions from industrial workers. The "blood money" adds up. Since July 1998, a total of $77,000 has been contributed in this way.

The SWP and YS members in the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) have contributed $6,169; those in the United Auto Workers have given $8,349; those in the United Transportation Union $2,472; in the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) $2,300; in the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) $116; and in the International Association of Machinists (IAM) $57,579.

SWP members who are in the USWA at a plant in Des Moines, Iowa, contribute their monthly "performance-based pay" checks every month. "These checks, based on a formula of how much workers' output exceeded the previous year's average due to speedup, began coming to us about a year ago," said Ray Parsons. "They have been averaging $80-$120 a month, and we send them in like clockwork."

The $57,579 from members of the IAM includes stock pledged and in some cases already redeemed by socialists who work as cleaners and baggage handlers at United Airlines. The company introduced an "Employee Stock Ownership Program" several years ago to sweeten cutbacks. When workers leave United to take other jobs, they can cash in the stock.

Two socialists who are members of the UFCW in Marshalltown, Iowa, got $100 bonuses at the end of 1998, a year in which Swift's profits soared as a result of speedup and rock bottom hog prices. After taxes, the "bonus" amounted to an insulting $58, which the workers readily contributed to the Capital Fund.

To find out how you can make a capital contribution, write to the Capital Fund Committee, 410 West St., New York, NY 10014.

 
 
 
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