Vol. 72/No. 38      September 29, 2008

Questions included: “How can we get legalization of immigrants?” “If so many immigrants come won’t that cause overpopulation?” “What would happen to the owners if workers take power?” One student asked, “Why is it a mistake to vote for Obama if he offers hope and change?”

“Because all you get is hope,” said Calero. “Look at the record. He is for deepening the war in Afghanistan and extending it to Pakistan. Both Obama and McCain would be war presidents. We are for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from around the world.

“Obama’s plan for health care is to force you to buy it, like car insurance. We say health care should be a right for all. The Democrats’ and Republicans’ plan for immigrant workers is border walls and more factory raids. We say immediate legalization.”

On August 30 Calero addressed a forum where more than $2,400 was raised for the national SWP campaign.

On August 29, 1,500 ground service workers, members of Service Employees International Union Local 1877, went on strike at Los Angeles International Airport.

“They wanted to extend their strike over the Labor Day holiday weekend, which would have put them in a favorable position to fight for their demands,” Calero said. “But Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa brokered a three-week cooling-off period. This is a valuable lesson about how the rulers bring in capitalist politicians to help police the unions. Workers must take ownership of our struggles. We need a labor party, based on a fighting union movement to contest against the Democrats and Republicans.”

“Can you explain your proposal to put millions to work at union-scale wages?” asked one participant in the forum. “For most workers union wages are not livable. So how should we explain this? What is union scale?”

“What we’re talking about here is the transformation of the unions—the most powerful existing organizations of the working class—into revolutionary instruments of class struggle,” said Calero. “The union-scale wages we are talking about go hand in hand with this transformation. We don’t put a dollar amount on union scale; we’ll take what we are strong enough to take.”

Calero was interviewed September 1 on the Spanish-language Telemundo TV show “En Contexto.”
 
 
Related articles:
Calero: ‘Need public works to rebuild after Ike’  
 
 
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