I’ve found myself disagreeing with the Militant’s line a few times, and more often than not I’ve ended up in agreement when all was said and done. It is clear that your paper can be persuasive because it is informed, on the one hand, by decades of communist theory; and on the other hand, by a clear, concrete awareness of the day to day class struggle.

Loren Meyer
Missoula, Montana  
 
Misleading photo caption
As a member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175 recently on strike against Quality Meat Packers, I want to draw to your attention a problem with the caption identifying the photograph of the picket line that appeared in issue number 45. The article that accompanied the photo was headed “Toronto meat packers approve contract, end strike.” The caption on the photo correctly identifies the picket line scene on November 5. It includes another sentence, however, which reads: “They fought for higher wages, won small pay raise.”

This sentence, while not inaccurate, isolated from the details that are contained in the article, could be misread to suggest that the one-month strike wasn’t really worth it. This is far from the truth.

“It’s not worth it, go back to work” was the theme of the intense company campaign against the strike from day one. Company letters to the strikers stated that the bosses had no more money to offer than what was in the original offer, and that the strikers were risking their jobs since the company would lose customers. The implication was the company might have to close down. None of this was true. Three days after the return to work production is already up to pre-strike levels.

The one-month strike was a deep-seated response to the low pay over the past six years since a 1999 wage and benefits rollback of 40 percent following a two-month strike, along with speed up of the line, increased injuries, and verbal abuse by foreman—all part of a sustained productivity drive by the bosses throughout the meat packing industry—that has generated resistance and union organizing drives from Lakeside Packers in Brooks, Alberta, to the midwestern United States.

The owners assumed they could simply walk over us once again. Over the past six years new hiring has resulted in a workforce from over 20 countries. The bosses thought this would be an obstacle to unity and the use of union power. They were wrong. The workers united and tried to use union power to win back some of what was taken. In the end our union was not strong enough to improve on the original offer. But we did prevent the bosses from imposing contract restrictions on washroom time, and sent them a sharp warning that we intend to be treated as human beings. The new contract contains no new concessions. And we have learned valuable lessons for the day-to-day skirmishes on the line and the next contract fight in three years.

John Steele
Toronto, Ontario  
 
Iraq war
In the article on the U.S. victory in Fallujah in the December 7 Militant, the focus is on the military triumph of U.S. imperialist troops. The article barely mentions the death and destruction wrought upon the working people of the city.

In addition to Baathist fighters, many civilians were killed and their homes destroyed. About 300,000 residents fled the U.S. invasion, according to the Boston Globe. They will be returning to destroyed houses and rubble-strewn streets.

In addition, the U.S. military has a plan, reports the Globe, to institute measures appropriate for a “police state.” Fallujans who wish to return will have to go to processing centers where a database of their identities will be compiled through DNA testing and retina scans.

They will then receive identity badges they must wear at all times. Cars would be banned in the city.

Another proposal would require all men to work in military type battalions, where they would be assigned by the U.S. military.

This is the democracy promised by U.S. imperialism!

Marine Lt. Col. Leonard DiFrancisco was quoted by the Globe reporter as saying, “There’s something to be said for a firm hand.” I don’t think it would be redundant to conclude any article on Iraq with the demand “All U.S. troops out of Iraq now.”

Gary Cohen
Arlington, Massachusetts

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people.

Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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