Vol. 72/No. 8      February 25, 2008

“We would subpoena the owners of the Imperial Sugar refinery and launch an investigation into the explosion at the refinery that blew up near Savannah, Georgia,” she said. At least six workers were killed in the blast. “We would demand that they open their books, that we see their safety records, that we see how the bosses put profits over safety of the workers.”

On the same weekend that Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican John McCain campaigned in the Seattle area, Kennedy took her working-class message to warehouse workers, immigrant rights supporters, and others.

Chris Hoeppner, the socialist candidate for governor of Washington, joined Kennedy in speaking to workers coming off the day shift at the Unionbay garment warehouse where he works. The workers there do not have a union. After learning that Kennedy was a longtime fighter to strengthen and organize unions, one worker asked, “How do you go about getting a union?”

Kennedy related her experiences in the fight to organize a union at the Co-Op mine in Utah. She described how workers began to defend each other in face of unsafe working conditions and low wages. She related how they organized a sustained fight, including a 10-month strike, and how they reached out and won solidarity from the labor movement in the region.

“We all know that we’re exploited and underpaid,” the vice presidential candidate said. “What most workers don’t know is that we can change things if we fight together, both on the job and in the political arena. We can run industry.”

Workers can also “elect socialist candidates,” she said. “Imagine what a socialist caucus in Congress could do to respond to attacks on workers.”

Kennedy received a warm response from 20 participants at a vigil in front of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, protesting immigration raids and deportations. Immigrants from Oregon, Idaho, and Washington, are jailed there under deportation orders.

“We have to do more protests like this,” Lucy Rollins, a student from Evergreen College, told Kennedy. “We’re organizing a conference at Evergreen on May 15-18 in defense of immigrant rights, can you come?” Kennedy said her campaign would definitely be there.
 
 
Related articles:
Socialist candidate: ‘Immigration laws benefit the bosses’
Georgia socialist campaigns for job safety
Socialist candidate: No to hospital closing!
Tour dates for socialist workers candidates  
 
 
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