Mike Decaro is full of

Mike Decaro is full of it.

Mike Decaro's standard of living would not be anywhere what it is if working men in this country, faced with the same exploitative conditions that our Indian brothers and sister who manufactured that pipe, are faced with in the Indian steel mills.

As natural as it was and is for workers to organize unions in defense against employers who seek to keep large sections of the value produced by unpaid labor in their own pockets (Perhaps to invest it in those steel mills in India or wherever labor costs are low) it is also natural for manufacturers, and the international bankers that fund them, to flee trade unions and the higher wages that result, i.e., Mexico, India, etc.

It is also natural for the employers to chortle and rub their hands in glee when steel workers use their natural power to make demands on the employers two political parties, the Democrats and Republicans, who serve only the employers, even whilst the trade unions in these United States, unlike those in the rest of the developed world, let alone the "developing nations." have not yet organized their own political party, a labor party that runs its own candidates for office unlike the aborted labor party organized some years ago in Cleveland that aborted because it made a decision not to run candidates.

They chortle and rub their hands because they know who owns those politicians in Washington and it ain't us.

Nonetheless, while beginning the process of organizing a real labor party (A must) there are things that can be done to begin to put an end to layoffs and unemployment.

First, should be a demand for a sliding scale of hours to distribute available work to all who wish to be employed, that, without lowering the gross weekly pay for however many fewer hours such sliding scale would result in.

Second, should be the joining together with the Indian steelworkers producing that pipe rather than in practice setting the interests of U.S. workers against those of Indian, Mexican, etc.

That would mean uniting with the longshore unions not to unload steel pipe or any other products where workers that produce them are not paid rates and conditions equivalent to those of U.S. workers.

Third, and this is once again becoming a direct means of insuring that jobs in any industry are not lost and of which you had recently an excellent example right there in Indiana.

Rather than allow U.S. Steel to shut down those furnaces and rolling mills USWU leaders should have led an occupation of the plant keeping it operating and making the product available to whomever would pay what was needed to keep the plant running and producing.

As I remember it it takes millions of dollars to reline those furnaces with firebrick for a restart once they have been shut down.

At the same time the unions should be putting up their own candidates for political office and demanding that industries that can't afford to continue operating be nationalized under the control of the workers that operate them.

Did someone say "Socialism." Call it what you will. As we are seeing this government, the British as well, see no socialist obstacle in their paying huge sums to failing banks and at the same time essentially nationalizing them by demanding control.

Indeed, speaking of plant occupation, my memory of union history is that in the course of organizing their union the UAW resorted to occupation of auto plants.

Just as employers, under the strictures of making a profit, naturally run to the lowest wage regions in order to survive the competition, so must we U.S. workers take those measures that ensure our survival as human beings, even at the same time as using our vast union resources to help other workers build their own unions and increase their own benefits and conditions so as to ensure their be no setting, of worker against worker, us against them, in competition.

If that be Socialism so be it!

Jack Jersawitz
bigjackjj@yahoo.com
404-892-1238

Doug: Thanks for all the

Doug: Thanks for all the work you are doing in Granite City. One of the first lessons we all learn is setting limits and following through on rules. If our trade partners are subsidizing their products and dumping them into the U.S., they should be held accountable. Otherwise, why will they stop? Let's hope that shedding some light on this challenge will make a difference.

Gary: Thanks for pointing out the USW's work on this. TransCanada needs to know that using quality, American-made pipe will have many lasting benefits.

The United Steelworkers (USW)

The United Steelworkers (USW) want to get the Granite City steelworkers back to work, making plate for producing quality pipe in the Keystone XL pipeline. We've challenged the pending federal permit in the $5.4 billion TransCanada Keystone Pipeline that’s using under-standard thin-wall pipe for transport of crude oil from Alberta, Canada to Houston, Texas.

USW International Vice President Tom Conway transmitted a formal complaint to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on Apr. 6, urging the special permit requested by TransCanada be denied. He said the 2,000 mile pipeline is planned using a 36-inch thin-wall pipe at higher maximum operation pressure than is safely permitted under existing regulations.

“Our members work hard to produce quality steel and large diameter crude oil transmission pipe right here in the U.S. that meets all safety requirements,” Conway said. He adds that the USW-represented steel and pipe production workers “do not want to be denied the opportunity to provide that quality pipe based on a waiver of a fundamental safety regulation promulgated under the normal rulemaking procedures.”

The use of pipe imports from India called attention to the issue when 1,000 steelworkers on lay-off at the nearby US Steel Granite City mill joined an Apr. 7 demonstration that raised questions about foreign pipe being used for a separate TransCanada pipeline with a terminus to the Conoco-Phillips refinery in Wood River, Ill.

About 2,000 steelworkers at USS Granite City have been out-of-work since December, and several thousand pipe workers are also on long-term layoffs at pipe mills all across the country.

Let's fix this now.

There is no doubt that the US

There is no doubt that the US government is no longer "For the people". If we continue down this road of cheap imports our own trade value will continue to decline. We will find ourselves dependent on foreign steel just as we have found ourselves dependent on foreign oil.

As I look at all the items in Walmart, K-Mart and other retail giants I look to see where it is manufactured. I refuse to buy a cute little lawn ornament from China when I can take that money and put it towards something made in the USA that I actually need.

The power is in the hands of the American people and until we wake-up and realize that ~ we are dooming our own economy every time we purchase the products of slave labor.