Great article below (from Cuba News) and great coverage of the recent U.S.
independent
trucker action. However it is inaccurate to translate "camionero" as
"teamsters" since in the U.S. "teamsters" would be taken as "Teamsters'
Union". the truckers who did the reported shut down were NOT members of the
Teamsters Union and actually
the Teamsters Union OPPOSED the independent trucker action.
And much. much bigger independent trucker actions are planned for May
Day 2008, of course.
Will any "progressives" in the L.A. area be UNITING with the independent
truckers as the independent truckers organize to shut down the Los
Angeles-Long Beach Harbor (the largest harbor in the United States in terms
of port traffic) and other ports and harbors in the United States?
Unfortunately in most cases the (worker) independent trucker actions and
the (liberal- middle class organized) anti-war and immigration rights
actions are virtually totally separate. Why is that? Don't the Anti-War
Movement and the Immigration Rights Movements want any WORKER actions and
Strikes in support of the Antiwar Movement and Immigration Rights Movement?
Of course when that issue is brought up some then say "Oh that is just
impossible the workers are not ready for that." But actually and really and
right now in the real world - the independent port truckers already ARE
organizing and doing actions to shut down the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor
(and many of the ports and harbors of the United States) on May Day 2008.
Will the Anti-War Movement activists and the Immigration Rights activists
talk to and communicate with the independent port truckers? Will the middle
class and the working class actions be UNITED!
WHAT IF ... the independent port truckers shut down the ports and
harbors of the United States in opposition to the War in Iraq and what if
they refused to haul any War material? Could the War on Iraq really continue
under those circumstances?
And WHAT IF ... every time there was an ICE RAID the independent port
truckers shut down the Long-Beach Harbor for one hour (or longer) - would
the ICE RAIDS continue under those circumstances?
And WHAT IF ...all (or many) of the Anti-War groups and Immigration
Rights groups went down to the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor and picketed
and demonstrated with the independent port trucker when they shut down the
Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbors and helped the port truckers with publicity
and leaflets and negotiating etc.
In other words WHAT IF . there was some UNITY among the Anti-War
Movement and Immigration Rights Movement and the independent port truckers
(WORKER) Movement?????? And some joint and UNITED actions.
Or is it best to have middle class and workers really acting
separately? - Of course not IT IS BEST TO HAVE UNITY.
Let's work towards that UNITY and not have the independent port trucker
do their massive action shutting down the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor on
May Day 2008 without virtually any Anti-War or Immigration Rights groups or
activists doing any organized actions in the Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor.
Jim "Let's UNITE up." D.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <CubaNews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 12:46 AM
Subject: [change-links] JR: A teamsters' blockade in the United States
JUVENTUD REBELDE
April 9, 2008
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs1870.html
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
A teamsters' blockade in the United States
By: Juana Carrasco Martín
E-mail: internac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
April 9, 2008 - 00:36:40 GMT
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/opinion/2008-04-09/
un-bloqueo-camionero-en-estados-unidos/
It took a while to sink in, since it's been long since this kind of protest
was last seen in the US. There they are, however, those independent
truckers, rolling down at a snail's pace to hamper road traffic in
expressways across the nation to protest against the seemingly unstoppable
rise in fuel prices. Now they have to pay almost four dollars for the same
gallon of diesel they pumped for $1.60 back when Bush started his second
period in the White House.
Sign posted by one of the strikers on the front of his truck. Photo: AFP
In New Jersey, the line of vehicles stretched out of sight; police were on
the scene outside Chicago, where traffic was blockaded; Pennsylvania teemed
with highway holdups; all operations were at a standstill in the port of
Tampa. An article in AlterNet mentioned a driver near Buffalo who told
reporters he was taking a week off «to pray for the economy».
Horns were blowing all along Interstate 77 in South Carolina and Georgia;
there was talk of shutdowns in Indiana on April 18 and in New York, and a
big gathering of rigs in Washington, D.C. on the 28th.
Of course, these drivers are the owners of their vehicles. Those who work
for the top companies have been warned by their employers: if you back any
strike, we will have to let you go.
It all started on April 1st with website postings and CB radio broadcastings
demanding the government to cut diesel prices, release the fuel reserves,
and check on cases of profiteering by oil companies, because the private
drivers' small businesses are haunted by the threat of bankruptcy while the
Bush administration, fearing that Bear Stearns -the world's fifth largest
investment bank and one of Wall Street's «giants»- would collapse because of
liquidity problems, took 30 billion dollars from the public purse as
emergency funding to try to get the corporation back on its feet. Now they
will be kept afloat.
Long scoffed by George W. Bush, the economic recession is taking a heavy
toll among the small fry. In the meantime, things are bound to get worse
this summer, given the Department of Energy's forecast that prices in some
places throughout the country «will surpass the four-dollar-a-gallon mark»,
an ill-boding likelihood hardly «noticed» by the media.
These teamsters are responsible of 70% of all goods hauled the length and
breadth of the United States. Therefore, this strike in the making could
worsen an economic situation already in marked decline.
For the time being, the CB radio waves are carrying some messages along the
following lines: «It's about all of us owners of mortgaged houses,
unemployed construction workers, old people unable to pay the gas bill...
This not a step taken by truck drivers alone; it's by the whole people».
---ooOoo---
JUVENTUD REBELDE
Un bloqueo camionero en Estados Unidos
Por: Juana Carrasco Martín
Correo: internac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
09 de abril de 2008 00:36:40 GMT
Ha sido una tremenda sorpresa. Desde hace mucho no se veía esta expresión de
protesta en Estados Unidos, pero ahí están los camioneros independientes
bloqueando el tráfico en las autopistas de la nación con un paso de jicotea
contra la subida que parece imparable del precio del combustible. Ya les
cuesta casi cuatro dólares el galón de diesel que cuando Bush inició su
segundo período en la Casa Blanca pagaban a 1.60 dólares.
Reunión aquí, reza el cartel al frante de un camión cuyo operador está de
huelga. Foto: AFP
En New Jersey el convoy de camiones se perdía en lontananza; en las afueras
de Chicago bloqueaban el tráfico y se producían arrestos; hubo atascos en
Pennsylvania; la lentitud reinó en el puerto de Tampa; y decía un reportaje
publicado en AlterNet que, cerca de Buffalo, un chofer declaraba a la prensa
que se tomaba una semana libre «para rezar por la economía».
Sonaron los cláxones en la Interestatal 77 de Carolina del Sur y también en
Georgia; ya hablan de una protesta en Indiana el 18 de abril; otra en la
ciudad de Nueva York y una gran convergencia de camiones en Washington, la
capital, para el día 28.
Por supuesto estos son los camioneros que operan sus vehículos propios, pues
las grandes compañías han hecho amenazas de despido a los empleados que se
atrevan a apoyar la protesta.
Todo comenzó el 1ro. de abril, organizado mediante Internet y sus
transmisiones por radio (CB). Piden la rebaja de los precios y que el
gobierno libere las reservas de combustible, también que se investiguen las
ganancias de las compañías petroleras, porque sus pequeños negocios
independientes van a la bancarrota, mientras la administración Bush ha
encontrado 30 000 millones de dólares de la hacienda pública para darle
financiamiento de emergencia y mantener a flote a Bear Stearns, el quinto
banco de inversión más grande de Estados Unidos y unos de los «gigantes» de
Wall Street, tras conocer el deterioro de su liquidez. A ese sí que lo
apuntalan.
La recesión económica que la administración Bush se niega a reconocer busca
sus principales víctimas entre los pequeños y se prevé que el verano verá un
declive mayor de la situación cuando el Departamento de Energía pronostica
que los precios en algunas partes del país «cruzarán el umbral de los cuatro
dólares el galón».
Sin embargo, la prensa apenas ha «notado» este acontecimiento que pudiera
anunciar malos presagios. Sobre los camioneros descansa el transporte del 70
por ciento de los bienes en Estados Unidos, por lo que la huelga que se está
gestando pudiera llevar a límites extremos una situación económica en franco
deterioro.
Por ahora, en los radios CB se escuchan algunos mensajes como este: «Se
trata de todos nosotros los propietarios de casa hipotecadas, los
trabajadores de la construcción sin trabajo, los ancianos que no pueden
pagar sus cuentas de calefacción... Esta no es la acción de los camioneros,
sino del pueblo».
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/opinion/2008-04-09/un-bloqueo-camionero-en-est
ados-unidos/
========================================
WALTER LIPPMANN, CubaNews
Los Angeles, California
http://www.walterlippmann.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
"Cuba - Un Paraiso bajo el bloqueo"
=============================