Sep 28, 2002

Lem Harris, a lifelong defender of family farmers and the rural working class, died Sept. 21. He was 98 years old. He was a member of the Executive Board of the Connecticut Communist Party, and was active in politics up to his death.

LOS ANGELES – The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has filed unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against their employers, the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), and the Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), charging them with manufacturing a national crisis in order to sabotage contract talks.

A very loud, spirited and angry crowd of steelworkers and their supporters rallied outside the Federal Courthouse in Youngstown, Ohio, on Sept. 12, where an opening status hearing was taking place on the United Steelworkers of America’s (USWA) legal challenge to the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation’s (PBGC) unprecedented action denying shutdown pensions to RTI workers.

NEW YORK – Under the slogan “End the Occupation,” non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and religious and civil organizations from around the world gathered at UN Headquarters here Sept. 23-24 to address the humanitarian crisis affecting the Palestinian people. The meeting was held as Israel’s military incursions into Palestine increased and suicide bombings in Israel resumed.

In a campaign marked by company intimidation, government pressure, economic crisis and considerable confusion, Boeing Machinists voted down the “best and final” contract offer from the Boeing Company, but were unable to muster the two-thirds majority required to authorize a strike.

DALLAS, Tejas – La noche después de que el presidente Bush presentó su ultimátum a la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, activistas pro paz del norte de Tejas hicieron una reunión abierta en la Iglesia Metodista Unida de Northaven. El tema era “Parar la Guerra contra Irak.”

Legisladores están informando que sus teléfonos están sonando con llamadas protestando los planes de George W. Bush de hacer guerra contra Irak. La resolución de guerra que Bush envió al Congreso la semana pasada es un le otorga el derecho de “usar todos los medios que él determine apropiados, incluyendo la fuerza” contra Irak.

News Analysis


In his United Nations speech on Sept. 12, President Bush replaced Osama bin Laden with Saddam Hussein as the nation’s primary enemy and set the stage to win world support for U.S. intervention in Iraq. But his speech was also about removing exposure of corporate crimes against working people and the economy and about the failed campaign to defeat Al Qaeda from the front pages – all, as Senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said, “curiously timed to coincide with the fall re-election campaign.”