The Gloves Are Off

War and foreign policy have dominated the media for some time now. Yet, the President of the United States himself has urged us to go about our lives as normal. In the spirit of patriotism and obeying my commander-in-chief, I am doing just that. And when I survey the landscape, I dont like what I see.

Its normal for those of us in organized labor to fight injustice where we find it. One doesnt have to look very hard these days. To paraphrase the poet: How are they trying to stick it to us? Let us count the ways.

As President Hill told us in last months column, the nonunion contractor associationswith the help of the Bush Department of Laborhave pushed through an apprenticeship standard for Electronic Systems Technicians that is an attempt to shut us out of this fast-growing work and even impinge on some of our traditional wiremans work. This is paybackpure and simplefor campaign contributions.

We find that Vice President Cheney is thumbing his nose at the law by stonewalling on disclosing exactly whom he sat down with in discussing energy policy. We already know that his "advisors" were heavily weighted toward the oil and energy conglomerate chiefs who underwrote the Bush/Cheney campaign.

As reported in this issue, the administration and some of its allies in Congress are dangling Amtrak over the abyss, threatening the jobs of our members on the carrier and other workers.

The administration continues full steam ahead to open up new free trade agreements, even as manufacturing continues to take big hits from the recession and unfair trade policies.

We continue to fight against unfair and unreasonable changes in national energy policy affecting electric and gas utilities. For once, we can thank Enron, because they stepped up to become the poster child for corporate abuse of the system, making our case that much stronger.

And we continue to fight for fair and equitable pension reform while protecting the vital base provided by Social Security. Our members at Portland General Electrican Enron subsidiarytook a terrible hit in their pension plans thanks to the parent companys abusive practices. They have told their story four times on Capitol Hill and in a press tour of major cities. As one of our brothers pointed out, the need to protect Social Security as a base for a decent and stable retirement is greater than ever. And the administrations touting of the "virtues" of private investment of the Social Security fund should be seen for what they arejust another attempt to pay back the big money boys and undermine the well-being of working people.

Trouble is afoot elsewhere in the land. Emboldened, the right wing is again mounting paycheck deception drives in several states. This is the measure that would impose burdensome paperwork and reporting requirements on unions that seek to exercise their right to free speech on issues that affect their membersas Im doing right now. We beat back all attempts to gag our voices in 1998, and well do it again.

So as you can see, the right wing has been busy. These are the same people who launched investigations every time Bill Clinton crossed the street when the sign said, "Dont walk." But these hypocrites turn the other way when the fat and greedy in our society seek to undermine any attempts by working people to catch a break or get ahead. If Clinton had the relationship with former Enron CEO Ken Lay that George W. Bush does, the right wing would have started another impeachment drive.

Well go about business as usual all right. Well fight them every inch of the way and do what we have always done to protect our members and all working families.

Jeremiah J. O'Connor
International Secretary-Treasurer

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May 2002 IBEW Journal