January 07, 2012

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US, Canadian workers locked out for opposing wage cuts The new year begins with major industrial lockouts in Canada and the ongoing lockout of Cooper Tire workers in Findlay, Ohio. On New Years Day, the Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) subsidiary of Caterpillar locked out 425 workers in London, Ontario, demanding they give up 55 percent of their wages—a reduction from $35 to $16.50 per hour—together with significant cuts in benefits. The same weekend, Rio Tinto Alcan locked out 750 workers at a smelter in Alma, Quebec, insisting on wage and benefit concessions and the right to subcontract. Meanwhile, 1,050 workers in Findlay, Ohio are entering the seventh week on the picket line at Cooper Tire, which locked them out on November 28 after they rejected the company’s demands for sweeping concessions on top of those given up in 2008. Rio Tinto and Caterpillar are two of the world’s largest corporations, valued in the tens of billions of dollars. They operate on every continent, exploiting labor and natural wealth to generate enormous earnings. Rio Tinto made $7.5 billion in profits in the first half of 2011, while Caterpillar reaped $14 billion last year. Cooper Tire is likewise a multi-national corporation, with facilities in the US, Mexico, Europe and Asia. These lockouts are part of an intensifying corporate assault on the working class throughout North America and internationally, whose aim is the destruction of all the gains won by workers in the course of a century of bitter and bloody class struggles. This assault is fully supported by governments at every level,...
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Proposed Chicago anti-protest laws to be permanent Not even a month has passed since Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, requested that the Chicago city council enact what he termed “temporary” and “one-time only” anti-protest measures in advance of the overlapping NATO and G-8 summits that will be held in the city from May 15-22. During a press conference held on January 4, Emanuel claimed that he “misspoke,” and that many of the proposed antidemocratic ordinances will in fact be permanent. Emanuel, who resigned as President Obama’s Chief of Staff in October 2010 to take the position of Chicago mayor, told reporters: “I made a mistake. Real simple, OK? I thought when I answered the question, I was answering the question about contracting, OK? So, if I made a mistake, I bear the responsibility.” According to Emanuel, only the powers given to the mayor for the purpose of concluding contracts in relation to the meetings will be temporary. The new laws will impose drastically increased fines on protesters, increasing the maximum fine assessed against those found to be resisting arrest or “aiding escape” from $500 to $1,000. The maximum duration of demonstrations would also be reduced by 15 minutes, to two hours. In addition, public parks and beaches would “open” at 6 AM, two hours later than they do currently. Loud noise, music or amplified sound would only be legal between 8 AM and 10 PM. Other provisions impose onerous requirements on parade organizers, and allow the city to levy punitive fines when they are violated. For...

Jodi Dean

Jodi Dean is a political theorist.

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