April 1, 2008 - No. 47
ArcelorMittal Wrecking of
Canadian Steel Production Must Not Pass!
- K.C. Adams -
• ArcelorMittal
Wrecking of Canadian Steel Production Must Not Pass! - K.C.
Adams
• An Act of Anger and Displacement: The
Alternative Is Vigorous Collective Resistance to the Anti-Social
Offensive - Anne Jamieson
• Monsanto, Canada and Brazil - Jack
East
Cuba's Heroic Internationalism
• Reflections by Comrade Fidel Castro: The
Detachment Returns, Undefeated
ArcelorMittal Wrecking of
Canadian Steel Production Must Not Pass!
- K.C. Adams -
ArcelorMittal Long
Carbon North America-Wire Group announces
closure of its Lachine Wire mill (Montreal)
Steelworkers' security lies in the fight for the rights
of all and in gaining control over the direction of the economy!
For many years steelworkers in Montreal have produced
high quality wire at a factory in Lachine and another in Saint-Patrick.
ArcelorMittal, the largest global steel monopoly with headquarters in
Luxembourg, now owns both plants. March 26, the steel monopoly declared
in a press release its intention
to shut down forever the wire-making facility in Lachine. One hundred
and fifty-three steelworkers and salaried employees are directly
affected by the death of this plant while many more depend on the
added-value from the plant for their pensions.
ArcelorMittal has now closed two Quebec steel plants in
less than six months after only recently acquiring them. The other
affected plant is in nearby Contrecoeur. Quebec has now been reduced to
almost no steel production with this disastrous parade of steel
closures worsening the situation. Quebec
is being relegated to a source of iron ore and other raw material,
while Canada as a whole produces less than half the country's apparent
demand for steel. ArcelorMittal has also bought the Dofasco integrated
steel mill in Hamilton demoting that crucial century-old plant to a
minor position within its global Empire.
In every press release the ArcelorMittal boasts that it "is the world's
largest and most global steel company, with 310,000 employees in more
than 60 countries." In 2007, the monopoly declared gross receipts of
"USD 105.2 billion, with a crude steel production of 116 million
tonnes, representing around 10 per cent
of world steel output." The takeover of Dofasco presents a new
challenge and danger for Hamilton steelworkers, which require new
methods of organizing and resistance based primarily on the independent
thinking, initiative and actions of the workers themselves.
A global monopoly recognizes the Canadian or Quebec
economy only in so far as how well it serves its particular steel
Empire. Private monopoly planning for production and distribution takes
place on a continental and worldwide basis. This is clearly evident
from ArcelorMittal's press release announcing
the closure of the Lachine plant: "In the North American wire market
supply has been consistently exceeding demand since the early 2000s. We
cannot continue operating two wire mills [in Quebec] in a context where
it is more advisable to operate only one plant and thereby bring our
costs down to more competitive
levels to ensure long term profitability." One could ask: if "supply
has been consistently exceeding demand since the early 2000s," why
would ArcelorMittal buy two Quebec wire plants within the last two
years. Was this to deliberately destroy production in Quebec to lessen
supply in the "North American wire market"?
Workers should deeply ponder private monopoly planning and the
activities of the four main foreign steel monopolies in Canada:
ArcelorMittal (Europe), U.S. Steel, Essar (India) and Evraz Group
(Russia). Their actions and the struggle to restrict their monopoly
right reveal a future free from economic insecurity,
exploitation and crises.
Ownership of the modern socialized economy has become so
concentrated that monopolies can now plan production and distribution.
Unlike capitalism in its infancy, monopolies do not just produce as
much as they can and throw it onto the market. ArcelorMittal declares
that it knows how much wire
it can sell in North America and therefore adjusts production
accordingly even buying competing plants to shut them down or colluding
with other monopolies to set prices and carve up the market. In this
way ArcelorMittal attempts to avoid a serious crisis within its own
Empire by reducing capacity utilization, closing
certain factories, buying others to wreck them after a short time, such
as in Lachine and Contrecoeur yet still produce enough to satisfy the
markets it has secured. The press release assures its wire consumers
stating: "This closure represents the best option for Lachine and
Saint-Patrick customers. They will see no
difference in their business dealings with us and will continue to
receive high quality products and services." A global monopoly plans
all aspects of its economic activity within its own Empire and sector.
Critical to its plan is to become dominant enough to be able to control
market prices up or down to guarantee
profitability and to wipe out or absorb smaller competitors in any
country that does not fight for its independence and self-reliance of
its basic industries.
Domination of a sector, especially in certain regions
allows a private monopoly to set market prices and production levels by
itself or in collusion with other monopolies. Any negative consequences
to the social or natural environments that may occur from private
monopoly planning in a particular
country or economy are not considered the direct social responsibility
of the monopoly, as its concern is focused on the profitability of its
global Empire. Loss of added-value from closure of production
facilities, control of prices that may drain needed added-value from
other sectors, lowering of wages and benefits
and net loss of employment and social programs are not considered the
social responsibility of the private monopoly. Its first and
predominate concern is the well-being of its particular global Empire.
Apologists of monopoly capitalism even laud this indifference, as
strengthening a particular Empire means it can
wipe out competitors more easily and according to the neo-liberal line
create possibilities of greater wealth trickling down to the people
somewhere within its Empire. The narrow interests of a particular
private monopoly are considered greater than the broad interests of any
society, its socialized economy and the
public good.
Global monopolies prove that production and distribution
in the basic industries such as steel, forestry and energy can be
planned with the precision of science. This reality is readily proved
by today's private monopolies such as ArcelorMittal. But this planning
within Empires cannot prevent crises as
it ignores and comes in conflict with the needs of the rest of the
socialized economy. More than ignoring the general interests of those
societies in which they operate, private monopoly planning within
Empires to guarantee their own profitability comes in contradiction
with other sectors on market pricing and the
all-sided development of the economy, denies resources for the masses
to participate in the economy and for social programs and pulls those
states where they are dominant into conflicts and wars with competing
Empires and states.
In contrast, how would the working class reconcile the
interests and well-being of their particular workplace and their claims
on the added-value they produce with the general interests of society,
socialized economy and public good? The answer is to integrate monopoly
and sectoral planning with the
general interests of society and the overall socialized economy. It
demands broadminded modern nation-building and the development of a
pro-social self-reliant economy. But in the present context,
broadminded modern nation-building comes in conflict with the narrow
aims of private monopolies and their drive
for profitability. The planning of the private monopoly ArcelorMittal
is centred on "ensuring long-term profitability." It is precisely the
"profitability" of the private monopoly that must be restricted for the
public good, general interests of society and modern nation-building to
flourish. Economic planning, especially
within the basic sectors of the economy, must come under the control of
the working class and public economic institutions so as to harmonize
and ensure the well-being of the socialized economy as a whole, avoid
crises and guarantee the economic security of the people and their
nation.
Private monopoly planning is egocentric and centred on
the profitability of a particular Empire.
Socialized planning under the direction of the working
class and new public economic institutions upholds social
responsibility and is centred on the human factor/social consciousness.
Socialized planning must begin within a very definite
geographic and political area under the political control of the
working class and its allies. The basic industries of the socialized
economy must be under socialized ownership and free from private
monopoly control and dictate. This means concretely
for Canada the existence of a public steel industry from coast to coast
from mining to end use-value, an industry that can plan production and
consumption within Canada and guarantee the security of that production
and consumption for the continued well-being of the overall economy,
steelworkers, salaried employees
and their communities not to speak of an enormous amount of added-value
made available to society for government, social programs and
infrastructure.
The wrecking of steel production in Lachine and
Contrecoeur and threatened cutbacks elsewhere must be relegated to a
sombre dark past of monopoly right. The challenge for the working class
is to organize itself to become a collective powerful enough to
challenge monopoly right and eventually to
become masters of Canada's socialized economy and political affairs.
Egocentric monopoly right to dictate production and
consumption to serve private profitability must come to an end. An
alternative must be brought into being by restricting monopoly right to
rule over the socialized economy and make narrow decisions for their
own profitability that inevitably clash
with the well-being of the socialized economy and public good.
Organize to confront the monopoly right of the steel
monopolies! To assure the people's economic security, Canada must have
a self-reliant vibrant basic steel industry under the public control of
the working class and new economic institutions!
Danger abounds for all ArcelorMittal workers everywhere
in Canada. They must get together with steelworkers and others to
discuss the situation and plan to defend their economic security and
rights.
Join the discussion in Hamilton, Montreal and Sault
Ste. Marie on the future of the Canadian steel industry -- an
alternative to wrecking is possible! Steelworkers' security lies in the
fight for the rights of all and in gaining control over the direction
of the economy!
The Horror Story Continues
United
Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos (FTQ), March 26, 2008
(excerpts)
Just two years after acquiring it, ArcelorMittal
recently announced the closure of its wire mill in Lachine. "Our horror
story with this company continues. It's their approach that's so
brutal. For ArcelorMittal's senior management
in London, the Web has become their preferred method of doing things.
They have, in addition, not honoured the commitments they made when
they bought the plant. It's very disappointing. We will be doing
everything we can to help those of our members who are grappling with
this fait accompli,"
declared Denis Trottier, USW/Syndicat des Métallos (FTQ)
coordinator for the Saint-Jean region.
In continuing, he reminded his audience that the same
approach had been adopted last year, on December 12, when the company
announced the closure of the Contrecoeur steel plant. "We first heard
about it through a news release distributed via the Internet," he said.
"I'm shocked to see the brutal methods
used by ArcelorMittal to inform us of news that is so important, with
such dramatic consequences for our members.
"It would appear that the Mittal plant in Lachine has
been closed in order to consolidate its operations with the
Saint-Patrick Mittal facility, but we are not aware of the existence of
any recovery plan. We're operating in a fog. We have learned that the
company has given itself until the end of this year
to achieve a zero deficit and reposition itself on the steel wire
market. We are concerned because Mittal has been asleep at the switch
for the past two years. They let the situation deteriorate," continued
union staffer Frank Beaudin.
The two unionists are also asking questions about the
Ontario plant, which does not appear to be under threat of closure at
this time although it is posting losses that are bigger than those of
the Quebec plant.
"Will this scenario repeat itself at this wire mill? We
would very much like to know what ArcelorMittal's long-term plans are
for Quebec. The Sidbec acquisition has been a goldmine for the company,
while also giving them an opportunity to position themselves on the
North American market," they
concluded.
The USW/Syndicat des Métallos (FTQ) will examine
all possible avenues in working to help its members, particularly from
the retirement standpoint and that of transfers to the company's other
plants in Quebec.
An Act of Anger and Displacement
The Alternative Is Vigorous Collective Resistance to
the Anti-Social
Offensive
- Anne Jamieson -
A little over a year ago, an unknown individual carried
out a series of brutal physical attacks and robberies against 5 women
of Asian descent, near the 29th Avenue Skytrain Station in Vancouver.
At least one
of the women had been going home from work. One of them suffered
permanent brain damage.
In the newspapers, it is reported that the attacker is a
former hospital worker who had lost his job in the
Housekeeping Department of the Children's Hospital when the Health
Authority contracted out support services five years ago following the
passage of Bill 29. He said in a court statement
that he had gone from having everything he ever wanted to having
nothing. He became addicted to cocaine. His wife said in a court
statement that he had been a very gentle man who loved children and
loved his job. (This was confirmed by a unionist who knew him and who
spoke to Investing in Health).
The newspapers do not consider their possible role in
this tragedy.
One can imagine the irrationality of the thoughts that
went
through this man's mind leading up to the attacks. His life was turned
topsy-turvy following the contracting out and the loss of his job. He
lost his job, his ability to support his wife and 3 children, and
probably respect from self and others. Respect
from self and others -- self-image -- is an extremely strong urge that
can surpass all other considerations, even in a person who normally
puts other considerations ahead of self-interest. A perceived attack on
self-image can arouse a ferociousness that is rivaled only by the
ferociousness of the capitalist defending against
an attack on his profit margin. This kind of self-image belongs to the
moribund social order that is hegemonic at the present time, but whose
passing out of existence is long overdue.
When support service jobs were contracted out following
Bill 29, labour contracting companies like Sodexho, Aramark, and
Compass blacklisted former unionist activists and refused to hire them
back. Many former workers refused to apply for their former jobs, in
which they would be paid a fraction
of their former wages. Some reapplied if they felt they had no other
options. Most of the workers hired by these companies at rock bottom
wages ($10/hour) were women (and some men) of East Asian descent.
HEU has since organized most of these workers. During
the first long struggles for "first contracts" with the companies,
these workers were kept isolated from the rest of the hospital
workforce. They were (and are) referred to as "Sodexho" workers (or
other company workers). Their picket lines were
crossed. Other workers were not moblized to walk on their picket lines,
although some did. There was not much discussion organized about the
importance of supporting them. There had not been much discussion prior
to the contracting out to analyze the tactics of the employers to
divide and rule, or to talk about
the nature of the anti-social offensive and how to resist it. There has
been little or no attempt to keep in touch with the workers who lost
their jobs, to keep them as members of the collective, and to involve
them in organizing to defeat the anti-social offensive. There had been
little discussion about the nature of the
present economic and political system and the need for the working
class to lead in changing it. In other words, the workers were not
prepared.
Newspapers have added fuel to the fire by endlessly
portraying Vancouverites who are "not born here," as a problem and a
threat to the social fabric -- and thus a likely target for random
displacement of anger and social tension.
This tragic incident is yet another example of the
fallout from the policies of the government, as representatives of
monopoly capital, to carry out its antisocial offensive. It is a grim
testament to the anti-social, anti-human, anti-worker nature of the
present system and the need to overhaul it completely
by carrying out democratic renewal.
In defiance of the tactics of the ruling class and the
employers to divide and rule, to drive down all wages relentlessly
and to attack social programs like health care and education, the
working class is developing forums for discussion on how to resist the
anti-social offensive -- for example, BC
Labour Against War and the Vancouver District Labour Council Women's
Committee are organizing
educational forums for workers who are members of diverse unions. Other
forums are being organized for young workers and the unorganized.
Investing in Health
is a forum for health care workers. SIKLAB, which provides information
and support regarding the rights of Filipino migrant workers, is one
example of some forums
for migrant workers.
If the human factor/social consciousness is fully
developed in the course of these and other forums, which must be
combined with actions to resist and change the present social order and
its inhuman policies, the working class can take its proper role in the
forefront of the struggle for a society that
is created by and for humans, instead of by and for monopoly
capitalists and
their moribund aim to drive all of society backward into the middle
ages.
Monsanto, Canada and Brazil
- Jack East -
News has just arrived via independent media that Brazil
has bought into Monsanto's genetically-modified corn seeds, no doubt to
cash in on Bush Co.'s pseudo bio-fuel ethanol project. This after the
majority of the world's peasants have rejected them. There are two
salient points for rejection. Firstly, Monsanto is a
world wide known guilty war criminal company that is in league with the
unholy union of IG Farben, which had its name changed to BASF, Bayer
and Hoechst. The U.S. imperialist military, instead of dismantling IG
Farben in Germany in 1945, interlocked it with Dupont, Dow and
Monsanto. Secondly, these corporations
are now waging a unholy chemical poison war against the planet's
livability by extorting the producers using elite laws. They have at
their disposal bodies such as the Supreme Court of Canada which
approved Monsanto's fascist methods to implement monopolization of
seeds. The content of their practice can be
seen in the manner they peddle off this destructive wrecking practice
as science. Modern crops are the age-old legacy of peasants who brought
into being the free seeding of their cropped quality seeds to the five
thousand year betterment of variety and genetic well-being of the
global seed pool and thus belong to
the people.
The Supreme Court of Canada recently upheld that it is
a crime for a farmer to have in his possession these genetically
ruinous monopoly capitalist seeds if they have been freely seeded by
nature on his land, because he has not paid Monsanto for the privilege.
In the Schmeiser vs Monsanto
court case, the farmer Percy Schmeiser was taken to court and found
guilty of having Monsanto's seeds on his property although he never
planted them; the super seeds had taken over and monopolized the
Schmeiser crops. Monsanto took Schmeiser to court to fine him for one
million dollars (a lien-to-own) for not
paying for the Monsanto seeds! Paying this fine would have broken him
after over fifty years of hard work of free seed practice. What crime
did Schmeiser commit? The Supreme court in a 5-4 vote against Schmeizer
said it does not matter how the seed got on to his property; the crop
belongs to Monsanto which
owns the monopoly right to the seed technology it ruled, giving this
and other unconscionable arguments. This extortion of the farmers is
called the
rule of law! Monsanto should be taken apart and dismantled and the
extorted monies returned to the farmers. Although the Supreme Court did
not allow the million dollar fine that
Monsanto sued for, it is no less dangerous to permit monopolies to
extort
millions of dollars for an inferior seed and then pretend that Canada
has awarded this unelected body the right to allow fascist-nazi
pseudo-science lawmaking properties in Canada.
During the Second World War, the first Canadian
division fought against fascist agriculture and for the dismantling of
IG Farben and its affiliates. Who mandated the unelected body which
comprises the Supreme Court to exercise the "right" to re-establish
fascist practice in Canada? Let us look at
that and we find that Monsanto Canada is headed by ex-RCMP officers and
that they are using the laws of the land to destroy the anti-fascist
side of liberation for the workers in agriculture by a company that was
found to be a war criminal under international law by the World Court
at the Hague, the international
criminal court and the international war crimes tribunal.
Whose Law? Not Fascist Law
Science must belong to the people. It cannot be used to
turn matters of public concern into a matter of exclusive property
rights of war criminal monopolies. Monsanto was the company that made
the war
chemicals
2,4-D and 2,4,5-T dumped on the peoples of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam
throughout the Indo-China war. Five million Indo-Chinese were acutely
and chronically poisoned from their profiteering off their poison
spraying over the peoples, plants and animals of Indo-China. The amount
of destruction of numerous
species of plants and animals has yet to be fully figured, but it is
known that when the victims in Vietnam tried to sue Monsanto in the
U.S. Supreme Court (another non-elected body), the Court said there
was no scientific proof that the chemical poison spraying of the crops
and peoples was wrong or even harmful!
Another big U.S. imperialist lie to deceive the world's peoples and to
destroy the anti-fascist covenants to which both Canada and the U.S.
are signatories. Hopefully the organizations of Canadian lawyers will
have the strength and wisdom to challenge this obvious takeover by the
fascist side of Canada's law making
processes in the name of the "rights" of the monopolies.
Brazil has now joined the nations of scabs that
willingly subvert their own peasantry and bring destruction to the free
quality seeds that the peasants have worked to create for thousands
of years. When will Canada call a spade a spade and quit hiding under
monopoly pollution and their big money
that destroys the planet? Something is deadly wrong with Canadian
law-making when criminals are allowed to destroy the living world for
money. How can we change these unjust, illegal laws when we the people
don't even make them or choose the judiciary? There is no doubt we
need a constituent assembly to
draft a made in Canada constitution which will enforce laws written to
achieve justice, not enshrine monopoly right.
Jack East
MLPC Member Vancouver Island North
Cuba's Heroic Internationalism
Reflections by Comrade Fidel Castro
The Detachment Returns, Undefeated
- March 29, 2008 -
 This past Wednesday, March 26, 20-year-old Lisandra
Guerra became the 500-meter time-trial cycling world champion in the
World Track Cycling Championship held in Manchester, Great Britain,
following intense competition with athletes from 37 different
countries. Fruit of our educational and sports system,
of our talented youth and women, we can sincerely and legitimately feel
proud of this victory. Credit where credit is due!
Today, however, I shan't write about sports. That same
day, on the 26th, the Henry Reeve Contingent Detachment that had been
involved in relief work in Peru returned to Cuba, undefeated.
The earthquake took place on August 15, 2007. It
measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. The detachment arrived in Cuzco on
August 18. Their two-month relief work plan had been designed to
address the most urgent needs.
The real needs were to require more than double this
time. They saw 153,292 patients, 65,299 of whom were visited in their
homes. They remained in Peru until March 25, 2008, seven months and
seven days.
Dr. Juan Carlos Dupuy Núñez, who has been
in charge of the Henry Reeve Contingent since its creation in September
19, 2005 and was the head of the Cuban medical brigade in Pakistan,
headed the detachment. Several members of the detachment had done
relief work in Pakistan and Indonesia. Not
one of these 77 men and women turned a deaf ear to the call of duty.
The glorious pages in history they have written cannot
be erased. Such dignity and conscience are a bulwark against the rusted
armaments of imperialism.
In view of the Peruvian people's gratitude and
acknowledgement, it was morally impossible for us to leave the country
without having other members of the Contingent travel there to
undertake relief work in their place.
I shall be writing about China in coming days. The
material has already been written and needs only some minor touches.
I didn't even try to write about the commemoration of
the 20th anniversary of the Cuito Cuanavale battle, the loftiest
example of our people's internationalist conscience. I would prefer
that those who witnessed the heroic events in person, during a time
that was to last, not one day, but months, speak
in honor of the glorious fallen.
Yesterday, I watched the Round Table program on Cuba's
congress of intellectuals and artists, about to start. There is no
doubt in my mind the debates will be extremely interesting.
We shall be alert, following developments, as Bush gets
up to his old tricks in Bucharest and the Black Sea the first days of
April, as we have already denounced. And keep an eye on the Vice! This
was a typical saying in the days Cuba was a neo-colony, meant to keep
people on their guard.
Fidel Castro Ruz
March 29, 2008
7:16 pm
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