Craig Merrilees:Why the ILWU is fighting the corporate powers

Comment here: http://ricksmithshow.com/classwar/ilwu

This is a story about an international corporation that promises jobs and got tax subsidies and then went back on the deal. They broke the contracts. He tells us that this is a company that operates in alot of 3rd world countries and they're trying to do here. We talk about class solidarity and how there was a time in America where the working class KNEW what happens when the corporations got the upper hand. We allow the white collar criminals to get tax subsidies to literally get away with murder. We're dealing with world class criminals when it comes to wall street and they're not getting a finger laid on them. The American people don't feel they're being listened to and see it that the longshoreman.

He talks about how today they had longshoreworkers and community members on the railroad tracks staring at a locomotive. People had to be willing to put their bodies on the line. they had to be willing to stand up to the locomotive. they had to be willing to stand up to the police, but at the end of the day it was a peaceful protest. We have to be willing to speak truth to power and the only way to restart that is organizing in the workplace.




He says we're all suffering from historical amnesia. We have to do alot more talking [at the workplace]... so folks begin to have the ammunition to take on the corporate powers. We also talk about how we need to force politicians to talk about the importance of organized labor OUTSIDE the union hall.

He tell us that this fight will continue. We'll keep you updated.

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News & Politics

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• ilwu
• class war