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AFL-CIO President John Sweeney urged caution in the days leading up to the historic vote that ultimately gave President Bush authority to use military force to invade Iraq. "Our nation's long-term interests require that we assemble a broad international coalition for an aggressive and effective policy of disarmament in Iraq -- and work through the United Nations to the greatest extent possible. America certainly has the right to act unilaterally if we need to do so to protect our national interests, but the AFL-CIO strongly believes that our national interests are better protected by multilateral action," said Sweeney in a letter to Congress. He then directed a pointed rebuke at President George Bush. "It is regrettable that some have sought to politicize this debate, challenging the commitment to national security of those who raise questions and concerns about these important matters -- just as some attempted to taint the debate over the formation of a department of homeland security by trying to equate a stand for workers' basic rights with a lack of patriotism. Such efforts are not only despicable -- they obstruct and undermine the honest debate about important, complex issues to which the American people are entitled." "Similarly," he went on, "we are concerned about the timing of this debate. It appears to many of our members that the sudden urgency for a decision about war and peace, an urgency, which did not exist a month ago, has as much to do with the political calendar as with the situation in Iraq. It is an apparent contradiction that there is no similar urgency to take action to address the economic crisis that is also inflicting immediate suffering on so many of our people."
The California Senate killed a potential Hollywood tax break aimed at halting so-called runaway movie productions. The bill, written by Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson and sponsored by Governor Gray Davis, would have offered a 15 percent tax credit on qualified wages. Studios and entertainment industry unions backed the tax break. But while it would not have kicked in until 2004, the timing was bad, given the state's budget deficit of nearly $24 billion. The state's Franchise Tax Board had estimated that passage of the bill would result in a $300-million loss in revenue between 2004, the year the tax credit would go into effect and 2009, the year it would expire. "The problem of runaway production is real," a Senate analysis concluded. "The proposed credit, much of which would go to producers who have no intention of leaving California, seems a blunt instrument to use in this battle."
Proposed federal legislation, which would provide a 25 percent wage-based tax credit to productions with budgets under $10 million was introduced in the fall of 2001 but at press time remained stalled in Congress. Although there was hope that the bill could be attached to tax legislation before Congress adjourns, a spokeswoman for Representative David Dreier (R-Ca.), who authored House Resolution 3131, admits its prospects are murky. "With all the attention on Iraq, we're not sure if it will move by the end of the session," said press secretary Jo Powers. "But if that happens, the congressman will re-introduce it next session." The Film and Television Action Committee is pursuing an alternative strategy, designed to eliminate Canadian motion picture subsidies entirely. FTAC is currently preparing a Section 301(a) petition asking the U.S. Trade Representative to initiate negotiations with Canada to remove its subsidies, in keeping with existing treaty obligations and enforcement powers of the World Trade Organization. Variety 9/22/02 | Text of H.R.3131 | Text of S.1278 | FTAC
In a setback for multinational corporations, a federal appeals panel ruled that they can be held liable in U.S. courts for aiding and abetting human rights violations committed by others abroad. The ruling, which the panel said was unprecedented, came in a case that accuses Unocal Corporation of turning a blind eye to alleged human rights abuses, including murder and rape, against Burmese villagers. Myanmar government soldiers allegedly forced the villagers to work on a $1.2-billion natural gas pipeline. At least 10 similar lawsuits are pending around the country against corporations, including ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and Coca-Cola, and human rights lawyers have several other cases involving multinational companies waiting in the wings. In 1996, a federal judge found that the evidence suggests "that Unocal knew that forced labor was being utilized and that the joint venturers benefited from the practice." In a September 2002 majority opinion, Judges Harry Pregerson and A. Wallace Tashima said Unocal should be held to an international law standard developed by recent war crimes tribunals in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Given the "sufficient evidence in the present case that Unocal gave assistance and encouragement to the Myanmar military ... we may impose aiding and abetting liability for knowing practical assistance or encouragement, which has a substantial effect on perpetuation of the crime," they wrote. International Labor Rights Foundation
"I operated under the theory that a good union doesn't have to be dull," said raconteur and labor organizer Moe Foner, described by veteran New York journalist Jack Newfield as one who "could publicize like P.T. Barnum, organize like Joe Hill and network like Bill Clinton." Foner's work spanned the 1930s through the 1990s, embracing dance music, musical theater, and alternative journalism. He drew together talents like playwright Arthur Miller, director Martin Ritt and actors Zero Mostel, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Local 1199, New York's hospital and healthcare workers union, now a part of the Service Employees International Union, has been at the center of organized labor's efforts to revive a vigorous cultural life that reached its zenith in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1979, Foner helped launch a cultural program called Bread and Roses, named after the rallying cry of the 1912 textile workers' strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Bread and Roses represented an idealistic notion that working men and women could come together and fight for higher standards of living, as well as an invigorating cultural experience. The group carries on today and recently mounted a New York photography exhibit, A Day in the Life of a Union Member, in which the Editors Guild was a participant (see The Eastern Breeze in our Nov/Dec issue). Foner's memoir, Not for Bread Alone (Cornell University Press) is a short history of his efforts to combine organizing and popular culture. He died in 2002 at the age of 86.
Tony Mazzocchi, a longtime union official who was a pioneer in the occupational safety movement and the founder of the six-year-old Labor Party, died in October at his home in Washington. He was 76. In his years with the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, Mazzocchi was widely viewed as one of the greatest innovators and mavericks in the labor movement. In 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Mazzocchi was credited with being a principal force behind the legislation. In the 1970s, he began working with Karen Silkwood, a technician at a Kerr-McGee plant in Oklahoma that processed nuclear fuel rods. She told him that the company was falsifying records about the rods' safety and Mazzocchi arranged for her to meet a reporter for The New York Times. She died in a car accident while driving to meet the reporter. Mazzocchi's life was defined by an ability to combine a tough-minded understanding of the political realities of the moment with a longer view of the movement's goals. After retiring from the union in 1991, Mazzocchi focused on building the Labor Party. His slogan was: "The bosses have two parties. We need one of our own." In 1996, he presided over the founding convention of the Labor Party, which supports universal health insurance paid for by the federal government, free college tuition for all and laws making it easier for workers to unionize. NY Times 10/9/02 | Labor Party |
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