END THE U.S. OCCUPATION OF IRAQ!
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
MARCH AND RALLY TO STOP THE WAR NOW!
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3RD, 5PM
POWELL AND MARKET-MARCH TO 24TH & MISSION ST., S.F.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
VOTE YES ON N! MEETING THURS. OCT. 22 & OCT. 28, 7PM,
GLOBAL EXCHANGE, 2017 MISSION STREET, SUITE 303
(NEAR 16TH & MISSION STREETS)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Oct 21 & Oct 22 - 9th Natl Day of Protest to Stop Police
Brutality, Repression & the Criminalization of a Generation
From: rita akayama
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 19:36:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: rita akayama
Subject: To: office@october22.org, no1022 ,
oct22sf@energy-net.org
Check out the Calendar of events below.
2) EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT!
Stop HR 10 Before Congress Starts a New War on Immigrants!
In the past two weeks, the most right-wing Congressmen have
tried to sneak horrible anti-immigrant measures past the public.
These are not just any bills: Congress has begun its single
BIGGEST ATTACK on immigrants in almost a DECADE.
3) Anger Over Tax Cuts as Jobs Leave Towns
By TIMOTHY EGAN
GALESBURG, Ill.
October 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/national/20taxes.html?hp&ex=1098331200&en=
b5b229e8f0a15ebd&ei=5094&partner=homepage
4) Soldiers fear that they are 'sleeping with the enemy'
Adrian Blomfield discovers deep mistrust between American
troops and Iraqi soldiers they are training
(Filed: 18/10/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/18/wirq218.xml&
sSheet=/news/2004/10/18/ixnewstop.html
5) Maritime Worker Monitor #7
October 13, 2004
STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ AND
THE WAR ON WORKERS!
Join the Million Worker March!
(This is a great argument in favor of the MWM and others like it.
I felt it was important to pass it along even though it is after the
Fact...BW)
6) How Many Iraqis Are Dying? By One Count, 208 in a Week
TALLYING THE DEAD
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
BAGHDAD, Iraq
October 19, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/international/middleeast/19casualties.html
?oref=login&hp
7) Oil Prices Climb Back to the $54 Level
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON
October 20, 2004
Filed at 12:07 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Oil-Prices.html
8) Homeless Families Blocked From Seeking U.S. Housing Aid
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
October 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/nyregion/20homeless.html
9) Public University Tuition Is Up Sharply for 2004
By GREG WINTER
October 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/education/20college.html?hp&ex=1098331200&
en=7556ff201f536c43&ei=5094&partner=homepage
10) 2 Shipbuilders Get Big Breaks in New Corporate Tax Bill
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
October 19, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/business/19corptax.html?hp&ex=1098244800&e
n=9c348723956b0000&ei=5094&partner=homepage
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Oct 21 & Oct 22 - 9th Natl Day of Protest to Stop Police
Brutality, Repression & the Criminalization of a Generation
From: rita akayama
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 19:36:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: rita akayama
Subject: To: office@october22.org, no1022 ,
oct22sf@energy-net.org
Check out the Calendar of events:
This is the 9th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression
and the Criminalization of a Generation. There will be protests around
the country in more than 25 cities.
Why is it important why we mobilize a powerful national outpouring
for October 22nd, 2004:
+ As our research for the Stolen Lives Project makes clear, the authorities
continue to give a green light to brutal, murdering cops. In the New York/
New Jersey over 101 people killed by law enforcement officers since
2001, and in the SF Bay Area over 40 killed by law enforcement since 2001.
+TheyÂ’ve continued racial profiling targeting Blacks and Latinos even
as they expanded this heinous practice to target Arabs, Muslims and
South Asians.
+TheyÂ’ve continued and expanded the police state clampdown they've
been putting into place since Sept 11th. The sever limits on the rights
to protest that was put in place around the RNC were only the most
recent examples of this.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE SF BAY AREA
October 21- San Jose
Justice Review Committee of the Human Relations
Commission Meeting
Thursday October 22nd 5:30pm pm
70 W. Hedding St. West Wing, basement,
San Jose CA 95110
Many families who have been impacted by police shootings
will share their concerns. If you can attend, please come
dressed in black.
contact: Richard Konda sccala@pacbell.net
October 22, 4pm - San Francisco
Press Conference/Speak Out
4921 3rd St (between Palou and Quesada)
Familes Speak Out- Marylon Boyd, Mesha Irizarry and
Sandra-Juanita Cooper,Danny Garcia, Regina Cardenas,
Soto family and many other family members
Also Organizations such as: Amnesty International,
Dennis Cunnigham, atty, October 22nd Coalition,
Police Watch/Ella Baker Center, Idriss Stelley Foundation,
Day Laborers, Samina Faheem of American Muslim Voice,
Yuri Kochiyama, Leroy Moore- poetry reading, And many more!
Wear black that day in memory of those whose lives have been
stolen from them. We must say loudly and clearly "We don't want
your kind of safety. There ain't no safety in a police state!
No More Stolen Lives!"
Fight Back ! On October 22nd, Wear Black!
October 22- Oakland
Premiere Showing: Every Mother's Son 8-10pm
Fellowship of Humanity
390 27th Street
Fundraiser for No on Measure Y: Showing of the Film,
"Every Mother's Son." The film is about victims
of police violence in New York City and there will be guest
speakers, including mothers of the victims.
Suggested Donation $5-10.
No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Sponsored by United for Peace and Justice Bay Area
October 22, 9pm-4am - Hip Hop Event San Francisco at Club Six
In support of the 9th National Day of Protest to Stop Police
Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation
Club Six
60 6th St.
(Hidden between Market/Mission in the heart of San Francisco's
world famous SOMA district. Or take MUNI lines 5, 6, 7, 21, 71
towards Market, exit Powell, and walk 1 block to 6th St.)
Lioness and Mr. E presents:
SF UPROCK 5 with members of LOCO BLOCO
SAKE 1 ,Jennicyde , Ren, Mr. E ,I-Jonah ,Jahyzer, Jus Rite
B-boy & B-girl Psyher hosted by:
Hound Dog Truckers
Price: Ladies free b4 10:30pm, $10 after
Check out our website at www.october22.org
October 22nd Coalition
2940 16th St 200-6
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 864-5153
oct22sf@energy-net.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT!
Stop HR 10 Before Congress Starts a New War on Immigrants!
In the past two weeks, the most right-wing Congressmen have
tried to sneak horrible anti-immigrant measures past the public.
These are not just any bills: Congress has begun its single
BIGGEST ATTACK on immigrants in almost a DECADE.
Please circulate widely.
*If you live in these states you have a chance to help. Five Minutes
of your time can safe many immigrant families. Will you please help?
Samina F. Sundas
EMERGENCY ACTION ALERT!
Stop HR 10 Before Congress Starts a New War on Immigrants!
In the past two weeks, the most right-wing Congressmen have tried
to sneak horrible anti-immigrant measures past the public. These
are not just any bills: Congress has begun its single BIGGEST ATTACK
on immigrants in almost a DECADE.
Recently, both houses passed the “911 Commission Recommendations
Implementation Act." The House of Representatives version --
HR 10 -- includes immigration amendments that were NEVER part
of the CommissionÂ’s recommendations. Now,without further debate,
against the wishes of the Commission, and with complete disregard
for the rights of noncitizen Americans, a group of 21 Senators and
House members will conference behind closed doors and decide
whether to keep the anti-immigrant amendments when it goes to
President Bush to be signed into law.
We need your help, NOW! In 7 years alone, over one million
immigrants have been deported. HR 10 would strip the few rights
that noncitizens enjoy under our Constitution, and tear millions
more families apart. Specifically, the proposed bill:
· Radically expands drive-by-deportations
· Suspends habeas corpus (the right to ask a court to review your
detention/deportation) for the first time since the Civil War
(Section 3009)
· Allows deportations to a country with no government (Section
3035)
· Allows more mandatory indefinite detentions,(Section 3032)
· Makes it more difficult for people fleeing torture to gain
asylum (Section 3007)
· Allows Homeland Security to deport immigrants before federal
courts have decided on their case. (Section 3009)
· Restricts driver's licenses and consular ID cards (Section
3006)
PLEASE PICK UP YOUR PHONE AND CALL!
The War on Terror is a War on Immigrants. We have to stop it.
So far, House staffers have said that they have received 5000
comments in support of HR 10 and only 15 in opposition of
HR10. Change what they are hearing!
CALL the members of Congress below and tell them: "I want you
to remove ALL the immigration provisions of HR10 from the final 911
Commission bill. The immigration provisions strip people of basic
Constitutional rights, and will tear countless families apart without
serving national security."
*In order of importance, call:
1. Congresswoman Susan Collins from Maine (202-224-2523) -
She has the most influence over which version of the bills pass.
2. Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut (202-224-4041) - He
is the ranking Democrat who needs to be told to stick firmly to the
Senate bill and reject the HouseÂ’s anti-immigrant provisions.
3. Senator Mike DeWine (Ohio, 202-224-2315); Congressman
Sensenbrenner (Wisconsin, 202-225-5101); Senator Graham
(Florida, 202-224-3041); and SenatorVoinovich
(Ohio, 202-224-3353).
4. Your own Congressperson and Senators. You can call the
Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected.
Or look them up at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.
5. As many of the other members of the Conference Committee
as you can – these are the only people who will be deciding what
sections of the bills will stay and what will go from the final bill.
Senate Members of the Conference Committee
Frank Lautenberg, New Jersey, 202-224-3224
Norm Coleman, Minnesota, 202-224-5641
John Sununu, NH, 202-224-2841
Pat Roberts, Kansas, 202-224-4774
Trent Lott, Mississippi, 202-224-6253 <>
Carl Levin, Michigan, 202-224-6221
Richard Durbin, Illinois, 202-224-2152
John Rockefeller, West Virginia
House Members of the Conference Committee Peter Hoekstra,
R-Mich., 2nd, 202-225-4401
Henry Hyde, R-Ill., 6th, 2020225-4561
David Dreier, R-Calif., 26th, 202-225-2305
Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., 52nd, 202-225-5672
Jane Harman, D-Calif., 36th, 202-225-8220
Ike Skelton, D-Mo., 4th, 202-225-2876
Robert Menendez, D-N.J., 13th, 202-225-7919
EMAIL or FAX
(Go to http://capwiz.com/aila2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6540936
your message in the boxes provided.)
Use your own words and experiences. You can include:
· Remove all HR 10 immigration provisions from the final version
of the "911 Commission Recommendations Implementation Act,"
especially Sections 3009 and 3039. These provisions were never
a part of the 9-11 CommissionÂ’s recommendations.
· If passed, they will prevent immigrants from being able to
fight to keep their families together. They will tear apart families
faster than the 1996 laws, which have already deported 1.2 million
people and which many agree are unjust.
· People will be deported before courts finish deciding their
cases. Some people wonÂ’t even have access to federal courts to
fight their deportations.
Some people wonÂ’t have access to any courts.
· These laws will not make the US any safer. Stop the war on
immigrants. Stop calling us terrorists or pay with our familiesÂ’ votes!
IF YOU WANT TO DO MORE:
Call us at Families for Freedom at 212-898-4121 or
www.familiesforfreedom.org For
more info on the bills, Visit
http://www.immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=654
In 1996, one year after an act of terror in Oklahoma, a Republican
Congress and Democratic president passed laws that have brutally
destroyed families and communities. History has shown that we
cannot expect ANY party to defend our rights if we don't make
our voices heard.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Anger Over Tax Cuts as Jobs Leave Towns
By TIMOTHY EGAN
GALESBURG, Ill.
October 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/national/20taxes.html?hp&ex=1098331200&en=
b5b229e8f0a15ebd&ei=5094&partner=homepage
GALESBURG, Ill. - People in this big-shouldered town, birthplace
of the poet Carl Sandburg, say Maytag broke their hearts. After
a decade of tax breaks and union concessions to keep the company
in a place that has been making refrigerators for more than 50 years,
Maytag closed its factory last month, terminating 1,600 jobs.
Maytag may be done with Galesburg, but Galesburg is not done with
Maytag.
District Attorney Paul L. Mangieri wants to sue Maytag to recoup
what he says were excess tax breaks in a broad package of incentives
to keep the company here. Much of the money, he said, came from
a purse that would have gone to schools in this economically fragile
community.
"We gave Maytag these incentives, and they accepted them," said
Mr. Mangieri, a Navy veteran who grew up in a small town not far
from here in western Illinois. "We did it based on faith and trust.
If we don't do anything now, it sends a message that we lack the
resolve to treat the rich and privileged the same as everybody else."
Maytag says it honored its agreement and took just the breaks to
which it was entitled.
There are echoes of Mr. Mangieri's argument in Putnam County, Fla.,
which gave $4.5 million in cash and tax breaks to attract a call center
owned by Sykes Enterprises, only to have it pull up stakes this month
after less than five years in Palatka.
"We ought to sue them," said Timothy Keyser, a Putnam County lawyer
who opposed the tax breaks from the start. "They sold the county
a bill of goods."
Galesburg and Putnam are losers in the increasingly cutthroat game
of using tax breaks to keep or attract jobs. Across the country,
communities are competing with one another to offer the most lucrative
incentives to lure good payrolls, from the giant assembly jobs at
Boeing to small centers for processing credit cards, despite some
studies that question the effectiveness of such tactics.
Most communities that lose business afterward lick their wounds and
walk away, as Putnam County plans to do. But in Galesburg, some
people have decided to take a stand, and it has split this community,
showing the challenges of fighting back against a corporation.
After initially cheering their prosecutor for trying to regain some of the
money used to keep Maytag, some people say they are afraid that they
may scare off future employers. They question whether suing to
reclaim tax breaks will hurt the community even more, adding that
they have to pay companies to compete and that it is the cost of doing
business in a vulnerable town.
"Maytag's leaving town has devastated our community," said Jeff Klinck,
a car dealer and the former chairman of the economic development office
here. "But I don't think any good comes from revenge. We want to move
forward, not move back."
The final decision on whether to sue will be made by November,
Mr. Mangieri said. Galesburg, site of a ferocious debate between Abraham
Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858, has a fighting spirit. Residents
say the current civic gut check may determine whether the town becomes
another casualty of the force that has devastated communities throughout
much of Middle America.
Next door in Iowa, officials are keeping one eye on the fight while trying
to determine whether they should try to recoup up to $25 million in public
money given to business partnerships that have not lived up to their
agreements to increase employment.
In New York, State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi said in an audit this year
that a program that gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to businesses
that promise to create work ended up rewarding some businesses that
lost jobs. Other state officials disputed those findings.
"We're all in the same boat: we're hungry for business and we need the
tax and job base," said Nancy S. Harris, a Putnam County commissioner.
"But in the future, I think we have to do better background checks and tie
tax breaks to length of stay and number of jobs."
Executives at Maytag and Sykes said they had lived up to their
agreements in accepting the tax breaks. In return for cash and reduced
taxes, the companies created payrolls that more than made up for the
inducements from local governments, they said.
"We did not in any way break an agreement," Lynne Dragomier,
a spokeswoman for Maytag at its headquarters in Newton, Iowa, said.
"We believe we have paid our fair share of taxes in Galesburg."
The legal question in Galesburg centers on whether Maytag received
excess property-tax breaks. Under Mr. Mangieri's interpretation of the
original deal, Maytag was entitled to $1 million in reduced property
taxes. That amount grew to $2.1 million without protest from the
county because the company was staying, county officials said.
Though the dollar amount is relatively small, the company and
Galesburg residents cite a larger principle.
Over the years, Maytag benefited from state and local tax abatements,
as well as money raised when people agreed to increase the sales
tax. According to Mr. Mangieri, Galesburg raised $2.8 million in sales
tax revenue to retrofit the refrigerator plant here, the State of Illinois
came through with $5.8 million in aid, and Maytag was given 10 years
of property tax abatements. Those breaks ended in 1999 and were
not to exceed $1 million, Mr. Mangieri said.
Ms. Dragomier said Maytag, which is moving most of the work from
Galesburg to a new plant in Mexico, had always been honest in its
dealings with Galesburg, population 33,000.
"It's very difficult to close a plant like this, and we understand the
pain it causes," she said.
The company has 11 manufacturing plants in the United Stares,
Ms. Dragomier said, and prides itself on its American workforce.
But, she said, it is under "competitive pressure" to make some
refrigerators at cheaper locations.
At a Labor Day rally here, union leaders decried tax breaks for
companies that do not agree to keep their jobs in the United States.
They backed a proposal for "patriot corporations" that some
lawmakers are circulating. Under that program, a company would
receive a tax advantage if it kept production and a high percentage
of sales in the United States.
"Maytag betrayed us; everybody knows that," said Dave Bevard,
a leader of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers local here. "What our district attorney wants to do is not
a vindictive act. It's an issue of fairness."
In Florida, Putnam County spent more money to lure Sykes, which
operates call centers that provide customer service for other
companies, than on any other economic development project,
county officials said. In addition to the cash, Sykes was given
a five-year break from local property taxes. The company opened
its center in 2000.
In barely four years, the payroll more than made up for the public
cash, said Andrea Burnett, a spokeswoman for the company,
which is based in Tampa.
"Yes, they gave us $4.5 million, but in return they got a $120
million payroll," Ms. Burnett said. "That's a good return on their
investment."
The company is closing some of its American call centers while
adding jobs to cheaper overseas centers, company executives
have said.
Smaller businesses say there is also a fundamental issue of
fairness. Why not give a tax break to the reliable little company
that holds a piece of Main Street real estate and never threatens
to leave town?
"We let the other taxpayers down if we don't go after Maytag,"
said Robin Davis, the county treasurer here in Galesburg, who
favors a lawsuit to recover taxes from Maytag. "My sense is if
people don't want to work here and pay taxes, we don't want
them."
There are six taxing entities that gave incentives to Maytag, and
several have decided not to pursue the company, arguing that it
sends the wrong message at a time the town is desperate to
attract new jobs.
"When I first heard Paul Mangieri talk about suing Maytag,
I cheered," Mr. Klinck, the car dealer, said. "But on further
reflection, I thought this would negate our message."
Galesburg never tied its tax breaks and cash grants to
a long-term stability, but the State of Illinois has since
written certain requirements into its laws on enterprise zones.
The city has passed a bond issue to build a logistical center
that it hopes will attract railroad jobs.
In Putnam County, Mr. Keyser was so incensed at Sykes's
receiving cash and tax breaks that he sent a mock bill to
county officials asking for a tax break of $25,000 for the one
new employee he hired at his law firm.
"It's universal blackmail out there," Mr. Keyser said, "with
corporations all playing the same game."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Soldiers fear that they are 'sleeping with the enemy'
Adrian Blomfield discovers deep mistrust between American
troops and Iraqi soldiers they are training
(Filed: 18/10/2004)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/18/wirq218.xml&
sSheet=/news/2004/10/18/ixnewstop.html
If the US marines and Iraqi national guardsmen living at the Karmah
military barracks near Fallujah talk at all, they speak through the
bars of a small window.
The Americans peer out from the ammunition room, filled with
weapons confiscated from suspected insurgents, trading banter
with the Iraqis who stand on tiptoes in a huddle outside, their eyes
squinting against the glare of the late summer sun.
Troops in Iraq
Though there is laughter, things are not as they should be at Karmah
barracks. "This is camp poison," whispers a marine. "Watch your back."
The sinister atmosphere at Karmah barracks is not difficult to
understand. The marines are convinced that many, perhaps most,
of the 140 members of the Iraqi National Guard (ING) they share the
camp with are double agents working on behalf of the insurgents
holding Fallujah.
In the past week alone the marines have arrested five of the guardsmen,
including their commanding officer, Capt Ali Mohammed Jasim.
It is just one example that a Vietnam-era experiment Washington
resurrected to form the backbone of an offensive planned by the end
of the year to retake Fallujah, the crucible of Iraq's insurgency, is
going disastrously wrong. Under the Combined Action Platoon (CAP)
scheme, US soldiers train Iraqi guardsmen, live with them in the same
barracks and venture out on joint patrols, all steps towards
a longer-term objective of the withdrawal of American troops.
The plan was first developed in Vietnam, where US marines cohabited
with local militias to defend villages from Vietcong raids. At the same
time the marines trained the militiamen with the intention of turning
them into an effective fighting force, but they were too ill-equipped
and underpaid for the plan to have much success.
Mark II of the CAP programme seems to be running into even
greater problems. Across the country American troops work
with their poorly equipped Iraqi colleagues in an atmosphere
soured by distrust - especially in provinces where the insurgency
is at its most intense.
With Fallujah under insurgent control, US marines such as those
at Karmah are trying to secure the surrounding al-Anbar province.
Their efforts have been blighted by remotely detonated mines,
known as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), targeting the patrols
that nervously venture out on to the lawless streets of towns that
have become insurgent havens. Since June, some platoons have seen
up to half their men wounded in action. Eighty marines have been
killed in the province.
The marines are convinced that the ING knows where many of the
IEDs are planted, and even say they have caught guardsmen in the
act of laying mines. When joint patrols come under attack, they say,
the ING simply refuses to fight. As the relationship worsens, more
and more ING are simply refusing to turn up at work. Of the 140
guardsmen based at Karmah an average of between 40 and 60 turn
up on any given day. At other CAP barracks, that number is sometimes
as low as two. Since the arrest of the Karmah ING captain, the rapport
has become even more sullen. The marines sit under canvas shelters,
convinced that the guardsmen lurking in their dormitories are traitors
and murderers.
"We know when this place is about to come under mortar attack
because the ING suddenly disappear," one marine said, staring across
the dusty compound at two guardsmen smoking on a wooden bench.
"We are supposed to be fighting together, instead we are sleeping
with the enemy."
In their bare dormitory angry guardsmen queue up to tell their side
of the story, accusing the marines of arrogance, bullying and a cavalier
disregard for civilian life. Twelve guardsmen spoke to The Daily
Telegraph, but all refused to identify themselves, saying they feared
reprisals from the marines.
"The first mistake they make is that when they are attacked they don't
just fire at the terrorists, they shoot everywhere," one said.
Other guardsmen alleged that the marines publicly humiliated and
even physically assaulted them for minor misdemeanours. Another
said he, like many others, had been arrested on suspicion of involvement
in planting an IED. He said he was held for 14 days in a tiny "cooler" and
then tortured during interrogation.
"They would make me drink water and drink water and then kick me in
the stomach till I vomited," he said.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph
Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without
licence.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Maritime Worker Monitor #7
October 13, 2004
STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ AND
THE WAR ON WORKERS!
Join the Million Worker March!
(This is a great argument in favor of the MWM and others like it.
I felt it was important to pass it along even though it is after the
Fact...BW)
The Maritime Worker Monitor supports the Million Worker March on
Washington on October 17th because workers in this country are
catching hell and we need to organize to fight back. Millions of workers
in this country remain jobless, homeless and without health care,
while the U.S. government wages a bloody, and increasingly unpopular,
war for oil and empire supported by both the Democrat and Republican
Parties. We give the march critical support because it is calling for the
independent mobilization of workers from the politicians of both big
business parties, but does not explicitly call for a break with those
parties and building an independent labor party, which was until
recently ILWU's position. Ironically, the anti-war ILWU, as well as
other unions, is supporting the pro-war Democratic Party presidential
candidate John Kerry.
Not only don't workers have a party to fight for them, the overwhelming
majority (87%) have no union to fight for them. Today hotel workers
across the country are under attack. They're striking to defend their
union health care benefits and win a common contract expiration
date nationwide. Last year it was the Southern California grocery
workers whose medical benefits were under attack. They struck
back but without the full mobilization of the organized labor
movement, they lost. Police have been used against union workers
striking for health care by both Democrat and Republican politicians.
The fraudulent capitalist slogan of "guns and butter", (military
might and social programs) is being exposed by the brutal daily
slaughter of innocent people in Iraq, while workers here face
intensified attack, often under the guise of "national security",
as did the ILWU in its last contract negotiations.
We faced threats to shackle us with legislation similar to the
Railway Act, banning strikes. There were intimidating phone
calls to the ILWU-- from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Homeland
Security Czar Ridge, White House aides and Labor Department
attorneys-- all warning that any disruption of cargo movements
would jeopardize "national security". They threatened to occupy
the docks with troops. Such threats did not apply to PMA's lockout
which shutdown every port on the West Coast for 10-days. Then,
at the urging of Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, Bush invoked
the slave labor Taft-Hartley Act on the heels of PMA's lockout of
longshore workers on the West Coast. Not one Member of Congress,
Democrat or Republican, opposed the employer lockout or use of
Taft-Hartley against the ILWU. It was a joint coercion of maritime
employers and the government
Labor needs to build its own party. We don't mean a phony labor
party like the one in Britain that wages imperialist wars or a workers
party like Lula's in Brazil which implements neo-liberal capitalist
policies and uses police against striking workers and landless
peasants. Defend workers' rights! End the war and occupation in
Iraq NOW! It's the same struggle --against capitalist greed.There
is a crying need for a powerful voice for labor to be heard NOW in
its own name and for its own class interests! This march should
be the first step in building our own fighting workers party!
Yet, the voice of the top officials of the AFL-CIO obediently
continue to support the war in Iraq and support the pro-war
Democrat Kerry for president. The only answer is to end the
war and immediately withdraw U.S. troops in Iraq. That's the ILWU
position adopted May 1, at our Convention shortly after the war
began. A growing number of unions have been following our lead
in opposition to the war and occupation. Now, the ILWU Longshore
Division has called for a march on Washington to demand that
workers' concerns be addressed. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney,
an old-fashioned business unionist, has called the Million Worker
March a "diversion" from getting Kerry elected and getting Bush
out of the White House, as if labor's problems will be solved by
Kerry. But Kerry and the Democrats also supported unionbusting
"free trade" agreements like NAFTA, the Iraq war and bloody
occupation, the repressive USA Patriot Act. And their double-
dealing didn't just start recently. The slave laborTaft-Hartley Act
was passed under Democrat President Truman with a majority
Democrat/Dixiecrat Congress. Democrat President Carter tried
to use it to break the miners' strike in 1978, but miners defied
it. The recent tide of anti-labor attacks began with Republican
President Reagan's busting of the PATCO, air controllers union,
while the AFL-CIO did nothing. It continued under Democrat
President Clinton who pushed for the passage of NAFTA, after
winning labor's vote campaigning AGAINST it. That's typical of
Democrat political shenanigans: Talk "labor" to get workers'
votes. Act for the "bosses" once elected.The truth is that the
government has attacked labor regardless of which party is
in office--Republican or Democrat. The tactic of voting for
the "lesser evil" has only left the labor movement in a weaker
position politically after each election.
Sweeney said he even agrees with many of the demands of the
march, but that all union resources must be used to elect the
so-called "friend of labor", the billionaire Kerry. This has been
the timeworn task of labor fakers: to do the bosses' bidding as
ILA President Ryan did in the 1934 maritime strike and as
union bureaucrats cravenly do at election time, delivering
labor's votes for the big business Democrat Party. ILWU's
International, guided by its "new direction" (really an old
direction) of collaborating with the employers (on technology)
and the government (on "port security") and staying off the
"militant union" radar screen is in lockstep with Sweeney.
In fact, The Dispatcher, our union newspaper, had been silent
on the Million Worker March which, along with the question of
"port security", was energetically debated at our last Longshore
Caucus. The Million Worker March resolution passed unanimously
by delegates representing all ports on the U.S. West Coast.
It finally saw the light of day in The Dispatcher AFTER Local 10
protested. By then, the ILWU International Executive Board had
voted against the March at its August meeting.
Despite bureaucratic attempts to block the march, it continues
to steamroll ahead with endorsements and contributions pouring
in from unions and rank and filers across the country. However,
workers should be leery of the participation in the march by
Jesse Jackson, the pied piper of the Dixiecrat/Democrat Party.
The stated reason for the march is to mobilize workers independently
of the Democrat and Republican Parties to fight for a workers'
agenda in Washington. Jackson is one of the most prominent
speakers for the Democrats. As death row prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal,
says it doesn't matter which "brokerage party" wins. He exhorts
workers not to accept a slice of the pie. We produce all the wealth
and need to make a revolutionary change in the social order. For
this we need our own party, a workers party to fight against
imperialist wars, racism and poverty and for free public education,
universal health care, decent housing, and jobs for all. None of
these social demands is achievable while the U.S. is engaged in
the Iraq war/occupation, to which both parties' politicians pledge
their undying loyalty, though none of their kids are in Iraq. Social
gains can only be won by class struggle, fighting for them politically
and on the picket line.
Even the pretext of democracy is being shredded by capitalist
government attacks against unions, against civil liberties and against
civil rights, here and internationally. They must not go unchallenged.
Police attacks against dockworkers have increased in frequency and
intensity from Charleston, South Carolina to today in Holland and
Spain. To not defend ourselves against such brazen unionbusting
attacks--whether in the name of "port security" or "free trade" is
to encourage bloodier attacks. One Portland longie said ,"It's like
the bully in the schoolyard who steals your lunch money. If you don't
stand up to him, he'll keep coming after you." The upcoming big
fight will be over the "free trade" issue of "self-handling", in which
employers claim the right to have the crew (frequently non-union
slave wage workers) do longshore work of lashing onboard ship or
dock work. The European Parliament barely defeated that measure
last year, but the shipowners are trying their damdest to get it
passed this year. Last year the ILWU took a token action in solidarity
with our European dockworkers. This time we'll need to take real
action to stop these unionbusting attempts by our joint global
shipowners because we'll be next on the chopping block.
The importance of this march is that it was generated from below,
from the rank and file of labor, expressing an anger and alienation
at the politics of both parties and at the leadership of the organized
labor movement. The call for the march comes from workers that
have recently engaged in militant union struggles. Furthermore,
many of these union members, come from black and latino
communities, amongst the most oppressed in America. We must
turn this anger into the struggle for a fighting workers party.
ALL OUT OCTOBER 17th!
SOLIDARITY WITH THE MILLION WORKER MARCHERS!
BUILD A WORKERS PARTY TO FIGHT FOR WORKERS!
Editors:
Jack Mulcahy, Portland --
laborunity@msn.com
Mark Downs, Seattle--
mdowns@unions- america.com
Jack Heyman, Oakland--
jackheyman@comcast.net
Maritime Worker Monitor
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) How Many Iraqis Are Dying? By One Count, 208 in a Week
TALLYING THE DEAD
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
BAGHDAD, Iraq
October 19, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/international/middleeast/19casualties.html
?oref=login&hp
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 18 - It began with the killing of two Iraqi
civilians in a suicide bomb attack against an American military
convoy in the northern city of Mosul last Monday. It ended Sunday
evening, when a car bomb killed seven Iraqi police officers and
civilians at a Baghdad cafe where police officers had apparently
broken their fast during this month of Ramadan.
A weeklong effort to tally Iraqi casualties shows soldiers, insurgents,
politicians, journalists, a judge, a medic and restaurant workers
among the victims. They included Dina Mohammed Hassan,
a television reporter killed by three men who called her a collaborator,
and Ali Hussein's son and nephew, nighttime guards who died
when Americans bombed a restaurant in Falluja.
From Oct. 11 to Oct. 17, an estimated 208 Iraqis were killed in
war-related incidents, significantly higher than the average week;
23 members of the United States military died over the same period.
The deaths of Iraqis, particularly those of civilians, has become
an increasingly delicate topic. Early this month, the Health Ministry,
which had routinely provided casualty figures to journalists, stopped
releasing them. Under a new policy that the government said would
streamline the release of the figures - which were clearly an
embarrassment to the government as well as to the Americans -
only the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers is now allowed
to do so.
"It's a political issue," a senior Health Ministry official said last week.
This account was pieced together from partial tallies by the Iraqi
government, reporting by Iraqi employees of The New York Times
stationed in Falluja, Mosul and Najaf, and counts from hospitals,
news agencies and the American military.
The tally remains imprecise and does not fully answer many of the
most charged questions about the war. How can civilians be
distinguished from insurgents? How can contradictory accounts
of the same death be reconciled?
According to a report by the Health Ministry, which last April began
compiling figures for all regions except the Kurdish north, 3,040
Iraqis were killed in war-related incidents during the 22 weeks from
April 5 to Sept. 6 - a little more than 138 deaths a week. The dead
included 2,753 men, 159 women and 128 children. There are no
agreed figures for civilian deaths in Iraq over all since the war began
in early 2003, but the best estimates, by private groups and
independent news organizations, place the figure in the 10,000
to 15,000 range.
While many Iraqis blame American airstrikes and other military
actions for taking the lives of innocents, they also believe that
foreign fighters are behind the suicide attacks that tend to kill
more Iraqis than Americans.
The United States military emphasizes that the targets of its actions
have been insurgents, and it also blames them for other deaths
and damage that result from such raids.
Last Thursday, on the same day that American jets intensified their
bombardment of Falluja, thought to be the base of Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant suspected of leading many anti-
American attacks, the United States military released a statement
that read in part: "A top priority is to avoid harming civilians and
causing damage. However, by operating and hiding among civilians,
the terrorists endanger innocent civilians and are directly responsible
for any harm to the women and children they hide behind."
The Secretariat of the Council of Ministers gave only partial figures
for last week, releasing the numbers for only four days and mostly
for Baghdad and the nearby cities. Of course, casualty figures tend
to vary greatly depending on their source. On the first day of the
seven-day period, 12 Iraqis were reported killed, including in the
Mosul suicide attack. The other deaths took place in the three
locations that proved the deadliest over the week: Falluja and Ramadi,
where American forces have been engaged in combat, and Baghdad.
On a highway outside Falluja, five passengers in one car were killed
in an incident involving American soldiers.
According to residents and hospital officials, the five - Kadhim Ahmed
Hussein and his two sons, Jawad and Dhiya; and Layla Awad and her
son Ali Khalaf - were driving from the Lake Habbaniya area, where
they had sought shelter during the ongoing fighting, to check on
their houses in Falluja.
According to the United States military, the car approached
a checkpoint at a location that an American patrol had cordoned off.
Because the driver ignored warnings to stop even as the patrol
received fire from elsewhere, the soldiers fired on the car. People
in Falluja, however, said the five were shot without provocation.
On Tuesday, 46 Iraqis were reported killed. Just after midnight,
an American warplane flattened Falluja's most popular restaurant,
Hajji Hussein, famous for its kebabs. The military said it was
a meeting place for terrorists and was no longer frequented by
ordinary people. Ali Hussein, the owner, said his son and nephew,
who had been working as nighttime guards, were killed in the strike.
He denied that insurgents came to the restaurant, which was
founded by his father.
"This is a well-known restaurant in midtown," Mr. Hussein said.
"We have a lot of people always going in and out. No one can hide
in here. We are on the main street. How could there be any
Zarqawi people inside?"
The largest number, at least 15, were reportedly killed in an attack
against an Iraqi National Guard outpost near Qaim, along the border
with Syria. Many Iraqi insurgents are believed to be based on the
other side of the border and to receive support from Syrians.
On Wednesday, 10 people were reportedly killed, including a police
captain in Baquba, 35 miles northeast of here.
Thursday, with 58 reported deaths, was the week's deadliest day
and was also punctuated by suicide bombs inside the Green Zone,
the site of the American Embassy and Iraqi government ministries.
Many Iraqis regarded by insurgents as collaborating with the
Americans or the United States-backed government have been
assassinated, and several were killed Thursday.
South of here near Latifiya, Kamel al-Yassiri, an official with the
secular National Democratic Coalition Party, was gunned down
while driving on a highway; he was buried in Najaf the next day.
In Mosul, a photographer who has worked for Western news
organizations, Karam Hussein, 22, was gunned down outside
his home.
In Baghdad, a judge was shot to death while leaving his home
for work; around the same time, Ms. Hassan, 38, a reporter for
the Kurdish television network Al Huriya, was also killed.
She had received three letters warning her to quit her job, said
colleagues who were waiting to pick up her body outside the city
morgue. She joined the network nine months ago after long working
at the Ministry of Information, they said.
"We used to joke to her that she should use the money she had saved
to fix her teeth and get married," said a colleague, Naseer al-Timimy.
"But because she was an orphan, she felt she needed to hold on to
her money."
On Thursday morning, as she and a colleague waited outside her
apartment building for a company van, a blue Oldsmobile with
three men pulled up in front of them, according to the account
of the colleague, who survived. One of the men shot at her with
a Kalashnikov and, after she fell on her back, shot her again in
the face. "Collaborator! Collaborator!" the gunman is said to
have yelled.
"You could no longer recognize her features," said Ahmed
al-Hamdani, a colleague who saw her minutes after the shooting.
On Friday, the first day of Ramadan, though many had feared
a surge in violence similar to the one last year, there were
fewer deaths than on Thursday, with 24 people killed. Of those,
10 civilians died after a car bomb aimed at an Iraqi police
patrol exploded in Baghdad.
The dead included four laborers working in a nearby palm grove,
two bystanders and a family of four inside a car, according to
the American military.
On Saturday and Sunday, 31 and 27 deaths were recorded,
respectively. The largest number of victims were police officers,
who have been attacked with deadly frequency by insurgents,
who accuse them of supporting the Americans.
On Saturday, nine police recruits returning from a training course
in Jordan were ambushed near Latifiya. Then on Sunday evening,
seven police officers and civilians were killed here after a car bomb
went off outside a cafe popular with police officers, bringing an
end to a deadly week in Iraq.
Iraqi employees of The New York Times contributed reporting from
Mosul, Falluja and Najaf for this article.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Oil Prices Climb Back to the $54 Level
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON
October 20, 2004
Filed at 12:07 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Oil-Prices.html
LONDON (AP) -- Crude oil prices climbed back to the $54 level
Wednesday, reversing a two-day slide, after the U.S. government's
weekly petroleum supply report showed a fifth straight week of
declining inventories of distillate fuel, which includes heating oil
and diesel.
Traders are concerned about a potential winter-fuels crunch globally
and remain jittery about the world's limited crude oil supply cushion.
Crude for November delivery traded at $54.20 per barrel, up 91 cents,
on the New York Mercantile Exchange in morning trade. The November
crude contract expires Wednesday.
The Energy Department reported a 1.9 million barrel drop in distillate
fuel, bringing nationwide inventories to 119 million barrels, or 9.5
percent below year ago levels.
Crude oil stocks grew by 1.2 million barrels to 279.4 million barrels,
or 3.7 percent below last year.
Oil prices have gone up sharply in the past month because of
production snags in the Gulf of Mexico, where more than 22 million
barrels of production have been lost since Hurricane Ivan hit in mid-
September. Some 430,000 barrels of the region's potential daily oil
output remains off line.
Potential output problems in Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria and Russia
have kept oil markets on edge all year, especially because the world's
available production capacity is just 1 percent of daily demand,
leaving little wiggle room in the event of a supply disruption.
Although prices are up about 75 percent from a year ago, they
are still about $26 below the all-time highs -- in inflation-
adjusted terms -- of February 1981.
In London, December Brent crude futures on the International
Petroleum Exchange rose 33 cents to trade at $49.10 per barrel.
Brent reached a record intraday high of $50.40 on Oct. 12.
While gasoline consumption typically tapers off at this time of year,
demand for home-heating fuels begins to rise. Moreover, heating
oil stocks are also running low in Western Europe and in Japan,
where kerosene stocks are down more than 10 percent from
a year ago.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Homeless Families Blocked From Seeking U.S. Housing Aid
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
October 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/nyregion/20homeless.html
Ending a decades-old policy, city officials said yesterday that effective
immediately, homeless families in emergency city shelters would no
longer be allowed to apply for federal rent vouchers or public housing,
tools that had been used to move troubled families into more
permanent housing.
Instead, the city is proposing to create a new program for helping
homeless adults and families: a joint city, state and federally financed
effort that would provide rental-assistance grants for up to five years,
with the size of the grant shrinking each year.
The city acknowledges that the new strategy carries significant financial
risks. If the state does not agree to its share of the financing, the city
estimates that 3,500 additional families will wind up in shelters - adding
significantly to the near-record number there today - 37,000 people,
including 9,000 families. Although the city on average bears only
a third of those costs, the $25,000 per family price tag for a year in
a city shelter is significantly higher than the estimated cost of rental
assistance.
Linda I. Gibbs, the city's commissioner of homeless services, said she
had little choice but to search for an alternative to the use of federal
vouchers. For starters, she said, the city has run out of available
vouchers to give families, homeless or not. Also, she said, the
program was making poor families believe that the fastest road
to getting their own apartment was to become homeless. "We don't
want people to think that the best way to get housing is to bundle
their children up and take them to the E.A.U.," she said referring
to the Emergency Assistance Unit, the Bronx office that is the
entry point for the city's shelter system.
The city's announcement was also meant to address what it said
was another unacceptable consequence of being too generous
in giving federal vouchers to the homeless: the cheating of working
poor families who needed the benefit as well, but who stayed in
difficult housing situations nonetheless.
Steve Banks, the Legal Aid Society lawyer who has represented
homeless families in their two-decade-old legal fight with the
city, said the city's decision was a recipe for trouble. While
praising the city for offering to put up new money for rental
assistance, he said it would probably take too long to put the
program in place, and in the interim there would be another
influx of families into the city's shelter system. In past years,
such surges would often leave the Emergency Assistance Unit
overwhelmed, with families forced to sleep overnight on benches
while they awaited placement in a shelter.
In addition, Mr. Banks said the temporary nature of the new
aid would cause problems in the future. "The assistance assumes
relocated families will be able to pay their own rent on a phased-
in basis, and available evidence is the homeless families have
significant barriers to employment," he said.
But Ms. Gibbs said that she was determined that the new
subsidy would help people leave the shelters and achieve
true self-sufficiency.
The first year of the proposed subsidy, she said, would be
about $925 a month for a family of three, but would decline
by 20 percent a year after that.
Officials said the city's proposed program would have
numerous advantages over the current voucher subsidy.
The money, for instance, would be available more quickly.
In addition, the new program would be available to individual
homeless adults, couples without children and families who
could not get their children out of foster care simply because
they did not have permanent housing. This year, none of
those people qualify under the federal program, and childless
couples never have.
Of course, leaders in Albany have not yet signed on to the
program. Ms. Gibbs said she is optimistic that the state will
participate for numerous reasons. Since the state shares in
the cost of the city's shelters, she said, it has an incentive
to participate in a more effective, less expensive effort.
Ms. Gibbs said she had been discussing the proposal with
officials in Albany for more than a week. She had heard no
response to the plan yet, but had been promised that one
would come promptly. Calls made to the state Office of
Temporary and Disability Assistance after hours were not
answered.
In either case, city officials say their hand has been forced
by the near-nonexistent supply of federal rent vouchers.
The program is now at 100 percent capacity, according to
Doug Apple, general manager of the city's housing authority,
and tens of thousands of people are on the waiting list.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Public University Tuition Is Up Sharply for 2004
By GREG WINTER
October 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/education/20college.html?hp&ex=1098331200&
en=7556ff201f536c43&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Tuition at the nation's public universities rose an average of
10.5 percent this year, the second largest increase in more
than a decade, according to the latest annual survey by the
College Board. Last year's rise, 13 percent, was the highest.
Private universities and community colleges also increased tuition,
by 6 percent and 9 percent, in a year when inflation has been about
2.5 percent. The tuition increases at private and community colleges
were also among the steepest in a decade.
It is the first time that the average tuition at the nation's
postsecondary institutions has surpassed $20,000 for a private
college, $5,000 for a public university and $2,000 for a community
college.
The survey of nearly 2,700 colleges and universities, released
yesterday, did not try to determine the reasons for the steep
increases. But among the many factors cited by its authors and
other higher education experts were shrinking endowments,
large increases in health insurance costs for campus employees
and anemic spending on higher education by states.
"Until we publicly debate the quiet cost-shifting from state support
to tuition that continues in far too many states, no amount of effort
by our institutions to raise revenue and cut expenses will be able
to preserve affordable tuition formulas, particularly at public
colleges and universities," said David Ward, president of the
American Council on Education, which represents college
presidents.
Despite the increases, the survey found, students are not necessarily
paying all the extra costs. Financial aid has been increasing as well,
and though it has not always kept pace with rising tuition, it has
often softened the blow.
As of last year, for example, the impact of grants and federal tax
redits meant that students at private colleges actually paid an average
of $9,600 a year in tuition and fees, about $1,000 more than they did
a decade earlier, after adjusting for inflation, the survey found. At public
universities, students ended up paying only $1,300 a year in tuition,
about $200 less than they did a decade before, with adjustments for
inflation. And at community colleges, grants and tax credits took care
of the typical student's entire tuition.
The authors said, however, that this year's increases in tuition were so
large that they did not expect grants to keep up. Students are also
becoming increasingly dependent on loans instead of grants, according
to the College Board, an association of more than 4,500 schools, colleges
and educational organizations. About a decade ago, there was almost as
much grant money available to students as there were loans. But by last
year, loans had become a much bigger piece of the financial aid puzzle,
making up almost 50 percent more of the total pool than grants.
Moreover, the nature of grants themselves has changed. The growing
prominence of merit-based aid among many institutions, coupled with
broader definitions of who qualifies for financial aid in such a costly
market, has meant that by 2000 middle-income and wealthy students
typically received larger grants from their colleges than did their low-
income counterparts.
Some of that may be because wealthier students tend to go to the
wealthiest, most expensive institutions, which, in turn, can afford to
give bigger grants than the colleges that poorer students usually
attend. Nonetheless, the survey's authors said, the grants to wealthier
students underscore a larger shift, echoed in many state programs,
away from awarding financial aid on the basis of need.
"It's absolutely true that the biggest increase in institutional aid has
been to the upper-income families," said Sandy Baum, who analyzed
the data for the College Board.
In recent years, the issue of college affordability has increasingly
become a political one, at times giving rise to Congressional campaigns
to penalize colleges that raise tuition too quickly. But what the
colleges say they fear most is that some prospective students,
especially those who are wondering whether to attend, will choose
not to go because of the cost.
To that end, the College Board survey included data showing that
graduates with bachelor's degrees could expect to earn 73 percent
more than a high school graduate over their lifetimes. Those with
master's degrees can expect to earn twice as much. Those with
professional degrees can expect nearly three and a half times
as much.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) 2 Shipbuilders Get Big Breaks in New Corporate Tax Bill
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
October 19, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/19/business/19corptax.html?hp&ex=1098244800&e
n=9c348723956b0000&ei=5094&partner=homepage
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - A little-noticed provision in the sweeping
corporate tax bill that passed Congress last week would reduce
taxes at two major military contractors by nearly $500 million over
the next 10 years.
The provision, which primarily benefits General Dynamics and
Northrop Grumman, would allow shipbuilders to postpone their
taxes for years on profits from building ships and submarines
for the Navy.
The new provision would benefit a handful of major shipyards,
all owned by one of the two military conglomerates. They include
the Bath Iron Works in Maine acquired by General Dynamics in
1995 and the company's Electric Boat division in Groton, Conn.,
as well as the Northrop-owned Newport News shipyard in Virginia.
The new tax break would reverse a rule that Congress imposed
as part of the sweeping tax overhaul of 1986, when lawmakers
in both parties were incensed that major military companies
often paid no income taxes despite earning billions of dollars
providing major weapons systems to the military.
Under the bill, Navy shipbuilders would be allowed to once again
defer paying most federal income taxes on a project until the
contract was completed. Because it takes about five years to build
an aircraft carrier and three years to build a destroyer, the shipyards
would be able to delay their tax bills for years, allowing more
opportunity to offset taxes against future losses.
The measure's primary sponsor was Senator Olympia J. Snowe,
Republican of Maine, who said she was determined to protect
Bath Iron Works, one of her state's largest employers.
"This provision takes dramatic steps to remedy the inequity of
how naval shipbuilders pay their taxes," Ms. Snowe said in a
statement last week, just after House and Senate negotiators
agreed to include the provision in a broader bill that would
shower $140 billion in tax cuts across almost every segment
of industry.
But critics said the provision would not create jobs, the stated
intention of the tax bill, because employment at naval shipyards
is determined almost entirely by federal spending on ships and
submarines rather than by tax incentives.
"We're not going to buy any more war boats if we give them
a tax incentive," said Robert S. McIntyre, director of Citizens
for Tax Justice, a liberal research group here that has long
scrutinized corporate tax practices. "We're going to buy more
boats if the government decides we need more boats."
The shipbuilders' tax cut was typical of the furious scramble by
lawmakers to include special provisions for their constituents in
the bill. The final bill, which President Bush is expected to sign soon,
includes tax breaks for oil companies, corn farmers, wine distributors
and dozens of other highly specific industries.
General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman, which will also benefit
from many of the new bill's general tax cuts, are heavy contributors
to political campaigns. Since January 2003, General Dynamics'
employees and political action committees have contributed $1.3
million, about 64 percent to Republicans. Northrop contributed
$1.24 million, about 58 percent to Republicans.
Senator Snowe was among dozens of lawmakers whose support
was needed to win final passage. She was also part of a bipartisan
group that tried to tie a $10 billion buyout program for tobacco
farmers, which is also part of the bill, to a new requirement that
would allow the Food and Drug Administration to regulate cigarettes
and other tobacco products.
House Republicans rejected that provision, but Ms. Snowe voted for
the overall bill in part because it included the shipbuilding tax break
that she had proposed.
She was hardly alone. Senator John Breaux, Democrat of Louisiana,
opposed many parts of the overall bill but supported the shipbuilding
tax break and numerous other tax cuts for oil companies that are
big employers in his state.
Few if any lawmakers publicly objected to the shipbuilding provision,
which was tiny in comparison with sweeping tax cuts, worth $42
billion over 10 years, on foreign profits of American multinationals.
The House and Senate passed the overall bill by overwhelming
majorities.
Under current law, shipbuilders have to pay income taxes on
long-term Navy contracts based on the percentage of work they
have finished. When that requirement was imposed in 1986,
lawmakers were furious that top military contractors were deferring
almost all of their taxes, even though they were getting progress
payments throughout the term of their contracts. According to
Mr. McIntyre, the top 12 Pentagon suppliers paid an effective tax
rate of only 6.3 percent in the early 1980's, and some companies
often paid none.
General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman have both enjoyed big
jumps in sales and profits from their shipbuilding divisions, which
are dominated by Navy contracts, but tax payments at both
companies during the same period declined.
At General Dynamics, which makes the Arleigh Burke class of
Navy destroyers and Seawolf-class nuclear submarines, its marine
division generated $2.5 billion in sales in the first six months of
2004, up 20 percent from the first half of 2003. Earnings in the
marine business increased 39 percent, to $179 million, in the first
six months of this year, compared with the first half of 2003.
Despite rising profits in all its divisions, General Dynamics' overall
tax payments declined sharply in the first six months of this year,
to $78 million from $119 million in the first half of 2003.
At Northrop Grumman, which produces aircraft carriers and a new
generation of destroyers, profits in the shipbuilding division nearly
doubled, to $186 million, in the first half of 2004 from $98 million
in the first half of 2003. Northrop's overall tax payments fell to
$291 million in the first half of 2004 from $112 million in the
first half of 2003.
Cynthia Brown, president of the American Shipbuilding Association,
said the new measure was necessary because shipbuilders often
lose money early in a multiyear contract.
"A naval ship takes us anywhere from three and one half years
to seven years to build, and an aircraft carrier can take as long as
eight years,'' Ms. Brown said. Even though the government makes
periodic "progress payments'' as the work is completed, she said,
those payments often fall short of costs in the beginning because
the heaviest costs are at the start of a contract.
"This is not a tax cut,'' she said. "This is a cash-flow issue.''
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
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