Is it Fascism Yet? Army considering forcing striking Goodyear workers back to work.

[marmar]

From AfterDowningStreet.org:

Is it Fascism Yet?
Submitted by davidswanson on Sun, 2006-12-17 13:54. Media
The Republicans tried to impeach Truman for this, and the Supreme Court put him in his place. Read this story:

US Army Might Break Goodyear Strike
By Bernard Simon in Toronto, Financial Times

The US Army is considering measures to force striking workers back to their jobs at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Kansas in the face of a looming shortage of tyres for Humvee trucks and other military equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A strike involving 17,000 members of the United Steelworkers union has crippled 16 Goodyear plants in the US and Canada since October 5.

The main issues in dispute are the company's plans to close a unionised plant in Texas, and a proposal for workers to shoulder future increases in healthcare costs.

An army spokeswoman said on Friday that 'there's not a
shortage right now but there possibly will be one in
the future'.

According to Duncan Hunter, chairman of the House of
Representatives armed services committee, the strike
has cut output of Humvee tyres by about 35 per cent.

Mr Hunter said the army was exploring a possible
injunction under the Taft-Hartley Act to force the 200
Kansas workers back to their jobs.

He proposed that they return under their current terms
of employment, on the understanding that any settlement
would be extended to them.

Talks aimed at ending the strike will resume on Monday,
the union said last night.

Mr Hunter said that the army had stopped supplying
tyres to units not related to the Central Command,
which is responsible for operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Tyres were also not being provided to army
repair depots.

While concern has centred on the Humvees, tyres are
also critical to aircraft and other military equipment.

Goodyear brushed off concerns of looming shortages,
saying that production at the Kansas plant, where the
Humvee tyres are made, 'is near normal levels and will
be back to 100 per cent in the near future.'

It added that 'we're in daily contact with the military
to ensure delivery of the required Humvee tyres'.

The company said it was using salaried and temporary
workers to keep the Kansas plant running. It has taken
similar measures at other plants, as well as stepping
up imports from overseas factories to maintain supplies
to the car and truck industry.

The union claims that the strikebound plants are
running at about 20 per cent of capacity. Goodyear has
said that North American output is at about half normal
levels, including non-union plants.

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/16429

[Neecy]

1. proles gotta keep the war machine hummin'.....

This is a disturbing article.

I'm in Kansas and this is the first I've heard of the strike. Any idea where the plant is?

[jmowreader]

2. Concern should be centered on the Humvees

The only company that makes Humvee tires is Goodyear. You can't just go to the tire store and buy these off the shelf--they're a weird size and have a special tread design. Another tire plant COULD make them, but they'd need the Goodyear molds. Would another company want to make tires in Goodyear's molds? Not sure--if you were the CEO of General Tire, would you want to ship tires that had GOODYEAR written on them in great big letters?

Other tires aren't a huge problem. The tires on the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles trucks and the older 5-ton truck you still see occasionally are made by Michelin, Cooper makes all the military's light trailer tires (some Cooper trailer tires were designed during World War II and have remained unchanged in all that time), the M915 linehaul truck--a regular semi painted green--just uses regular truck tires you can get at any truck stop, aircraft tires are made by many companies...

There's a Goodyear plant in Fayetteville (it is the biggest tire plant in the world) that's on strike right now. One of the biggest reasons they're on strike is that Goodyear wants to eliminate retiree healthcare coverage...which is why half the guys on that picket line are retirees.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. First attempt to force workers back to work should be met with nationwide strike

by all unions.

[malaise]

4. Don't rule that out

People are very angry.

[nuxvomica]

5. Why doesn't the Army force management to concede?

As a major client, they should be able to do that. Isn't that the free enterprise system?

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Because the army works for the corporations. If it wasn't for the

corporatist ambitions, the Army would be out of a job. That's why the army, the strong arm of the government, will be used for corporations and not for the strikers. They'll only force a settlement that favors the corporation.

And now that posse comitatus has been redlined...

[nuxvomica]

7. According to you and Smedley Butler, at least

Turns out the same answer was available in the link to "War is a Racket!" in my sig line. In a free enterprise system, management would have to accede to labor's wishes in order to meet production demands. But as you pointed out the military-corporate relationship is more complicated than just buyer and seller.

[followthemoney]

18. Can we stop saying the Army is fighting for freedom...

Or at least say the Army is only fighting for corporate freedom?

[ArbustoBuster]

10. That's a really good point.

Why should the workers take the hit instead of the stockholders? Hell, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist and I see the sense in that one. If it's a choice between the government forcing people with little (the workers) to take a hit, and forcing people with a lot (the stockholders) to take a hit, it makes good sense for the stockholders to lose a little money in the interests of national security.

[porkrind]

11. exactly

however, that's not the "right" way to solve the problem. The "right" way is to send in the taxpayer-subsidized militia (this is the real reason the national guard exists IMHO) to force the workers back to work and protect the profits of the business class.

[originalpckelly]

8. If they needed an injunction against the strike, it is completely legal...

under this law. It definitely could hurt the troops if these tire shortages get even worse. However, until such time, there is no ability to show substantial harm to the national security of America, and that should remove the authority to do this under the Taft-Hartley Act.

What happens next should be interesting, because this does have echoes of the steel seizure case.

[Toots]

9. Well Duncan Hunter is no longer Chairman of anything so his threats are empty

:shrug:

[NovaNardis]

20. And he thinks he's running for President

Too bad he's Mussolini. But I guess that's one step away from Bush Republican, so I can see where he jumped from.

[951-Riverside]

12. They could make and change their on "tyres" if they wanted to n/t

[dsc]

14. I am presuming that to be the British spelling.

[file83]

13. I wonder how much Goodyear charges the DoD for those Humvee tires...

being such a special tire and all.

I'm sure those factory workers have figured out how much they've been shafted on that project and now they want their fair share. Can't say I blame them.

[jmowreader]

15. According to the Army's Tank and Automotive Command, they're $400 each

You can go to tirerack.com and find the "original equipment" tire off the Hummer H1 (supposedly the same truck) for $302, but that tire's way flimsier than the one on a military-issue Humvee. Four hundred isn't out of line for these tires.

[Senator]

16. They Should Confiscate AhhhNold's Fleet First

Then all the privately owned Hummers here. Better that than forcing American citizens to work under the threat of violence/incarceration.

There's a war on, isn't there? Even men with small genetalia need to do their parts (so to speak).

==

[Disturbed]

17. Why doesn't the Army force management to concede?

The US Military supports Fascism.

[Conan_The_Barbarian]

19. How do you force somone back to work?

Can somone please explain this to me?

That sounds like a government playing with fire, and I'd sure as hell hope it gets burned.