As the crisis worsens, and engulfs the world economy, job losses are beginning to mount. In France Peugeot-Citroen is planning what it calls "massive" production cuts. Volvo and Scania, the truck builders are in trouble as is Daimler, Renault and Fiat.Volvo plans to lay off 1,400 people at its truck division.
In the U.S. and Chrysler, corp, owned by the private equity firm, Cerberus is cutting 25% of its salaried staff. Chrysler is facing "the most difficult economic period any of us can remember," said Chrysler's boss. Of course, thousands of Chrysler workers are very familiar with difficult economic times as are most US auto workers.
Meanwhile, the crisis is savaging state government's revenues which are already in bad shape. States will be forced to cut social spending, which means job losses in the public sector as well as teachers, health care workers etc. will be let go. Many states, like California have constitutional demands that force them to balance the state budget although the captialist class don't need written constituions to savage working people.
The coming cuts will throw workers out of work and reduce our ability to consume which will exacerbate the present crisis as consumers are retrenching, slowing down purchases and overburdened with massive debt.
In the US, the Democrats, Obama and Biden, are promising all sorts or massive reforms, jobs, health care etc. Biden was promising some 12,000 jobs for Appalachia in order to win their votes. I was just reading in the Australian, a major Aussie paper, that the government here is promising some 50,000 jobs to stave off further catastrophe in the Aboriginal communities; this is pure fantasy.
While there will no doubt be some carrots when, as is most likely, Obama gets elected, the next administration in the US will quickly move to drive US workers further backwards by carrying out the policies of Wall street and the capitalist class. Anger will also increase as, after witnessing massive taxpayer bailouts, cuts are made and living standards savaged in the name of belt tightening and lack of funds. The last few weeks alone have shown that government can move very quickly and come up with massive amounts of capital when it serves the interest of the capitalist class.
The decline in state revenues and the consequences of this, not to mention the ongoing crisis in the private sector, particularly auto an industry in the US on which a huge amount of jobs depend, make the claims of Obama and Biden laughable. The Democrats would betray workers under normal conditions, they will move on to the offensive in a major way under the present conditions.
One of the major reasons for the slow response to the crisis from workers is the absence of an alternative or a way out. People do not know what can be done and organized labor has gone through years of defeats due to the cooperation of the Labor leaders in the capitalist offensive; workers are very gun shy.
In spite of this, the damn will burst at some point as consciousness has been deeply effected by the recent events. Theer are also thousands of activists in the US that consider themselves anti-capitalists or militants of one sort or another. Along with this layer, workers who have stayed on the sidelines for so long can make a difference if we act, as supporters of Facts For Working People have done when engaging with different communities and their struggles against landlords, employers, the city, etc. Less than 10 years ago, the youth shut down the Seattle meeting of the world trade organization and shocked the US bourgeois. They responded with the stick as the heads of organized Labor sent in their forces to temper and head off what had the potential to be the begginings of a new movement as many workers in Seattle were emboldened by the actions of the youth.
Facts For Working People wants to work to build such a movement which is necessary if we are to drive the capitalist offensive back. With direct action methods, a fight to win approach and a program that appeals to our needs, not to what the Democrats or Labor leaders tell us is "realistic" we can make a dent in this offensive and eventually a big hole in it.
Contact us if you are interested.
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