Usa Mass Struggles

Scan page 2

While US employers in the working class, bitter struggles are underway among miners, steelworkers and dockers.

Eleven of the 160 strikers at the Justus mine in Stearns, Kentucky, who have been out since July 1976 demanding the United Mine Workers union contract, were jailed last month following a vicious police attack on picket lines o7 October 17.

150 pickets had attempted to force a halt to scabbing at the mine-but were attacked by 80 police in full riot gear.

Those arrested included 40 women who are to go on trial on November 28.

Armed guards

The Stearns strike has been the scene of continual violent confrontations, with the company hiring armed guards to beat back the strikers and protect scabbing operations.

Kentucky circuit judge JB Johnson, the man who jailed the pickets, had sanctioned the guard's use of firearms, simply stipulating that they should use no more than shotguns and sidearms!

Meanwhile the UMWA leadership remains passive on Ihe struggle. At the same time they are allowing negotiations with the coal bosses to drift aimlessly towards deadlock.

UMWA President Arnold Miller has suspended talks *ith the bosses' organisation, the Bituminous Coal Operations Association, declaring that the main obstacle to agreement is the question of medical benefits for miners.

Concessions

But the employers are sceking a wholesale package of concessions from the L'MWA, including an end to the right of union safety committees to close have all welcomed Smith's announcement.

He knew they would, since he has been involved in secret negotiations with them all for the past few weeks.

The talks had already established that a public committment on the vote was all the leaders required in order to rush into open negotiations with Smith.

In exchange for Smith's announcement they have all agreed to discuss constituJonal safeguards for the political and economic privilziges of the whites.

The British American plan also tacitly supported by the dangerous pits; cut in manning on mining machinery; a no-strike guarantee backed by punitive penalty payments; and continuous seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year operations with no premium payments or fixed holiday periods.

The current contract expires on December 6. Miller has been talking in terms of "no contract, no work"-but no serious preparations for strike action have been made.

The solid resistance of the Stearns miners, and a ten week unofficial strike earlier this year by thousands of miners defending their medical benefits are a pointer to the possibility of a struggle against the local bosses' ultimatum if the obstacle of the UMWA bureaucracy could be overcome.

Meanwhile another union bureaucracy-the International Longshoremen's Association leaders-are preparing to wind up a nine-week official docks strike that has paralysed East Coast ports.

The strike centred on the issues of containerisation and United Steelworkers DIVI.

FAL the renewal of the master contract.

Wage increases ot 30% over three years have apparently been won but a sticking point has been employers' refusal to guarantee jobs and wages against the effects of containerisation.

The concept of three year, all-embracing and legally enforceable "master contracts" is one that British employers would dearly love to import.

In practice it means that whatever the sell-out

----- pull-quotes -----

the basic industries step up their offensive against