Labor Party Targets Elections

While NBA strikers hobnob in Vegas, workers meet in Pittsburgh

by Michael R. Dedrick, Free Press contributor

orking people need a party that represents the interests of working people. Capital yields nothing without a struggle.... There is a class struggle going on, and we can make a difference." said Buzz Hargrove, President of the Canadian Automobile Workers, as keynote speaker of the US Labor Party convention.

The second meeting and first constitutional convention of the Labor Party took place in Pittsburgh, Oct. 13-15, two years after the working class-based party was founded in Cleveland. Denunciations of NAFTA and exhortations to make a difference in the political arena filled the morning program, which led to a Just Health Care rally attended by hundreds of Labor Party delegates and featuring a 12-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty, with an I-V needle stuck in her arm.

Speakers at the afternoon rally stressed the need to replace the current inefficient profit driven and healthcare system with a Canadian style single payer one that guarantees universal access to care. Kit Costello, president of the California Nurses Association, said, "We want an end to profit mongering healthcare." Dr. Sidney Wolfe, of the Health Research Group and a former chemical workers union, said the current unjust healthcare system has created huge numbers of uninsured and underinsured people in addition to the hundreds of new millionaires who manage HMOs for profit.

The afternoon session turned to the issues of workers rights and electoral politics. Speaking on the resolution for a Bill of Rights in the workplace, United Mine Workers of America President Cecil Roberts said, "We know the answer to workers problems in the US is a stronger labor movement in this country ...The electoral resolution to endorse and run labor Party candidates for public office reflects a major step for the party." This resolution and one calling for Labor Party candidates passed overwhelmingly.

Marginalize or compromise?

Al Fondy, president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers, an organization that is not affiliated with the Labor Party, criticized the electoral strategy, saying that Labor Party campaigns "would marginalize the interests of workers and squander labor's influence in mainstream politics." Reacting to Fondy's remarks, Tony Mazzocchi, Labor Party National Organizer, said, "He ought to study history.... We're saying if you try something for 50 years and it doesn't work, you should try something else." Cecil Roberts, Secretary Treasurer of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, added, "The bosses already have two parties; the workers ought to have one."

Michael Moore echoed that point the following day, punctuating his remarks with the donation of a $10,000 royalty check to the Labor Party's educational arm. Saturday also featured the presentation of the first annual Karen Silkwood award to Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor researcher who stood up to the Clinton administration and a Beverly nursing home chain. After workers from Nabisco, the Detroit newspapers strike, Mexico, and elsewhere testified about their struggles for union recognition and better working conditions, convention-goers donated and pledged more than $18,000.

The convention concluded with approval of a resolution calling for "Unimpeded access to a full range of family planning and reproductive services ...including the right to terminate pregnancy." Along with a resolution for single-payer universal non-profit healthcare, the convention resolved to campaign for Social Security, including a drive to eliminate the payroll earnings cap on Social Security. This would make Bill Gates liable for Social Security tax on all of his $50 billion income.

Five members of the Seattle Chapter attended the convention as well as ten other at large Northwest delegates. The Seattle Labor Party meets at 7 PM on the 2nd Wednesday of the month in Hall 7, Labor Temple 2800 1st. Seattle Labor Party PO Box 61087, Seattle 98121. (206) 382-5712. Michael R. Dedrick is a Labor Party member.