The Republicans’ push to install Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court
is a grave threat to the rights of all working-class people. He’s another
Trump, but in a judge’s robes. He’s committed to further overturning civil
rights, women’s rights, and workers’ rights to join a union. And he’s committed
to handing the President unprecedented dictatorial powers. He’s a racist,
sexist hit-man in the interests of white supremacy and corporate profiteering.
(To learn more about Kavanaugh, see our suggested readings below.)
Local 100 Fightback is proud that we supported and participated in the
protests against Kavanaugh’s confirmation. We were pleased to see retired Track
worker John McCarthy protesting – it’s a credit to him that he regularly
participates in such efforts and perhaps other individual Local 100 members
participated. Surely more would have mobilized if it wasn’t for the shameful
fact that neither our union, nor any other grouping in Local 100, called for
members to mobilize. All the other groupings inside Local 100 continue to be
exclusively focused on trying to grab power for themselves in the upcoming
union elections, just like they failed to mobilize to challenge
MTA President Andy Byford at his recent Community Meeting in Brooklyn.
At yesterday’s protest outside Trump Tower, Local 100 Fightback’s
Anthony Steiniger and Seth Rosenberg (Train Operators) carried placards warning
of the attacks on the rights of people of color, women and unions that
Kavanaugh’s confirmation will mean, and condemning the leaders of the union
movement for failing to mobilize in protest.
And at another protest, Local 100 Fightback’s Tom Gruttemeyer (Train
Operator) and John Ferretti (Conductor) explained why they were there:
(Video at: https://youtu.be/ldd-Xji2moY)
Local 100 Fightback’s began its “Open
Call for a United Opposition to Utano & Co.” by making the point that
the attacks that transit workers face from local political powers are
inseparable from the rise to power of Trump’s racist Republicans in Washington.
Our union leadership refuses to support and mobilize for protests against Trump
because it needs to keep us feeling powerless to oppose their capitulation to
attacks coming from management and Cuomo’s Democrats.
In fact as protests were building against Trump’s push to take over the
Supreme Court, our Transport Workers Union announced that it was officially
throwing its support behind Trump’s most powerful political supporter in New
York City, racist Staten Island Congressman Dan Donovan. SHAME! In the name of
its “New York Conference,” the TWU issued a press release on October 1
announcing its “enthusiastic endorsement” for the man who paved his way to
Congress by rigging the Grand Jury hearings for the police who choked to death
Eric Garner in Staten Island so that the murderers got away with their crime.
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| ABOVE: Disgraceful statement by the leaders of the Transport Workers Union "enthusiastically endorsing" racist Trump-supporting Republican Dan Donovan for Congress. |
The TWU’s endorsement of Donovan is another reminder of why the Utano
leadership of Local 100 and the Samuelsen leadership of the TWU must be thrown
out. And the failure of Local 100’s other oppositional groupings to support and
participate in the protests against Kavanaugh is another reminder of why we
must build a movement inside Local 100 that doesn’t just talk about social
justice, but fights for our union to join in every struggle in defense of
working-class and oppressed people.
* To learn more about Kavanaugh’s anti-union and racist plans for the
Supreme Court, these articles provide a great introduction: www.newrepublic.com/article/122645/rehabilitationists-libertarian-movement-undo-new-deal and www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/09/redemption-court/566963/. And for a detailed account of the many lies that
Kavanaugh told the Senate in response to the mounting evidence that he
committed numerous acts of sexual assault, read: www.currentaffairs.org/2018/09/how-we-know-kavanaugh-is-lying.
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