Behind the Lines

Ravenswood Victory

THE UNITED STEELWORKERS OF AMERICA (USW) are on the verge of scoring a significant victory for labor unions in the battle against business's "permanent replacement" strategy. One thousand seven hundred West Virginia steelworkers, locked out of their jobs at Ravenswood Aluminum Corporation (RAC) in November 1991, may soon be back on the job, according to union spokesperson Charles Robb.

Ravenswood declared contract negotiations with the USW stalemated after workers rejected a company proposal, made only seven days before the contract expired, that would change seniority rules, eliminate a cost-of-living adjustment and eliminate additional pay that was tied to high profits. The union says the company intended all along to replace the union workers. RAC sent union workers home minutes before the old contract expired, and brought in the first crew of 100 permanent replacement workers - who had already been recruited and trained. Eventually, the company brought in about 1,000 permanent replacements.

 The USW launched an aggressive campaign against the company and its permanent replacement tactic. Almost all of the union workers held out for all 18 months of the lockout, with only 17 crossing the picket lines to go back on the job. The USW threatened major buyers such as Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch with boycotts unless the companies stopped using Ravenswood aluminum. The union also discouraged foreign banks and governments from doing business with Mark Rich, a commodities broker and the real power behind RAC.

The chair of the company, R. Emmett Boyle, has been dismissed, and other top company officials have left Ravenswood. Ravenswood is in "bad financial condition" because of the work stoppage, says Robb. The union is currently negotiating with the company for a new contract. Robb says that while the union is addressing "a wide range of issues including wages, insurance and pensions," the main issue remains "getting the replacement workers out and our people in."

Patently Unfair

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION is using trade measures to punish developing countries which refuse to adopt U.S.-style intellectual property protection measures. In May, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) designated India, Taiwan and Thailand as "priority foreign countries" under the Special 301 provision of the 1988 Trade Act. Special 301 directs the USTR to impose tariffs on countries that it determines are engaging in unfair trade practices by not offering strong enough intellectual property protection.

 Bush also suspended India from the Generalized Systems of Preferences program, which allows developing countries to ship products duty-free into the United States, on the grounds that it affords inadequate intellectual property protection. The action will cost India about $60 million in benefits, according to USTR.

 The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association applauded the administration's moves in its May 4 newsletter, which also blasted India for playing "a nefarious role in undermining U.S. goals and objectives in intellectual property negotiations of the current Uruguay Round of the GATT [General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]."

However, critics of U.S. trade policy say that loose patent protection laws benefit Third World consumers and producers. The 1970 Indian Patents Act was designed to encourage domestic production of patented inventions and insure that the products were made available at a reasonable price. Since the adoption of the Act, India's drug prices have dropped to among the lowest in the world and the country has become nearly self- sufficient in the production of bulk drugs [see Tripping the Third World," Multinational Monitor, November 1990].

Oppression in Malawi

TRADE UNIONISTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD are protesting human and labor rights violations in Malawi and calling for the release of union leader Chakufwa Chihana, who has been held without charges since April 6. Chihana, who heads the Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council, is a long-time leader of Malawi's democracy movement, and was jailed for six years in the 1970s for his advocacy of workers' rights. Riots and protests broke out in Malawi in early May against the repressive policies of President Hastings Bunda.

 Many African labor organizations have called for an end to political repression in Malawi. The major South African trade union federation, COSATU, has called on the South African government to suspend trade with Malawi until Chihana is released.

In the United States, the AFL-CIO's Executive Council released a statement urging "the U.S. government and the governments of all other developed countries to withhold economic assistance to Malawi until Brother Chihana is released, repression ends, and current anti-democratic policies are reversed." According to the AFL-CIO's information office, the council has also resolved to press the U.S. Trade Representative to suspend Malawi from the Generalized System of Preferences program.

 - Holley Knaus