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With July 15th Criminalization of Rail Strikes, Biden is the Bosses’ Best Friend
Following a 99.5% vote to authorize strike action by rail workers with the BLET union on July 12th, the president has signed an executive order creating a “Presidential Emergency Board” and making all strikes in rail illegal for the next 60 days (July 15th). The creation of the board is in line with the wishes of trade union bureaucrats, who are desperate to keep their rank and file under control and frustrate any attempt to struggle outside government arbitration. Today, they are trying to lock rail workers into the same system of government arbitration which has for forty years been impotent to stop (let alone reverse!) the increasing attacks on working class life and its regular plundering by the rich.
The War in Ukraine and Us
As the war in Ukraine enters its tenth week, the Chevron Refinery in Richmond is facing its first strike in forty years. There’s a clear connection between the two events. With the consequences of the war spreading further every day, we need to consider the situation at whose protruding end the Chevron workers stand right now, and at which we will stand later if we don’t already.