US Transport Workers Rally To Protect Dutch Docker's Pensions In San Francisco

http://www.transportworkers.org/node/980

Stop The War Abroad-Win The War At Home-Defend Dutch FNV Dockers Pension Funds!

Stop The War Abroad-Win The War At Home

Support Dutch FNV Dockers Pension Funds!

The rally today against the looting of the Dutch FNV Docker's pension funds by TransAmerica's owner Aegon shows again the criminal nature of international capital, revealed in their "Free Trade Agreements". Whether it is the crooked bankers in the US who have been bailed out by Bush and Obama, the Democrats and Republicans or the insurance crooks running Aegon, the standard operating procedure is the same. Steal from the workers and then deny them their benefits. The war against the Dutch FNV Docker's pension funds that affects the 60,000 retired dockers is clearly a crime and part of a criminal conspiracy to rip off the working people in the Netherlands. We reject the plea for "social partners" with these crooks and gangsters. They belong in jail and not in partnership with our unions both in Holland and the US. Capitalists' interests are in conflict with workers’ interests. 
In the US, the bankers with the support of Democrats Nancy Pelosi and president elect Obama have given $750 billion to the banks and trillions to the insurance industry like AIG to bail them out from their massive criminal speculation schemes. The US government is using our tax dollars to help the bankers stay in business, as home foreclosures continue unabated. The US unions which spent over $500 million dollars to get Obama and the Democrats elected are now faced with a depression in which the unions are being told they have to take wage and benefit cuts and give backs while the bankers get bailed out.
 The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee http://www.transportworkers.org does not believe that we should be bailing out these crooks or trying to "reform" the crooks. We call for the nationalization of the banks and insurance companies under workers' control and for jailing those who looted these institutions. We say, "Workers and the boss class have nothing in common."
 In fact, one of the greatest scams in history in the US was to get workers to give up defined pensions and put their money into 401K's. The two trillion dollar loss of the Republicrat 401K pension scheme has now been exposed as tens of millions of US workers can no longer afford to retire. The deregulation of the banks and insurance companies supported by the Democrats and Republicans is directly responsible for this massive thievery of workers' pension money.
 These 401k pension funds should be nationalized as they have in Argentina and folded into the social security system where we actually get some guaranteed pensions when we retire. That was the victory of the mass workers mobilizations in Argentina during the capitalist crisis when workers occupied factories and organized strikes to defend their class interests.
 The international labor movement needs more solidarity and direct action not only against the theft of our pension funds but also against war and imperial adventures for big business. The Dutch government like the US government is engaged in a bloody trillion dollar adventure in Iraq, Afghanistan and supporting Israel in their genocidal murder of the Palestinians in Gaza. These wars are being paid for by the taxes of US and Dutch workers and the war against the people of the Middle East is the same war against us in Holland and the US. It is time that our unions on a global level make these connections and act internationally to end the looting of our pension funds and also the imperial wars abroad. The Norweigian Train Drivers Union is already taking action against the US supported Israeli crimes in the Gaza. Both the economic attacks here and abroad go hand in hand and are paid for in workers' blood. The main enemy is the corporate controlled governments in the US and Holland who represent the bosses and billionaires on a global level.
The TWSC http://www.transportworkers.org links up transportation workers throughout the world and builds international solidarity by direct action on the job and in the streets.


1/12/2009 http://www.transportworkers.org