Date: 16 Jul 96 23:43:03 EDT
From: Jon Flanders <72763.2240-AT-compuserve.com>
Subject: Re: Golly Gee Beav, the poor are gettin


 >> But might a rail-worker go to the wall over health and safety, lay-offs, 
or an insecure future for his/her family?  And what about the real possibility
of some sort of war arising out of all the various
 imperialist manouvres?  From what I've read of Jon's posts, he would not make
a simplistic "Labor Aristocracy" argument but I just thought I'd
 throw these comments in. <<Jeff Booth

 Jon Flanders:

  Yes, a combination of all these things might be the catalyst. The question
of class polarization reflected in CEO pay is  one of many.The discussion was
on the impact of the growing disparity of wealth, and I simply chimed in with
how it looks from my corner.

 I do think that the issue can become explosive in the same way that dictators
like Somoza and the Shah suddenly unite the population against them. If a
particular CEO stands out in the greed sweepstakes, then the question becomes
personalized in a way that broad masses of workers understand. The latest
Boeing strike illustrated this point when top execs bonuses were contrasted
with the concession being demanded from the union.

 Resentment against the growing prevalence of "bean-counters" in top positions
plays into this too. Conrail's new CEO David LeVan came up through the
accounting side of things. He never threw a switch or a throttle in his life.
This makes his 3 million dollar bonuses even harder to swallow for the rank
and file railroader.

  He spoke a  shop assembly, an occasional affair when everyone is gathered
for a management speech. It took place on my day off, alas, but one thing that
was sniggered about afterword was his attire of checked shirt and workboots.
Kind of like that nitwit that ran against Dole, Lamar Alexander. They are
conscious of the problem they are creating.

  There is a dynamic in this that transcends whether or not a specific group
of workers are "aristocrats." We had a strike of furniture workers here in
Upstate NY whose ire was entirely focussed on the latest incarnation of the
family who owned their company.

  At one of their picket rallies I attended they marched on her family's
compound, up on the hill above the forlorn streets of Granville, N.Y.
 This had to be one of the most surreal experiences I have been through in the
class struggle. It was pitch dark, and as a hundred angry workers roared and
chanted up at the homes beyond the vast lawns in front of us, a white horse,
spooked by the noise and the twitching flashlights of the strikers, raced
round and round its paddock. It was a scene right of G.M Marquez. I half
expected the horse to turn into butterflies and rise into the air.



  E-mail from: Jonathan E. Flanders, 16-Jul-1996




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