PHILADELPHIA, December 13 — Since the 1980’s the bosses have been attacking workers’ pensions in South America, Africa, and Asia. They have had plenty of practice that they can now use against workers in Europe and the U.S. Philadelphia hospital workers are now facing this same attack.
Bosses’ View of Aging Workers: Garbage
What should happen to working people when they are too old or too sick to work anymore? The bosses believe that this is not their problem. Throughout the history of capitalism they have shown that they will use workers to make profits and then discard us like garbage when we are no longer productive.
Capitalism organizes society to make profits for a tiny minority of rich people at the expense of the vast majority of working people. But workers create all wealth. Therefore communists believe we have the right to be taken care of in old age after spending our lives contributing to society. Communism would organize society to fulfill the needs of the working class.
Why then do we have pensions and Social Security in this capitalist society? Only because the labor movement fought for many years to limit the cruelty of the bosses. Social Security was won during the Great Depression of the 1930’s because of the violent united struggles of employed and unemployed workers, often under the leadership of the old communist movement.
Unfortunately these battles only reformed the capitalist system instead of doing away with it. Now capitalism is failing again around the world. In order to survive in this competitive world each capitalist must drain as much profit as possible from the workers. They no longer afford to let us have pensions and social security in our old age.
Stocks Down = Pensions Down
Due to layoffs and wage cuts, less money has been going into the pension here. Also, the pension fund lost money on the failing stock market and must be reformed to meet government regulations. The bosses want to stop putting any money into the pension. The Pension Protection Act, a law passed by the fascist Bush, will allow them to do this.
The capitalist labor leaders in 1199c are proposing an eight-point plan which involves concessions to the bosses to keep workers’ pensions. This is a losing strategy. These “leaders” made countless concessions to the bosses over the years and the living conditions for the workers have grown steadily worse. If we make concessions to the hospital bosses they will whittle away at the pension until it is gone.
We must fight for our pension and prepare for a strike in 2012! Millions of workers have struck in France against the governments’ attack on their pensions. We must have this same fighting spirit. Philly hospital workers are organizing a rank and-file movement to lead this battle.
But even if we win in 2012 we will still be under attack. Workers already won pensions and Social Security many years ago. But because we live in a capitalist society, a dictatorship of the bosses, all of our victories are only temporary. The bosses can always use their control of the government to take back what we win.
If we are ever going to win the true victory, the liberation of the working class, we must fight to get rid of capitalism forever. We must fight for communism, a society that will use the wealth we create to fulfill human needs. We can build a world where the aging workers are respected and cared for after their long years of work; where the young can use their labor to build a bright future rather than to line the pockets of the rich.
Join the Progressive Labor Party in this fight for a better world!
To contact Philly PLP, Call: 267-319-3515