Letters of July 25

Ecuador: home workers in struggle for a union
In Ecuador there is an organization of women workers that has been trying for over a year to gain legal status as a union. Even though we have done everything required  and given in all the paper work, we have been denied our right to unionize.
In the Unión Nacional de Trabajadoras del Hogar y Afines (UNTHA) there are mostly women, but also men who work in homes, taking care of children or older adults. The union recognizes the value of the labor of these workers and demands that people be given the rights other workers have, in the public and/or private sphere. Every time a professional leaves the home to go to work, their family and home are taken care of by a homeworker. She will take care of the home, just as any other professional does their work outside the home.
The right to unionize is much more than just asking the government’s “permission”. To fight with dignity for the needs of workers requires an organization recognized by the government to be able to demand their labor rights, won through the long history or working class struggle.
On March 2017, after a tough political dialogue with some representatives of the State, and through taking over the offices of the Ministerio de Relaciones Laborales (MRL) in Guayaquil, UNTHA was given the recognition it so greatly deserves. We finally are recognized as a Sindicato (Union).
Today we feel strong and powerful, because becoming a union is only the first step in this struggle. We want to make our own struggle visible. At the same time we need funds to begin the process of education on labor rights and occupational health for the workers in our union throughout Ecuador.
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Families Together protest: workers interested in abolishing capitalism
PLP and friends in Washington, DC participated in the “Families Belong Together” protest here on a blisteringly hot day on June 30. Many thousands were enraged by the unspeakably racist and fascist immigration policies of the Donald Trump administration. We distributed a flyer based on the editorial in CHALLENGE (7/11), engaged protesters in conversations about the need for revolution to defeat capitalism, and invited them to join our PLP study-action groups.
A PL’er spoke to two young Latin women who agreed that capitalism was the problem and were interested in learning more about communism as an alternative. An Asian woman she spoke to was particularly interested in the abolition of the wage system. She encouraged us to continue to be pro-active and not give in to cynicism.
A bilingual veteran PLP member who had been inactive for 15 years came to help distribute flyers. She felt that it was time to re-engage. Another PL’er ran into an old friend, who shared her involvement with an ecumenical Sanctuary group that includes 70 faith-based organizations committed to protecting immigrants. The mass group has many workers who can be potentially won to communist politics.
The signs at the march overwhelmingly focused on Trump. Several antiracists were excited to talk about the fact that deportations and baby jails are not new and are not unique to Trump.
But politicians, clergy, and liberal reformers dominated the demonstration; the main chant was “Vote him out.” There was a gratifying moment when the march paused outside the Trump Hotel. A chorus of “boos” shook the plaza in front of the hotel, which continues to make millions of dollars for president Trump from lobbyists, international politicians, and industrialists.
The working class needs an ever-growing communist movement that will sweep aside all Democratic and Republican politicians, target the billionaires behind them, and lead the working class to power. Perhaps some people we met at the march will be part of that revolutionary process.
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Support of Israel exposes liberal bosses’ hypocrisy
This letter is in response to “Antiracists protest Israel’s virulent fascism in Gaza” (CHALLENGE, 6/13).
Bravo to the workers who took to the streets of NYC in May to protest the “barbaric slaughter of Gazan demonstrators.” New York City is home to a liberal elite and one of their biggest blind spots is Israel.
Many Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama supporters proudly stand by pro-Israel policies. They seem unable to critically think about the conflict in the Middle East, paralyzed by the fear of seeming anti-semitic.
Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers marched in solidarity for stronger gun control laws but the number of people calling to control the guns of Israeli soldiers murdering young men and women is miniscule.
Who decided that the lives of Parkland’s teenagers were more important than those of Palestinian workers? American Imperialists did.
We know that Donald Trump is a racist and fascist who puts all workers’ lives in danger. But liberalism and nationalism are equally as fatal and will only be defeated by an international working class revolution.
I applaud the workers of Jewish Voice for Peave, and their fellow antiracists, who boldly told the liberal elite that they would not stand by quietly as their fellow workers were murdered for profit.
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