Philadelphia Jobs with Justice: December 2010

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Express Scripts: "Shock Doctrine" in action

Back in October, National Jobs with Justice regional organizer Treston Davis-Faulkner highlighted the rise of shock doctrine union busting tactics--right wing use of economic crises as an excuse to push through radical free-market ideology that cuts jobs, undermines worker power, and undercuts our social safety nets.

Treston wrote about the struggles of ILA Local 1291 dockworkers fighting back against the highly profitable Del Monte Fresh Produce Co., which despite two years of record profits eliminated about two hundred union jobs in the Philadelphia area, replacing them with poorly paying jobs at a nearby Camden port "organized" by a company-controlled sham union. When the laid-off workers protested, Del Monte slammed them with an injunction that effectively gagged the local and its members. Luckily, family members, community supporters, and allies--including Philly JwJ--have stepped up and united in a campaign to fight to restore these workers' jobs.

Another big labor struggle in the area also fits snugly into the shock doctrine model. In the midst of a recession, SEIU Healthcare PA workers continue to fight scheduled facility closures in Bensalem. Is the elimination of these jobs a matter of company survival, somehow a regrettable but ultimately necessary business decision? Nope. Express Scripts hauled in an easy $1.7 billion in profits last year.

SEIU's blog has more on the Express Scripts fight:

According to a new research report, Express Scripts (ESI), the second-largest pharmacy benefit management firm in the country, is alienating clients by engaging in pricing schemes, handling personal data carelessly, expanding so fast the company may be overvalued, and is so loaded with debt its liquidity may be in danger. The report titled "Overdosing on Greed" was issued by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, which represents ESI workers in Bensalem, PA, and is locked in a dispute with the company.
Express Scripts, racked up profits of $1.7 billion last year while processing 449 million prescriptions -- 12 percent of all prescriptions filled in the United States. Nevertheless, the company is demanding draconian concessions and threatening to close two of its facilities in suburban Philadelphia if the workers don't agree to the concessions by mid-December. The closures would put an estimated 1,000 workers out of jobs in this economically hard-hit community just in time for Christmas.

In the Philly area and across the country, companies are using the recession as an excuse to put more folks out of work. Thankfully, people are beginning to stand up and call these callow tactics what they really are--corporate greed. Those of us who care about workers, their power, and their rights need to be vigilant now more than ever, and it's exciting to see workers like the SEIU Healthcare PA folks and Local 1291 fiercely taking these battles head-on.

The JwJ Pledge

During the next year, I will be there at least five times for someone else's fight, as well as my own. If enough of us are there, we'll all start winning.

STAND UP for our rights as working people to a decent standard of living.

SUPPORT the right of all workers to organize and bargain collectively.

FIGHT for secure family-wage jobs in the face of corporate attacks on working people and our communities.

ORGANIZE the unorganized to take aggressive action to secure a better economic future for all of us.

MOBILIZE those already organized to join the fight for jobs with justice.

Volunteer

Jobs With Justice is looking for Volunteers! Interested in workers' rights? Interested in fighting for social justice work? We need volunteers to help fight for the rights of workers in Philadelphia, as part of a broader social justice struggle. We need people to help distribute handbills, with data entry, writing articles and letters, mailings, photocopying, and much more.

If you want to engage with Jobs with Justice and be part of the solution, please be in touch!

Contact:
director@phillyjwj.org

Student Labor Action Project

As Philadelphia students and youth we commit ourselves to the struggles of working class people in this city and to the fight against all forms of oppression including racism, sexism, and homophobia. We stand for equality, the rights of workers, justice, and democracy. We are against the corporatization of education and aim to make our universities fully accountable to the communities they were built to serve. We believe that direct action wins working class families better working conditions, affordable health care, paid sick days. SLAP provides dedicated student leaders with the skills and tools necessary to affect meaningful change for workers on our campuses and in our communities through trainings, events, and actions.

Contact:

Paul Prescod

piknrol@aol.com