Dubai backlash bites Bush

Clarence Thomas WW photo

This article was contributed to WW by Clarence Thomas, former secretary-treasurer of ILWU Local 10 and national co-chair of the Million Worker March Movement.

The company Dubai Ports World (DP World) of the United Arab Emirates announced on March 8 that it would back out of any management role in U.S. maritime ports.

For nearly a month its plans to purchase Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O) of Britain for $6.8 billion, which had been approved by the Bush administration, had ignited a fire storm of controversy among Repub licans and Democrats that spilled over to the general public.

The collapse of the DP World deal had everything to do with the politics of fear and racism, targeting in particular people of the Middle East. This is the outcome of racially profiling Arabs as potential terrorists—a mantra of the Bush administration since 9/11. Both political parties have bought into this policy.

Security experts have generally agreed that the DP World deal presented no threat. DP World would not actually run or manage the ports in the U.S. That is the function of the port authorities, the municipal counties, or the state-control led concerns that own and operate most U.S. ports. Companies like P&O just lease cargo terminals from these entities, similar to a landlord-tenant arrangement.

Chickens come home to roost

There is clearly a certain irony that the Bush government, its politics of endless war against “terrorism” having created fear of Arabs, would find itself the victim of its own politics.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; domestic spying on Americans; arrests of so-called enemy combatants without due process; criminal background checks and I.D. cards for workers, and the undermining of civil rights and civil liberties with the invocation of the Patriotic Act—all this has created an atmosphere of anti-immigrant hysteria around security and fighting terrorism.

Since 9/11, a xenophobic frenzy has spread throughout the country regarding people of Arab descent. This has been the root cause of the DP World deal unraveling. Bush’s chickens have come home to roost.

There’s an old expression on the docks: “watch the game.” It means longshore workers should work safely, look out for the people working around them and observe the operation of the job. The water front is a dangerous work environment.

That same logic may be applied to paying attention to the real issues involving the Dubai deal.

The containerization of the shipping busi ness has increased profit margins con siderably. U.S. companies are no longer in the top ranks of global terminal operators, which are now permanently based in Asia and the Middle East. They now manage 80 percent of port terminals in the U.S.

While ports are publicly controlled, their operation is in private hands. Terminal operators manage where and when a ship will berth, the use of gantry cranes, relations with longshore workers, which trucks or rail cars will move cargo for distribution to consumers.

These operations could be publicly managed. By having the control in private hands, large conglomerates have exercised leverage, forcing public ports to make huge concessions and subsidies.

U.S. companies jump ship

With the loud outcry around the issue of who should run the seaports, many here are unaware that U.S.-based corporations have jumped ship when it comes to investing in the stevedoring business.

Stevedoring Services of America (SSA), a family-owned company in Seattle, is the largest terminal operator in the United States and one of the employers of International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) members. During contract negotiations in 2002 between the ILWU members and Pacific Maritime Associ ation, SSA attemp ted to weaken the union by not bargaining in good faith. It is well known that SSA has a history of outsourcing longshore jobs under the aegis of technology. SSA has been a major force behind developing a large transshipment port in Panama.

There’s a close connection between U.S. rulers and DP World. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow was the chair of CSX rail firm, which sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.5 billion in 2004. He left DP World in 2004 to join the Bush administration.

In 2002, CSX was purchased by the Carlyle Group, of which George Bush Sr. was a principal owner. Carlyle bought it for $300 million and sold it to DP World for $650 million two years later.

The chief operating officer at DP World is Edward H. Bilkey. Other U.S. citizens in DP World’s leadership include David San born, President George W. Bush’s nom inee to run the Transportation Depart ment’s Maritime Administration.

CNN’s Lou Dobbs reported on Feb. 22 that “President Bush’s family and members of the Bush administration have long- standing business connections with the United Arab Emirates,” adding that the UAE was a major investor in the Carlyle Group and that “the president’s brother, Neil Bush, had reportedly received funding for his educational software company from the UAE investors.”

DP World’s decision to unload its U.S. operations has increased speculation over which U.S.-based corporation will eventually operate the marine terminals. One possible buyer of the contract is rumored to be the Carlyle Group.

Working people can have a clear understanding of this incestuous relationship among the corporate players by simply following the money. It always leads to the powerful and the privileged.

Democrats exploit anti-immigrant fever

The demand of Sen. Hillary Clinton and other Democrats to require U.S. citizenship of those working at the ports fuels the anti-immigrant fever. This kind of legislative measure opportunistically feeds on xenophobia and racism. African Americans and other people of color are well acquain ted with racism in all its forms. It is as American as apple pie.

At no time was Bush concerned about the Dubai deal. This was all about business as usual. Family business at that!

The Dubai deal has put the spotlight on privatization in a big way. There is no ques tion that the ports should be control led by the people in the communities where they are located. There should be greater representation of port worker unions and the community on the Port Commissions to oversee their oper ations. There should also be greater accountability to the communities they serve.

The resources from the ports should be used to address the issues of the communities, such as employment, housing, education and the environment.