Labor shortage sows seeds of class struggle

They’re coming back to New Orleans.

The lure of jobs is a strong incentive. An extreme shortage of skilled and unskilled labor exists there and in the Delta region. A strategic center of world trade and commerce and a major hub, it supplies oil and natural gas to many parts of the world as well as importing them. Almost half of the country’s oil refinery capacity is concentrated on the Gulf Coast. Much of its output is transported on the Mississippi River.

The Gulf ports are conduits for farm products and many other commodities that move in and out of the country. Racist criminal negligence by the Bush administration drove out working poor and oppressed families, overwhelmingly Black. Now the ruling class is desperate for labor to rebuild the economic infrastructure in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast that was destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Washington Post on Oct. 8 touched on one aspect of the labor shortage and its consequences. Headlined “Labor Crunch Stalls Katrina Recovery,” the article describes the difficulties experienced by the fortunate ones, primarily white and well off, who can return to homes still standing in New Orleans: “As people come back ... they are finding they need much more than electricians. Those fortunate enough to own homes that were not destroyed by wind or flood need roofers, air conditioning technicians, plumbers, carpenters, mold-removal specialists, flooring experts and general contractors. The problem is that while plenty of unskilled laborers are piling into town looking for cleanup and demolition work, there is a serious shortage of specially trained laborers.” Yes! The unskilled labor coming back is Black, Latin@ and white, including immigrants, primarily Mexican.

More than 1.3 million Mexican workers lived in the areas hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many undocumented. The floods and winds swept away the records. There are no footprints to determine who has no papers. Although these workers are fearful of seeking aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security—which oversees FEMA—has waived any sanctions against employers for knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

“Labor and immigration experts predict more undocumented workers will move to the Gulf Coast because of the relaxed rules and available demolition and construction jobs,” reported Edwin Garcia of the Knight Ridder News Service from Biloxi, Miss. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sept. 30) The majority of Mexican workers who settled in southern Louisiana and Mississippi have worked in maintenance jobs at coastal casinos. The women got housekeeping jobs in hotels. These workers, who were paid $7 an hour before Katrina hit, are now being rehired at $8 an hour and above, according to one Mexican worker quoted by Garcia.

The profit-hungry companies who got the no-bid contracts are bound by the laws of supply and demand. In a moment of labor shortages, they are forced to pay prevailing wages, Bush’s suspension of the 1931 Davis-Bacon Act notwithstanding. With union organizers on the scene who are sensitive to national oppression, the potential is promising to raise the living standards of millions in “right to work” states in the entire Gulf Coast and New Orleans region.

The Bush administration can’t escape the huge costs of rebuilding the Gulf Coast and restoring its strategic position in global trade and commerce. However, Bush thinks he can utilize the same approach that has served up billions in no-bid contracts in Iraq to his corporate buddies. His economic advisers have designed a Gulf Opportunity Zone program that provides waivers to non-union, sweatshop primary contractors and sub-contractors. This mirrors the “enterprise zones” the U.S. has set up throughout the world to exploit labor and resources.

The intent is to avoid paying prevailing wages set by law, to ignore health and safe ty statutes, and to provide write-offs, tax relief and bonuses for businesses that invest in the recovery and reconstruction of the Gulf. According to a Labor Depart ment memo, federal contractors are relieved of all legal affirmative-action requirements to hire “minorities, women, Vietnam veterans and disabled people on Katrina-related projects ... for three months.”

True, the Bush administration is on the offensive to put its corporate cronies in charge of a massive long-term reconstruction program, but labor shortages will mean skilled and unskilled jobs that the corporate scoundrels need to fill. It is too early to cite figures, but a movement has begun to organize and mobilize Black work ers, their communities and other allies to demand that recovery and reconstruction be focused on areas destroyed by Katrina and Rita. Solidarity Centers are being set up and organized by Black leaders. The AFL-CIO and the Change to Win Federation also have organizing centers in the area.

Black leadership
and self-determination

Demands are overwhelming for the right to return, decent jobs, housing and health care so New Orleans and Gulf Coast families can live in dignity and security. This perspective is resonating among the Solidarity Centers, in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast. Black leaders from Community Labor United, the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, the Black Activist Network and others are preparing the way. The right of return to safe and livable homes and communities is an indispensable part of a more comprehensive program of self-determination.

Millions of union members—especially the lower paid who tend to be from oppressed nationalities, women and in service industries—are angry at the Bush administration and FEMA for their criminal and racist behavior. They identify with the plight of those Black families, many of them led by women, who struggled to keep their children and loved ones together during the Katrina catastrophe. It is incumbent on the organized labor movement—the two labor federations—to provide resources and support.

The storm clouds of inflation and unemploy ment hover over the capitalist economy. The Bush budget for fiscal 2006 plans to pay for the costs of Katrina and Rita by cutting Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and other entitlements and discretionary programs. Corporate America is slashing wages, health care and pensions.

The road to resistance lies in connecting the dots of imperialist wars with the war at home. The immediate need is to build a united front with those Black forces now on the front lines in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. Fresh winds of struggle will blow, clearing out the social debris of a decadent system predicated on racism, poverty, class oppression and war.