NEW YORK CITY — A week after a wheel fell off an in-service bus in Queens, and six months before the largest city transit worker contract expires, TWU (Transport Workers Union) Local 100 safety inspectors found 96 unsafe buses at the College Point bus depot on May 25. The disregard of the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) for safety and the workers’ enforcement of their contract effectively shut down morning rush-hour service.

Like all capitalists and their loyal bureaucrats, the MTA management responded to Local 100’s safety inspection by putting profits first. Workers’ tax dollars, transit workers’ labor and riders’ fares enable the MTA to pay Wall Street investors $1.2 billion interest in profits. These payments increase annually, coming from worker layoffs, reduced service and maintenance.

Management’s job is to preserve those profits, above all. So instead of dealing with the safety problems that put passengers and operators in danger, depot supervisors took four bus operators out of service for refusing to drive unsafe buses. Communism, a worker-run society without profits and bosses, would put the needs of the international working class first.

This latest attack on transit follows two years of layoffs, delays in transit worker raises, fare hikes, and deteriorating service. One of the four out-of-service operators, a shop steward with two unrelated pending charges, faces dismissal. (Another bus operator with no disciplinary record is now back in service.) These latest attacks on transit workers, along with the dangerous conditions that sparked them, are inherently racist because they strike the majority black, Latino, and immigrant riders and workers hardest.

Militant job actions, such as safety shutdowns, are workers’ best response to these racist attacks. But the political line that drives the militancy matters as much as the actions themselves. Under a capitalist system, the bosses who run society will inevitably take away a “good” contract or decent safety measures over time. U.S. public-sector workers, who represent 20 percent of all black workers, are under the gun from politicians of all the bosses’ parties.

For the most part, union leaders throughout the U.S. are diverting workers’ anger to vote for “friends in high places.” Their idea of “militancy” is to stage symbolic actions that blow off steam but do nothing to hurt the ruling class. For lasting progress, workers need to overthrow the bosses in revolution and build a communist society where workers will hold state power, where they will labor for our class’s need, not bosses’ profit.

Without this long-term communist outlook, short-term reform victories only promote the illusion that the capitalist system can work. The reality is that capitalist competition is forcing U.S. bosses to wipe out the few gains public-sector workers have made in order to maximize profits. That’s the only way the ruling class can pay for imperialist wars and bank and auto bailouts. Without communist goals, defeats like those sweeping the public sector can made workers cynical about mass class struggle. Only organizing for a mass communist movement can turn temporary defeats into lessons for long-term victories of revolution and workers’ power.

TWU Local 100 is planning a demonstration at College Point depot and has placed the three remaining out-of-service operators on the union’s release-time payroll until they are back in service. Many transit workers are furious at the MTA for pulling such a stunt. “The supervisor should be in jail,” fumed one bus operator from East New York Depot. As we go to press, PLP is organizing to defend these operators and to take rank-and-file actions against the bosses. Stayed tuned to see how CHALLENGE readers can help

BROOKLYN, May 26 — Nurses, maintenance staff and clerical workers occupied the lobby of the Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center. These workers are Fighting against a pattern of racist hospital closures and cutbacks affecting workers in nearly 500 hospitals. The 3,500 workers in this hospital in the Brownsville neighborhood have lost their health insurance coverage because Brookdale has fallen behind in paying $23 million to their benefits fund.

The Brookdale administration claims that it fell behind on payments over the past six months due to its well-publicized financial struggles. But apparently the hospital’s parent company, MediSys Health Systems, had enough money to bribe State Senator Carl Kruger and Assemblyman William F. Boyd, Jr.

In March, federal prosecutors unveiled a criminal case against CEO David F. Rosen, who received millions of dollars in state and city grants and other favors in exchange for giving the politicians fake but well-paid “consulting” jobs. MediSys is also the parent of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, another major hospital close to bankruptcy. This obscene corruption is nothing new under capitalism, and will remain the norm until workers remove profits from healthcare entirely by smashing it with communist revolution. The fight-back at Brookdale can be one step in that direction.

Brownsville is one of New York City’s poorest neighborhoods, and is 96% black and Latino. For insurance, the community relies primarily on Medicaid, which was cut this April by $2.8 billion. According to a May 2010 study by the Fiscal Policy Institute, unemployment here is 15% to 20%, or about twice the city’s 9.2% average.This excludes from the unemployment rate : the overworked, underpaid, and job-hunters, and those who’ve given up.

The infant mortality rate is on par with Mexico’s —  at 16.7 deaths per 1,000 live births — whereas the U.S. national average is 6.3 deaths per 1,000 births. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, only 32% of the population has a high school diploma, and the neighborhood contains the highest concentration of public housing projects in the United States.

In addition, Brownsville residents suffer epidemic proportions of chronic, racism-induced conditions like hypertension, asthma, diabetes, and obesity, more than double the rate of white workers just a few miles away in Long Island.

As they face the brunt of the current economic crisis, black and Latino workers depend on Brookdale as the sole provider of health care in the entire community. Now the hospital’s bosses, after receiving millions of dollars in political favors, cry that they’re too poor to insure their own workers.

In a city where eight hospitals have shut down in the past five years, these racist attacks on Brookdale Hospital workers and the community of Brownsville are being done deliberately to increase profits. (See box.) But since healthcare costs continue to spiral as more workers suffer capitalist-induced diseases, workers are forced to swallow the bitter pill of worse care in fewer available hospitals and clinics At the same time, healthcare providers’ wages and benefits are driven down. The Brookdale bosses demonstrate that healthcare under capitalism — whether it’s labeled “Obamacare,” “single-payer,” “non-profit,” or “for-profit”— will always fail the working class and unleash racist misery, especially on black and Latino workers.

The union representing these workers, Local 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, is no friend of those it claims to serve. While trumpeting its legal victory for the occupation after Brookdale attempted to get a court injunction, 1199 has followed the footsteps of the UAW for years, negotiating wage-cut contracts while refusing to mobilize its more than 260,000 mostly black and Latino members in the city againsts a single hospital closure.

Instead of relying on union misleaders, our PLP club is mobilizing its members and CHALLENGE readers within 1199 SEIU and the hospitals and communities. We’re working to support an informational picket in front of Brookdale Hospital on June 15. By making contacts and distributing CHALLENGE, we plan to help fan the flames of anti-racism in this fight-back and continue strengthening our growing work in area hospitals and communities. We encourage all Party members and friends to distribute CHALLENGEs and join us on June 15!J

The Reality Behind the ‘Non-profit’ Hospital

Many hospitals in the United States refer to themselves as “non-profit,” or (in an an older term) “voluntary non-profit.” They are, however, just as profit-driven as their “for-profit” counterparts. The biggest difference is that “for-profit” hospitals pay taxes while “non-profit” hospitals do not because they supposedly perform a “community benefit.” According to a March 12, 2007 article in the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal-Gazette:

“…some of the things that non-profits count as community benefit are things that for-profit [hospitals] consider the cost of doing business...”

“A non-profit tax expert [says]... there is no standard for what constitutes a ‘community benefit.’ That allows nonprofit hospitals to set their own rules.”

“This core myth that non-profits exist to serve the poor was never true. ...it was never the historic reason for it... they’re not required to serve the poor, they’re not required to lose money, [and] they’re not required to underpay their employees.”

“The people united will never be defeated!” rang through the main street of Massapequa Park, outside the office of Rep. Peter King, the U.S. congressman who is building racism and xenophobia by holding hearings on Muslims. Eighty people chanted after one of the keynote speakers spoke of the need for unity of all people against bigotry, racism and hatred. By providing communist leadership to this movement, we can demonstrate that racism is a tool of the larger, systemic problem that is capitalism.

People from peace groups, church groups and others united to speak out against King’s poisonous ideas and to help build a new and growing coalition. There were many different ideologies within the circle of demonstrators chanting on the street that day. But almost everyone joined in chants like, “Muslims, Christians, Jews unite. We’re all in the same fight.”  There were cops on the street and a handful of King supporters who were shouting their usual garbage about demonstrators “not being Americans.”

The various groups that are working to develop relationships and build the movement against racism and xenophobia face a long and uphill struggle. A number of cars drove past; some people hooted at us while others supported us. About half the demonstrators and some passers-by took CHALLENGE.

The church group that sponsored the demonstration also organized a march against AgroProcessors for their abuse of Mexican-born workers, as well as a march in Staten Island against racist attacks on Latinos. These were other examples of uniting people against racism. All of these struggles grew out of church forums to educate members and friends about the particular manifestations of racism. We are getting better at developing these actions. We will do more and become stronger as the struggle continues.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA, May 1 — Over 60,000 people participated in the May Day march, commemorating the day of the International working class. There were courageous youth who hissed and ridiculed harassing cops and politicians claiming to be the saviors of the working class. There were trade union misleaders demanding more crumbs from the capitalist system, and groups of peasants and indigenous communities, displaced by violence, denouncing state and paramilitary crimes.

There were relatives of the disappeared demanding justice, workers in low-paying jobs denouncing their abusive bosses, groups of teachers and students rejecting the privatization of public education. Doctors and nurses denounced the enormous theft of healthcare resources. Opportunists of every shade and color sabotaged the event with loud whistles and without any slogans, dancing as if in a carnival.

Members of PLP began the distribution of more than 3,000 revolutionary fliers and the selling of CHALLENGE very early. Comrades and friends, women and men, arrived in small groups to avoid police harassment. We organized ourselves behind our signs and proudly raised the red flag with the distinctive symbols of our Party.

We all, workers and students, enthusiastically chanted:

 “Changing presidents, kings or dictators do not free us from the yoke!”

“Democracy is a capitalist farce, organize communist revolution”

“Reject every capitalist option, Always lead with communism!”

“One working class, one communist world, and one Progressive Labor Party!”

“Against capitalist usury, a communist worker state!”

“Take advantage of capitalist wars to organize communist revolution!”

Several groups participating in the march chanted along and joined our contingent, which grew to almost a hundred strong. A group of workers insisted on sharing their lunch with us to express support for the revolutionary politics of PLP.

During the march, we advanced as far as Plaza Bolivar, where we sang the Internationale, but soon after, as is often the case, we had to face police brutality in the form of tear gas, stunt explosions and water cannons.

We made many contacts with the workers and students we had met. We plan to take advantage of this capitalist crisis to politicize workers’ struggles and direct them towards an international communist revolution.