Additionally, both groups are taxpayers who don t appreciate having to subsidize Hurwitz s takeovers of both Pacific Lumber and Kaiser. It s kind of like paying for the bullets for your own firing squad. And so steelworkers, along with environmentalists, are petitioning the banking regulators to force Hurwitz to pay the full amount he owes. There is a third and perhaps most important piece of common ground. Environmentalists appreciate unions because it gives workers a voice they just don t have under unadulterated corporate control.
Unions guarantee that workers have freedom of speech and assembly.
In other words they ensure our constitutional rights and help keep democracy alive in America. In fact, there will be two opportunities. The first will be at a steelworker rally at the Pacific Lumber Headquarters on December 4 from 11 to 1 pm. The second will be at a USWA open house at the Riverwalk Inn in Fortuna from 6 pm til 9 pm or later. Whether or not this will lead to the unionization of Pacific Lumber, or whether that is even the intent, remains to be seen.