No 11 / February 2008
War Profiteers’ News
The email newsletter of WRI's Global Initiative against War Profiteers || español | Index of past issues
Editorial
Welcome to War Profiteers' News, WRI's newsletter on the issues around war profiteering.
This issue covers the arms fair in India, 16-19 February. Arms fairs are used to make new deals promoting the latest military technology and also in many cases to promote the arms industry to the general public as they offer a good family day out. For many years, arms fairs have been the target for anti-militarist action, sometimes quite successfully.
The last issue of WPN had an article on economic conversion, mentioning the work of activists in Connecticut, USA, especially against General Dynamics. This issue we profile General Dynamics as our War Profiteer of the Month.
The Campaign of the Month is from University College London (UCL) students campaigning against university investments in the arms trade. We also report some actions against arms manufacturers recruiting personnel at universities. If you have any information about this kind of anti-corporate counter-recruitment, please send it in to help us build up resources on this area.
In the build up to WRI's seminar in December in India - "Linking local livelihood struggles and global militarism" - this issue reports on the conflict in the south of Chile between the indigenous Mapuches and the logging industry.
Javier Gárate
Upcoming events
22/03/08 NATO Game Over:
Resist Military Globalisation!
Five years after the Iraq war started: an international action weekend at NATO's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
Followed by the seminar organised by Bombspotting and War Resisters' International "Military globalisation and nonviolent resistance in Europe"
Interested? contact: international[at]bombspotting.be
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War Profiteer of the Month
General Dynamics
General Dynamics has long been one of the largest military contractors for the Pentagon and many foreign governments. The company’s roots go back to the pioneering work on military submarines by the Electric Boat Company, but it later expanded into surface ships, aircraft, tanks and, most recently, military information technology. It became best known for deadly products such as the Trident nuclear submarine, the F-16 fighter jet, the M-1 tank and the Tomahawk cruise missile.
Given its overwhelming dependence on military contracts, the company was hard hit by the decline in U.S. military spending after the end of the Cold War. It sold off many of its operations and considered disposing of the rest and shutting itself down. But the comeback of military spending via the Gulf War encouraged General Dynamics to hang on. Before long, it was buying new assets, focusing its military operations on shipbuilding (in part through the purchase of the historic Bath Iron Works) and armored vehicles such as the Strykers widely used in the war in Iraq. It also increased its commercial work through the purchase of corporate jet maker Gulfstream Aerospace.
General Dynamics has been embroiled in numerous controversies involving the quality of its work and cost overruns, though in recent years it has tried to improve its reputation while restructuring its activities.
Accountability overview:
General Dynamics has been embroiled in controversies since the early days of its Electric Board operation, which shocked many observers by selling submarines to both sides in a war between Japan and Russia. In the early 1940s the company was the target of a Congressional investigation of profiteering and unethical business practices, but the probe was cut short as the country started to ramp up military output. Later, an investigation concerning the suspicious success of General Dynamics and Grumman in a competition with Boeing on a plane to replace the B-52 was suspended after the assassination of President Kennedy.
In the 1970s the Electric Boat operation was severely criticized by Admiral Hyman Rickover for the poor quality of its work and the magnitude of its cost overruns. General Dynamics was also criticized for its work on the M-1 tank and Tomahawk cruise missile. A $57 billion deal to build the A-12 Navy attack plane along with McDonnell Douglas was scrapped by the Pentagon in 1991 over delays and cost overruns said to be caused by the companies.
Tensions between General Dynamics and the Navy reached a point in 1985 that the company was twice suspended for a period of time from obtaining new contracts. The first suspension was a response to overbilling disputes, while the second came after the company and four former or current executives were indicted on fraud charges relating to a contract with the Army to produce the Sergeant York antiaircraft gun. Among the revelations were that the company was billing the Pentagon for dog-kennel fees incurred by one executive and country-club dues paid by another (the case was later dismissed). A 1986 article in Fortune magazine noted that General Dynamics was “to many American newspaper readers the symbol of waste and corruption in military spending.”
In 1990 the U.S. Justice Department sued General Dynamics, charging that the company defrauded the Army on contracts for M-1 tanks. The company paid $8 million to settle the case.
In the mid-1990s there were numerous press reports suggesting that General Dynamics had bribed South Korean President Roh Tae Woo to bring about a deal in which his country agreed to spend $5 billion on the company’s F-16 fighter jets.
As part of its downsizing and refocusing, the company has also sought to clean up its act. General Dynamics has been involved in fewer scandals in recent years, though in 2004 it and General Motors signed a consent agreement to settle charges that they violated the Arms Export Control Act through the unauthorized export of technical data and defense services.
Environment and product safety:
In January 2008 Electric Boat signed a consent order with the state of Connecticut and paid $75,000 to settle violations relating to the discharge of pollutants into the Thames River. The action came after the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, responding to a report in the Hartford Courant about lax enforcement of water pollution regulations by Connecticut officials, said it would sue various companies for violations.
Earlier environment controversies involving General Dynamics include a $13,600 fine imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1998 for the improper disposal of PCB-contaminated clothing; a penalty of $105,000 paid in 1992 to settle hazardous waste violations at a company facility in Arizona; and a $50,000 fine paid to California in connection with a spill of hazardous waste at a company plant in San Diego.
Labor:
The workers at Electric Boat have long been unionized. They are represented by United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 571 and other unions which bargain together through the Connecticut Metal Trades Council. Labor relations at the company were contentious during the 1980s. In 1983-84 more than 1,000 draftsmen at Electric Boat stayed on strike for 14 months, during which the company brought in replacement workers and the UAW launched a pressure effort it called the Campaign to Clean Up General Dynamics. When the demoralized workers finally ended the walkout, only 160 of the strikers were immediately rehired.
In 1988 some 10,000 workers at Electric Boat stayed on strike for more than 100 days in a dispute over wages. Again the company took a hard line, and the workers ended up accepting a contract very similar to management’s last offer before the walkout.
There have been no major labor disputes in the recent past, though the workforce has endured large layoffs. In 1994 the company agreed to pay $5.3 million in back wages to more than 1,000 Electric Boat employees who were improperly denied overtime pay.
When General Dynamics purchased Bath Iron Works in the mid-1990s, it inherited a contract with the International Association of Machinists covering about 5,000 workers, plus an independent union of designers that later affiliated with the UAW. In 2000 the Machinists at Bath struck the company for eight weeks over wages, benefits and job security issues.
Workers at General Dynamics Land Systems operations in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are also represented by the UAW. In 2001 they struck the company for two weeks before ratifying a new four-year contract that increased pay levels by about 12 percent over its duration, provided health insurance for retired workers and created new job security protections. In 2005 a similar settlement was reached on a five-year contract without a strike.
General Dynamics has had significant workplace health and safety problems at its facilities, especially Bath Iron Works, where the problems began before General Dynamics took over the business and continued after. Most recently, in December 2007, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed fines of $441,500 for nearly five dozen “repeat, willful and serious violations” of health and safety regulations. In 2005 OSHA had proposed $124,000 in fines and in 1999 it sought $190,400, the latter covering repeat violations for unsafe scaffolds. In 1987 OSHA sought $615,000 in fines against General Dynamics for willfully underreporting injuries and illnesses at its submarine yard in Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
General Dynamics is associated with a major Supreme Court case involving reverse age discrimination. The company was sued for age discrimination when its Land Systems business negotiated a contract with the UAW that provided retiree health benefits only to workers who were above the age of 50 as of a certain date. In 2004 the high court ruled that age discrimination laws did not bar employers from favoring older workers over younger ones, even when those younger ones are 40 or older.
In a separate 1996 case, General Dynamics agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle an age discrimination class action brought by employees involved in the transfer of the company’s headquarters from St. Louis to Falls Church, Virginia. In 1990 the company had paid about $268,000 to settle a race discrimination case brought by African-American and female employees at an operation in San Diego. In 2002 the company's recently acquired subsidiary Gulfstream Aerospace agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle an age bias case brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of older workers who lost their jobs during layoffs at a facility in Savannah, Georgia.
In 2005 the company agreed to adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation after the two New York public pension funds filed a shareholder resolution on the issue.
For more information:
Campaign of the Month
Disarm UCL
Disarm UCL is a campaign in the UK which has widespread support among University College London students, staff and alumni. UCL Student Union fully supports the campaign.
It aims to get UCL to divest its shares in arms company Cobham plc, which profits significantly from the sale of military components. Cobham plc is the world's 46th largest arms producer by military revenue. UCL as a major university sets an important precedent for the whole sector. Its claim to be a 'global' university with a tradition of liberal ideals and social justice is undermined by its direct support of the 'global' arms trade.
Disarm UCL also campaigns for the adoption of a far-reaching ethical investment policy. Despite recent moves towards ethical investment UCL's leadership still insists on investing in Cobham plc.
Disarm UCL has put forward a policy proposal for ethical investment at UCL. Download the proposal here.
UCL alumni have been at the forefront of the campaign. Many have written to Provost Malcolm Grant informing him that they will not support UCL financially or otherwise as long as the investement in arms trader Cobham plc continues. More about the Disarm UCL alumni network here.
Action at UCL:
At the end of last term the campaign put on a fake graduation ceremony to protest against UCL's investment in arms companies. One student dressed as a military general handed out fake diplomas and toy guns to other students graduating in camouflage uniforms. The action definitely turned a few heads including that of the UCL Provost who happened to pass by.
Actions at other universities campus in the UK
Birmingham students make a case against BAE
Students from the People and Planet society disrupted a recruitment presentation by BAE staff on the 6th November. Approximately 10 students entered the lecture theatre where the presentation was being held and gained access to the lectern to give a brief presentation on BAE's corruption and human rights abuses around the world. The students then stayed to hear BAE's own presentation.
The protest followed a demonstration at a Careers Fair on 24th October where students dressed as weapons inspectors cordoned off BAE's stall to 'gather evidence' against the company. They also gave out leaflets and held a mass 'die in'.
These protest are part of a wider campaign against the presence of arms companies on campus, and their widespread involvement in university research.
Birmingham Student Activist
Lancaster student's ant-BAE Halloween mischief
On 31st October, a group of Lancaster University students entered the Great Hall on campus in order to protest BAE Systems' presence at their careers fair. Two students gave out leaflets in the foyer. A further four students entered the hall and stood in front of BAE's stall with a banner reading 'Get a career in killing wiht BAE Systems'. They handed out leaflets and talked to students around the stall. The group then moved to one of the busiest parts of campus to hold a 'die-in' around a banner reading 'BAE Systems: a job to die for'. Many people stopped to ask about BAE and the protest. Two students later re-entered the careers fair and dropped a banner from a balcony
Lancaster Student Activist
Text taken from CatNews:
http://www.caat.org.uk/caatnews
For more information:
Defexpo India 16th - 19th of February 2008 International Land and Naval Systems Exhibition
The Defexpo India exhibition was conceptualised in the year 1998 by the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence Government of India in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry with an objective to promote defence exports from India at the same time exhibit the capabilities of Indian Defence R&D and production. The Defexpo India exhibition which began in 1999 with 197 exhibitors, had by its 4th edition grown to one of the internationally recognised defence exhibitions in the world.
Defexpo India has witnessed an unprecedented growth over the years. Larger national and international participation could be mobilized for Defexpo India. CII, the MoD partner for organisation of Defexpo India Exhibitions, facilitated the platform of Defexpo India to involve Indian Industry and foreign defence manufacturers to establish technological tie-ups and joint ventures. Further, Defexpo India was optimally used to generate inputs which could be considered by the Ministry of Defence while formulating the National Defence Industrial policy.
Production of defence equipment has been under the purview of Government right from its inception. The Industrial Policy of the country had kept defence production in the public sector since First Industrial Policy outlined in the Industry Policy Resolution of 1948. The Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951 gave statutory base to the Industrial Policy. Under this policy, the Defence Industry, which required heavy investments, strong R&D backing and on which there could be total reliance because of its criticality, remained under Government Control at all times. The control over defence industry was exercised under the Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951, which made licensing compulsory. As a consequence of the then industrial policy, a large infrastructure for Defence production consisting of 39 Ordnance Factories, 8 Defence PSUs and 50 Research & Development laboratories was created in the country.
However, contrary to the common perception, the Private Sector has been playing significant role in the Defence industry sector as sub contractors and ancillary industry. The private sector mainly has been involved in supply of raw materials, semi-finished products, parts and components to Defence PSUs and Ordnance Factories to a great extent and also to Base Workshops of Army and Base Repair Depots of Air Force and the Dockyards of the Navy. Defence PSUs and Ordnance Factories are outsourcing their requirements from private sector (mainly SMEs) in the range of 20-25%. Out of this outsourcing, about 25% requirement is met through small-scale sector.
The economic liberalization in 1991 resulted in the high degree of deregulation and allowed the private industry to progress more rapidly.
After opening up of defence production for the private sector, the industry has shown keen interest in this field. Many large industries have shown definite inclination to invest both in R&D and infrastructure to develop capabilities in defence production to assume the role of system integrators.
http://www.defexpoindia08.com/
Mapuches and the conflict with the logging industry
In the south of Chile, the logging industry - supported by the state - threatens the ecology and the culture of the region. Back at the beginnings of colonialism, the Spanish tried to dispossess the Mapuches of their land. Now, commercial plantations of pine and eucalyptus threaten the native flora and fauna, and both contaminate water and cause shortages that prevent the cultivation of other crops. Groups of Mapuche have resorted to burning trucks and industrial forests in protest, for which they are harshly punished under "anti-terrorist" legislation from the Pinochet era with prison sentences of up to 10 years and 1 day.
In 2002 a young Mapuche, Alex Lemu, was killed by a major in the police who is not only still serving today but has been promoted. Earlier this year, a policeman killed another young Mapuche - Matias Catrileo - as a major landowner, Jorge Luchsinger, recovered "his" landowner from a Mapuche community. The killer was arrested but has now been released. Last year, police killed Rodrigo Cisternas, an employee of a logging company who struggling for better salaries.
When the logging company Mininco threatened to destroy one of the Mapuches' ceremonial sites in 2005, they brought in a private security company to deal with the protesters, who had no qualms about running over a 15-year old Mapuche protester, Zenen Diaz Necul.
At present, Mapuche communities are harassed by the police forces and the paramilitary private security firms, and live almost as if they were under a martial law, imposed by the companies with the collusion of the state. Some of these companies and farms in the conflict are: CMPC – Mininco (Matte group) Arauco – Celco (Angelini group), BOSQUES ARAUCO y BIO BIO, Forestales Santa Ana Ltda, Fundo Poluco Pidenco from the Comuna Ercilla, Las Tejas, El Manzanito, Llanos de Charrua, Unihue, to name some of them.
For more information:
http://redchem.entodaspartes.org/
Action against BBVA in Bilbao
The Basque antimilitarist groups KEM-MOC and Kakitzat protested on 23 January in front of the head office of the bank, BBVA, declaring that "BBVA finances war, Gastu Militarrik ez". Several anti-militarists dived into BBVA's fountain.
BBVA collaborates and profits from war through its participation in the military industry, as shareholders of companies that are providers
to the defence sector. These include INDRA, RYMSA, CESCE, HISDESAT, IBERICA DEL ESPACIO... As well as being one of Spain's biggest banks, BBVA is also the bank most involved in Italian arms deals, financing €53 million worth of Italian arms exports in 2006..
For more information on BBVA:
For more pictures from the action:
http://www.box.net/shared/3japp44084
Demonstration - Hands Off Iraqi Oil
Hands Off Iraqi Oil held a demonstration outside the Middle East Energy 2008 conference at Chatham House in London on Tuesday 5 February.
Iraqi oil minister Dr Hussain Al-Shahristani and UK minister Malcolm Wicks spoke at the conference, which was financed by the British companies BP and Shell, as well as ExxonMobil and StatoilHydro.
Demonstrators were warning that Iraq would lose billions of pounds in oil income under a proposed new law which the British and US governments are pressing the Baghdad administration to sign. The law will allow oil companies power over new oil fields for 25 years, with the country’s economy run by overseas firms. A majority of Iraqis oppose the sell off.
For more information:
http://www.handsoffiraqioil.org/
UC Santa Barbara students protest university for hosting Army research conference
Reported by: Kory Raftery
Tuesday, February 12, 2008: Students at UC Santa Barbara in the US take to the streets over U.S. involvement in the Iraq war.
For the second straight year, hundreds of students, faculty, staff, and community members protested at Pardall Tunnel.
Both this year and last, the protests are a direct response to an Army research conference at UCSB.
The 2008 Army-Industry Collaboration Conference is a two day conference hosted by UCSB's Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies.
Some students on the campus say they are upset because they say the university is aiding military efforts in Iraq.
An event organizer says the UC system is about letting taxpayers know what is going on inside of universities in California. "We know what they're up to. They should think about it before planning events that are against the UC's motto, 'Let There Be Light,'" an event organizer said.
Protesters say in addition to the Iraqi war, they want to raise awareness for women's rights, climate change, and what they call 'acts of genocide' happening in Darfur.
Last year the protest shut down part of Highway 217 near UCSB. That didn't happen this year.
This year, students say their main slogan for the protest is quote, "No more blood for oil."
More information:
WRL’s famous “pie chart flyer,”which analyzes Bush’s 2009 Budget has just been released
Current "military” includes Dept. of Defense ($653 billion), the military portion from other departments ($150 billion), and an additional $162 billion to supplement the Budget’s misleading and vast underestimate of only $38 billion for the “war on terror.” “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.*
These figures are from an analysis of detailed tables in the “Analytical Perspectives” book of the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2009. The figures are federal funds, which do not include trust funds — such as Social Security — that are raised and spent separately from income taxes. What you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2008, goes to the federal funds portion of the budget. The government practice of combining trust and federal funds began during the Vietnam War, thus making the human needs portion of the budget seem larger and the military portion smaller.
For more information:
Cocodryl.com - Corpwatch's New Collaborative Research Project
Crocodyl.com is a collaborative research project to profile transnational corporations, instigated by CorpWatch and working with partner organizations such as Center for Corporate Policy and the Corporate Research Project of Good Jobs First. Together, they are building a free and open source database of corporate profiles to provide information for activists, journalists, researchers, government officials and others interested in improved scrutiny of corporations.
If you would like to join in holding corporations accountable, all you have to do is visit Crocodyl.com and create an account to publish your research.
The email newsletter of WRI's Global Initiative against War Profiteers || Index of past issues