[Peace-discuss] Fwd:[ANSWER]: "Labor Needs to Take a Clear Stand Against the

[jencart]

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On December 9, 2002, the San Francisco Labor Council 
(AFL-CIO) unanimously adopted the following resolution:  "Labor Needs to Take a Clear Stand Against the War."  The  resolution also includes an endorsement of the January 18  National March in Washington DC and joint action in San 
Francisco, and of the People's Anti-War Referendum.

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RESOLUTION OF THE SAN FRANCISCO LABOR COUNCIL

Labor Needs to Take a Clear Stand Against the War

Whereas, since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, we  have seen the beginning of a relentless new assault on 
labor -- from the employers, and from the government  acting on their behalf; and

Whereas, using the so-called "war on terrorism" and 
"national security" as a pretext, the Bush Administration  has spearheaded a renewed assault on organized labor, 
starting with the use of Taft-Hartley (and threats to 
militarize the ports) against West Coast 
dockworkers...wholesale threats to the job security and  union rights of 170,000 federal workers...the racist 
firings of experienced airport screeners...threats to 
curtail the right to strike and organize…and the 
impending contracting out of hundreds of thousands of 
federal jobs.  On more than one occasion, government 
spokespersons have referred to union actions defending our  jobs, working conditions and living standards as akin to 
terrorism, or as "aiding and abetting terrorists", or as a  "threat to national security"; and

Whereas, Bush's war (on Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, the  Philippines, where next?) has become the main engine for  the repression of labor. "National security", in the hands  of a thoroughly anti-labor Bush Administration, is being 
used as a bludgeon against labor, with the intent of 
rolling back all the gains workers have won since the 
1930s, including collective bargaining itself, and 
including social programs championed by the labor movement  like welfare, social security, unemployment insurance; and

Whereas, a strong fight-back requires that labor make it a  priority to stake out a clear, forthright and fighting 
stance against Bush's war, and see the anti-war and 
anti-globalization movements as our strategic allies, 
needed if we are to defeat the assault on labor and move  to the offensive. We got a glimpse of the potential power  of this combination during the 1999 showdown in Seattle;  and

Whereas, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. embodied the  coming together of the labor, anti-war and civil rights 
movements during the tremendous upsurge of the mass  movement in the 1960s, and we need to revive this powerful  combination of the people's forces to defeat Bush's war  and the racism that underlies it and that it promotes; and

Whereas, our opposition to the Bush Administration's war  on the Iraqi people, and to their attacks or threats 
against other smaller, sovereign countries around the 
globe, fits hand in glove with labor's fighting defense of 
the interests of the working people of all races and 
nationalities here at home; therefore be it

RESOLVED: That the San Francisco Labor Council, AFL-CIO,  endorse the Martin Luther King weekend anti-war activities  -- the January 18, 2003 marches in San Francisco and 
Washington, DC in opposition to the war on Iraq, and the  Grassroots Peace Congress being held in Washington, as  well as the People's Anti-War Referendum ["VoteNoWar"] by  which millions of Americans are casting their "votes" 
against this war; and be it further

RESOLVED: That this council work to ensure that organized  labor and the national AFL-CIO take a clear and early 
stand against Bush's war. 

-- Adopted unan