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

[Al Kagan]

FYI

>------------------------------------------------
>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.
>
>------------------------------------------
>
>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
>
>_______________________________________________
>Peace-discuss mailing list
>Peace-discuss at lists.cu.groogroo.com
>http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu