[Peace-discuss] afl-cio calls for troop withdrawal from iraq

[Ricky Baldwin]

Not as strongly worded as we'd like, I think, but
still a hopeful sign.  Let's see if the mainstream
media stoop to mention it at all. - RB

> > AFL-CIO CONVENTION CALLS FOR TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM
> IRAQ
> > By David Bacon
> > 
> >     CHICAGO, IL (7/26/05) - On the second day of
> its convention 
> > in Chicago, the AFL-CIO took an historic step,
> calling for the rapid 
> > withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, and an end to
> the country's 
> > occupation.  Public attention has focused largely
> on the split in US 
> > labor, and the decision by two of the federation's
> largest unions to 
> > leave.  Yet the impact of this call will
> reverberate for years, with 
> > as profound effect on the future of US workers and
> their unions.
> >     Brooks Sunkett, vice-president of the
> Communications Workers 
> > of America (CWA), started a train of passionate
> speeches on the 
> > convention floor, saying that the government had
> lied to him when it 
> > sent him to war in Vietnam three decades ago.  "We
> have to stop it 
> > from lying to a new generation now," he implored. 
> Henry Nicholas, a 
> > hospital union leader in the American Federation
> of State, County and 
> > Municipal Employees, told delegates that his son,
> who has served four 
> > tours of duty in Iraq, is now threatened with yet
> another.
> >     Speaker after speaker rose to condemn the war
> and occupation, 
> > and to demand the return of the troops.  No one
> dared defend a policy 
> > that has caused revulsion throughout US unions.
> >     Watching from the visitors' gallery was a
> handful of Iraqi 
> > union leaders.  One of them had traveled to the US
> two months ago, 
> > with five other union activists, to plead the case
> of Iraqi workers. 
> > For 16 days they traveled to more than 50 cities,
> often speaking 
> > before hundreds of angry workers, demanding an end
> to the occupation. 
> > The Iraqis urged their US union counterparts to
> take action.
> >     The resolution at the convention was the
> answer to this call. 
> > It was the culmination as well of an upsurge that
> has swept through 
> > US unions since before the war started two years
> ago.  From the point 
> > when it became clear that the Bush administration
> intended to invade 
> > Iraq, union activists began organizing a national
> network to oppose 
> > it, US Labor Against the War.  What started as a
> collection of small 
> > groups, in a handful of unions, has today to
> become a coalition of 
> > unions representing over a million members.
> >     The network organized the tour of the Iraqi
> unionists, to 
> > provide them a chance to speak directly to US
> workers.  "We believed 
> > strongly that if unions in our country could hear
> their Iraqi 
> > brothers and sisters asking for the withdrawal of
> US troops, they 
> > would respond in a spirit of solidarity and human
> sympathy," said 
> > Gene Bruskin, one of USLAW's national
> coordinators.  "We were right."
> >     Resolutions calling for troop withdrawal
> poured in from 
> > unions, labor councils, and state labor
> federations across the 
> > country.  But as the convention began, AFL-CIO
> national staff tried 
> > to substitute another resolution that called for
> ending the 
> > occupation "as soon as possible."  This was the
> same position as that 
> > put forward by the Bush administration.
> >     Delegates at the convention, who belong to the
> USLAW network 
> > then called for using instead the phrase "rapid
> withdrawal" of the 
> > troops.  At a strategy-planning session attended
> by over 150 
> > delegates, US and Iraqi unionists joined together
> to plan a fight on 
> > the convention floor to win that language.  Before
> it could take 
> > place, however, CWA Vice-president Larry Cohen
> went to the AFL-CIO 
> > executive council, the federation's ruling body,
> and asked them to 
> > accept the change.
> >     Knowing that a fight was in store, and
> suddenly unsure of 
> > their ability to win it, the council agreed.
> >     The resolution was put on the floor of the
> convention Tuesday 
> > afternoon, two days before the scheduled debate on
> Iraq.  When the 
> > proposal for rapid withdrawal was introduced by
> Fred Mason, head of 
> > the AFL-CIO in Maryland, it was obvious what he
> meant by the words. 
> > His call to "get out now" became a chorus
> thundering from speaker 
> > after speaker.  The new language was adopted with
> the votes of an 
> > overwhelming majority.
> >     The resolution marks a watershed moment in
> modern US labor 
> > history.  It is the product of grassroots action
> at the bottom of the 
> > US labor movement, not a directive from top
> leaders.  The call for 
> > bringing the troops home echoes the sentiments of
> thousands of 
> > ordinary workers and rank-and-file union members,
> whose children and 
> > family have been called on to fight the war.  A
> growing number, who 
> > now form a majority in US unions, believe the best
> way to protect 
> > them is to bring them home.
> >     The resolution represents a deeper
> understanding that is 
> > making its way into thousands of discussions in
> workplaces and union 
> > halls.  The war in Iraq never had much credibility
> as an effort to 
> > find weapons of mass destruction, since none were
> ever found.  The 
> > administration's claim that it is fighting to
> bring democracy to 
> > Iraqi people inspired a similar disbelief.  After
> five years of 
> > administration attacks on US workers and unions,
> none but the most 
> > diehard of its supporters have much faith left in
> its pro-democracy 
> > pronouncements.
> >     Over the last year, however, the Iraqis
> themselves have 
> > provided a new understanding of the occupation's
> anti-democratic 
> > impact.  American military authorities, they told
> US union members, 
> > have banned labor organization in oil fields,
> factories and other 
> > Iraqi public enterprises.  Meanwhile, Bush
> political operatives have 
> > begun to engineer the sell off of those
> enterprises to foreign 
> > corporations, with a potential loss of thousands
> of jobs and the 
> > income needed to rebuild the country.
> >     "This is not liberation.  It is occupation,"
> said Ghasib 
> > Hassan, a leader of the Iraqi Federation of Trade
> Unions, one of the 
> > unions that sent its members to speak in the US. 
> "At the beginning 
> > of the 21st century, we thought we'd seen the end
> of colonies, but 
> > now we're entering a new era of colonization."
> >     In the many meetings and discussions that
> finally led to the 
> > resolution, union members understood the purpose
> of the occupation in 
> > a new way - as the imposition, at gunpoint, of
> Bush administration 
> > free market policies on Iraq.  After the
> resolution's passage, the 
> > Iraqis called on delegates to act on that
> understanding, and asked 
> > the AFL-CIO to bring its members out to coming
> national 
> > demonstrations against the war.
> >     Rapid withdrawal means more than just bringing
> US soldiers 
> > home.  Calling for it puts American workers on the
> side of Iraqis, as 
> > they resist the transformation of their country
> for the benefit of a 
> > wealthy global elite.  Brooks Sunkett, Vietnam vet
> turned union 
> > leader, spoke powerfully for this renewed
> unwillingness to wage wars 
> > based on lies and greed.  His call for rapid
> withdrawal breathes new 
> > life into the Vietnam syndrome - so feared by US
> administrations 
> > intent on military intervention to defend their
> free market policies 
> > around the world.
> > 
> 



		
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