Fw: [ANSWER]: "Labor Needs to Take a Clear Stand Against the War": SF Labor Council resolution

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg at tin.it>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "A.N.S.W.E.R." <answer.general at action-mail.org>
To: <answer.general at action-mail.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2002 12:52 AM
Subject: [ANSWER]: "Labor Needs to Take a Clear Stand Against the War": SF
Labor Council resolution


> 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&#8230;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 unanimously by the San Francisco Labor Council,
> December 9, 2002
>
> ------------------------------------------
>
> This email is being circulated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act
> Now to Stop War & End Racism) Coalition.
>
> To get involved in the January 18 mass demonstrations, go
> to http://www.internationalanswer.org .  To register your
> vote in the People's Anti-War Referendum, go to
> http://www.votenowar.org
>
> If your union or labor council has endorsed the January 18
> National March, please fill out the easy-to-use
> endorsement form at
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/j18/j18endorse.html#endo,
> or email the resolution to info at internationalanswer.org .
>  Union leaders and members can also submit their
> endorsements.
>
> Sign up to receive updates (low volume):
> http://www.internationalanswer.org/subscribelist.html
>
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