ILC
International Newsletter
Number 15
February 24th 2003
Weekly information dossier published by the
International Liaison Committee -ILC,
Please contact :
International Liaison Committee -ILC, c/o Parti des travailleurs - 87,
rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis,
7510 Paris France
phone : (33 1) 48 01 88 28 fax : (33 1) 48 01 88 36
e-mai l - eit.ilc@wanadoo.fr
*****
Contents:
- Introduction: Letter from Amy Newell and USLAW Coordinators to ILC
- Communiqué by US Labor Against the war concerning the global press
conference February 19th 2003.
- Daniel Gluckstein, ILC Coordinator, Replies to Amy Newell (USLAW)
- D. Bacon, San Francisco journalist, analyses the press conference
- List of organisations and labour leaders from the world over endorsing
the international declaration during the first 10 days of campaign.
- March 8th, women against the war around the world
*****
Introduction
In this issue, we publish as an introduction the letter sent by US Labor
Against the War leaders to Daniel Gluckstein, International Liaison
Committee coordinator. You can find the reply by Daniel Gluckstein in
this same issue.
Dear Daniel and others associated with the ILC:
All of us with U.S. Labor Against the War want to thank you for the
incredible assistance you provided in obtaining endorsements for the
International Labor Declaration Against the War on Iraq.
Words are inadequate to express the profound gratitude we feel for the
super-human effort you expended during these past ten days. The results
you achieved were astounding! As you know, the effort culminated today
in a very successful international telephone call and press conference
to announce world-wide labor support for the International Declaration.
This simply would not have been possible on anything like the scale we
achieved without you and the ILC! You must have been working around the
clock making international contacts, doing the translations,
communicating all of this back to Alan Benjamin and, through him, to all
of us at U.S. Labor Against the War.
Please accept our deepest THANKS. And we look forward to hearing you
thoughts and suggestions for how we can continue building this global
movement of working people against the war on Iraq.
In Peace & Solidarity -- Amy Newell, U.S. Labor Against the War
**********
US Labor Against War communiqué
Unions Representing 130 Million Workers Say NO to War!
GLOBAL LABOR PRESS CONFERENCE REPORTS ON INTERNATIONAL LABOR DECLARATION
AGAINST WAR IN IRAQ
Over 200 unions and 550 union leaders from 53 countries representing 130
million workers have signed the International Labor Declaration
circulated by USLAW, beginning just ten days ago.
Workers of the world have spoken with a single voice, demanding that the
US abandon its militaristic threats of illegal aggression against Iraq.
They have said in unison, "Give peace a chance!"
This is the first time in history that the world's labor movements have
come together to speak with a single voice on an issue of urgent
international concern.
On Wednesday, February 19, USLAW convened an unprecedented global
telephone press conference to brief the media about the Declaration and
its signatories.
Participating in that call were representatives of major labor
federations and unions from the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Quebec, France,
England, Tunisia, Pakistan, Brazil, Australia, and Italy. Each made a
brief statement about their organization's antiwar activities and
expressed their solidarity with one another in building a global labor
front against War in Iraq.
They reported on the massive participation of workers and unions in the
February 15-16 demonstrations and promised continued waves of actions in
their countries. Among the steps being taken or planned are convening
meetings with the leaders of those countries who are supporting the war,
national teach-ins at every school level in France, a call for a
world-wide meeting of teachers' unions to oppose the war, the refusal of
unions to transport war goods, work stoppages and other forms of
workplace protests, and massive demonstrations at U.S. embassies around
the world if war breaks out.
Note was taken of the meeting of the AFL-CIO General Executive Board
meeting next week in Florida. A number of major national affiliates such
as CWA and AFSCME, have adopted resolutions which they intend to submit
for discussion. As additional resolutions are adopted almost daily by
union bodies around the country, pressure is building on the Federation
to adopt a clear antiwar position.
The unions agreed to continue to communicate and coordinate strategies
and activities, as this effort represented just the first of many steps
that will be taken together to demonstrate broad popular opposition to
war.
The press conference was broadcast in real time on the World Wide Web. A
recording of it will be posted shortly on the USLAW Website at .
PARTICIPANTS ON CALL:
Australia: Sharon Burrows, President, Australian Council of Trade Unions
Australia: Leigh Hubbard, Victorian Hall Trades Council, ACTU
Brazil: Julio Turra, National Executive Director, CUT Federation
Canada: Judy Darcy, National President, Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE)
Canada: Carol Phillips, Director of the International Dept., Canadian
Auto Workers (CAW)
Canada: Debra Bourque, President, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
France: Paul Barbier, General Secretary of Education & Culture Dept.,
Force Ouvriere (FO)
Italy: Enzo Bernardo, Director of the International Dept., CGIL,
Funzione Pubbblica
Mexico: Francisco Hernandez Juarez, Co-President, UNT
Middle East: Djeman Hacene, General Secretary, International
Confederation of Arab Unions
Pakistan: Rubina Jamil, President, All-Pakistan Trade Union Federation
Quebec: Claire Lalande, International Dept., CSQ
UK: Mick Rix, General Secretary, Assc. Society of Locomotive Engineers
and Firemen
USA: Larry Cohen, Executive Vice President, Communications Workers of
America, AFL-CIO
USA: Bob Muehlenkamp, National Co-Convenor of USLAW and former
Organizing Director of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
USA: Gene Bruskin, National Co-Convenor of USLAW
USA: Amy Newell, Former Business Manager, Monterey Bay Labor Council,
now national organizer for USLAW
Messages were also read from ZENROREN of Japan and KCTU of South Korea
For continuing news on these and other labor antiwar developments, check
the USLAW website (www.uslaboragainstwar.org) frequently.
**********
The Coordinator of International Liaison Committee, Daniel Gluckstein,
replies to Amy Newell
Dear Amy,
Bravo for the success of the international press conference! It marks an
important step toward bringing together all the forces in the labour
movement on a world scale in the struggle against the unjust war the
Bush administration seeks to unleash against the people of Iraq.
The expression of thanks that you and the organisers of USLAW address to
the International Liaison Committee are not necessary. As Alan Benjamin
explained in the message he sent you recounting the origins and goals of
the ILC, we in the ILC have no other purpose than to aid in promoting
the common action against war and in defence of workers' and peoples'
rights waged by all the unions, organisations, groups, and currents that
were constituted the world over as organisations independent of the
bosses, the governments, the States and the large international
financial institutions such as the IMF, the WTO, the World Bank, etc.
If the ILC was helpful in this important international initiative
launched by USLAW, it's simply because it carried out what it was
founded to do.
It is now our intention to publish the full transcript of the global
unions' press conference, accompanied by the USLAW declaration itself
and the full list of signatories, in the International Newsletter
published in seven languages by the International Liaison Committee. We
feel that the publication of these materials will be extremely useful in
broadening and deepening the movement against war within the
international labour movement, so that we can stop the disaster they are
preparing.
In the event that, despite all our best efforts across the globe, we are
not successful in preventing the war, we in the ILC, for our part, have
called for mass demonstrations the day of an invasion of Iraq in front
of all U.S. embassies and consulates around the world. Do you think this
is a proposal that might be embraced and promoted by USLAW?
As you may know from our common friend Alan, I often have the occasion
to travel to the United States to meet with the U.S. members of the
Continuations Committee of the Open World Conference -- either in San
Francisco or in Washington, D.C., where one member of our Continuations
Committee, Nancy Wohlforth, is now the national secretary-treasurer of
the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).
I would be very pleased to be able to meet with the coordinators of
USLAW during one of my future trips to the United States, so that we can
exchange views on how best to advance the struggle against war and in
defence of workers' interests. If this sounds like a good idea to you,
please let me know.
It goes without saying that the ILC remains fully at your disposal to
pursue any campaign or initiative deemed necessary to advance the cause
for peace.
In the coming days, which without a doubt will be decisive for the
future of humanity, please know that you can count on the unconditional
support and participation of the International Liaison Committee and all
the organisations and currents that support its activities in the
struggle for peace, democracy and the defence of the independence of the
labour movement.
Yours in solidarity,
Daniel Gluckstein,
Coordinator,
International Liaison Committee
**********
David Bacon, a well-known labor reporter based in the San Francisco Bay
Area, was one of the many journalists on the antiwar unions global press
conference phone call on Wednesday, Feb. 19th organized by US Labor
Against War.. He writes:
GLOBAL LABOR REJECTS AN IRAQ WAR
By DAVID BACON
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (2/19/03) -- After a weekend of demonstrations
involving over 10 million people worldwide, protesting an impending US
war on Iraq, opposition to the Bush plan in many countries is hardly a
question. But US military action may have political costs that go far
beyond rising unpopularity. Particularly among unions in many countries,
opposition may take a much more concrete form.
On Wednesday, over 200 unions, on all five continents, representing over
130 million members, agreed on a joint statement rejecting a war in Iraq.
That declaration questions the US rationale, saying no convincing link
exists between the terrorist attacks of September 11 and Iraq's Saddam
Hussein, nor evidence for immediate threats from weapons of mass
destruction. Unions signing the statement point out that such a war
would be fought overwhelmingly by the sons and daughters of workers, and
they assert that war hysteria is being used as a pretext for attacks on
labor, and to mask the effects of a sinking economy worldwide. The
appeal ends by calling on labor to organize opposition in every country.
Such an appeal is unprecedented. During the Vietnam War, the majority of
US unions supported involvement until it was almost over. While unions
in other countries voiced opposition, there was no common front, much
less one organized at the initiative of US labor. The appeal made
Wednesday was initiated by US Labor Against the War, a growing coalition
including at least five major national unions, three state labor
federations, and many locals and labor councils.
That appeal is not simply a flowery statement, but groups together
unions who have already taken action. In Britain, where opposition is
sharpest, unions have squared off against the support of the Labor
government of Tony Blair for an Iraq invasion. On January 9, two train
engineers refused to climb into the cab of a locomotive and pull a train
from Glasgow to the Glen Douglas military base on Scotland's west coast,
the largest weapons store in NATO.
The incident electrified British workers. Not only were the two
supported by their union, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers
and Firemen, but the union's general secretary warned Wednesday that
those actions would multiply in the event of war. "We do expect
more refusals," predicted Mick Rix. He added that the bylaws of the
British Trade Union Congress call for an immediate meeting in the event
of war, a provision dating from 1918, when many unions sought to prevent
the entry of European countries into World War One. "The TUC must
be convened, so that industrial action can be considered," Rix
warned.
This isn't an idle threat. Already five of Britain's largest and most
strategically placed unions have openly defied Blair, and some call for
his ouster, even at the cost of the Labour Party's grip on power. It is
just one sign of the growing gulf that now divides British unions, not
just from the prime minister, but from the party they created decades
ago.
In Italy, where unions organized a turnout of over three million people
in the streets of Rome over the weekend (the largest demonstration since
the end of World War Two), the leftwing General Confederation of Italian
Workers (CGIL) made a similar threat. On Tuesday the union's executive
council declared its intention of calling a general strike in the event
of hostilities.
Italy's unions are locked in bitter conflict with the rightwing
government of media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, who has strongly
supported the Bush war policy. Enzo Bernardo, director of CGIL's
International Department, explained Wednesday that "the big
majority of Italians, not just workers, are against the war. We know
terrorism in our country," he added, "and this war has nothing
to do with resolving it. Our government does not speak for the Italian
people."
Pakistani trade union leader Rubina Jamil, President of the All-Pakistan
Trade Union Federation joined the call Wednesday. Her federation
represents over 5 million Pakistani workers who, she emphasized, are
already familiar with the cost of US military action in Afghanistan,
which they oppose. "This war is only for oil," she declared,
and threatened that her federation would organize mass demonstrations,
including hunger strikes, in front of the US embassy and consulates when
any invasion begins. In Pakistan the US depends on the increasingly
unpopular regime of President Pervez Musharraf to support its continuing
hunt for Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, and mass labor demonstrations
against an Iraq war would create huge political problems. Joining in the
declaration of international labor opposition was Djeman Hacene, general
secretary of the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions, who
agreed with Jamil that the objective of intervention in Iraq was the
pursuit of oil.
Among supporters of the international labor declaration, sentiment is
sharpest in those countries where governments have aligned themselves
with the Bush administration. The trade union federation of Australia,
where Prime Minister Ron Howard has been one of Bush's most vociferous
supporters, declared it was "ashamed" of his actions. "He
has no mandate from our people," declared Sharon Burrows, the
federation's president. She also threatened industrial action in the
event of war.
Many rejectionist labor federations represent a much greater percentage
of workers in their countries than unions do in the US, and can exact a
price for political support. In the German elections, unions supported
Gerhard Schroeder in his successful reelection bid, when he campaigned
against Bush's military policy. Schroeder's victory indicates that other
governments also may survive or fall based on their support for war. The
political map of many countries could easily be redrawn by bitter labor
battles breaking out in factories, ports and railway terminals at the
start of an Iraq invasion. In some of those countries, like Britain and
Italy, industrial battles may provoke a political realignment, and
support for Bush may cost those governments their hold on power.
**********
Information Bulletin nº 181 of Brazilian CUT reports:
Unionists from around the world against the war
Julio Turra, a leading member of the National Executive Commission of
the CUT [Unified Trade Union Federation of Brazil], represented
Brazilian unionists in the international conference of unionists against
war, this Wednesday February 19th. The Conference was held by telephone.
The statement against the war that was made public was supported by some
200 unionists from 53 countries, representing more than 130 million
workers. Among the union officers on the phone press conference, besides
Brazil, were trade union leaders from Mexico, Italy, Great Britain,
France, the United States, Canada, Quebec, Australia and Pakistan. A
leader of the International Confederation of Arab Unions also
participated.
"It is the first time that trade unions from around the world unite
to discuss such an important foreign policy question", said Larry
Cohen, vice president of the Communication Workers of America, the U.S.
trade union hosting the Conference. Brother Cohen spoke on behalf
of US Labor Against the War, which initiated this international
campaign.
Participants made the commitment to continue mobilising workers against
war and pledged to build actions greater than those of last February
15th in case the USA and Britain attack Iraq.
**********
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