Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
Dear Trade Unionists and Labor Activists:
There is only one month left to go before the Western Hemisphere Workers
Conference Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) , which will
be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on December 12-14 at the initiative of
central leaders of the Unified Trade Union Confederation of Brazil (CUT).
Many of you may have already seen information about this important
conference. Its aim is to organize the fightback to defeat the FTAA before
it is implemented, as projected, in January 2005.
The Continuations Committee of the OWC calls on all trade unionists and
labor activists across the United States to please help us in this last
phase of our conference-building efforts. Please join us in Brazil in
mid-December and/or urge a representative from your union or labor
organization to attend this important labor gathering. We would to see a
significant delegation from the United States in Sao Paulo.
Also, please send us a financial contribution, large or small, to help us
build this conference as widely as possible across the entire Western
Hemisphere. We need funds urgently to make it possible for poorly funded
unions in many countries to be able to attend the event. [See
Participation/Financial Support Coupon below.]
We are also attaching below an important text for your information and use
in helping to get the word out about this conference to your friends,
co-workers and union officials.
Appendix No. 1 contains excerpts from a letter by Julio Turra of the CUT
trade union federation of Brazil and Edgar Ramirez of the COB trade union
federation in Bolivia reiterating the invitation to U.S. unionists to
participate in the Sao Paulo conference against the FTAA. This letter was
sent originally to the National Labor Assembly for Peace in Chicago
organized by US Labor Against the war.
There is still time to stop and turn back the FTAA steamroller. Millions
of working people across the continent have mobilized against the FTAA,
demanding that their governments withdraw from the FTAA negotiations, or,
as in the case of the United States, demanding that their representatives
oppose Fast Track. Their voices -- strengthened by the new fighting force
of 52 million Brazilians who voted on October 27, 2002, for the Workers
Party, as well as by the millions of Bolivians who in October ousted the
despised "Goni" government -- can and must be heeded.
We thank you in advance for your interest in and support to this
conference.
In solidarity,
Ed Rosario and Alan Benjamin,
Co-Coordinators,
OWC Continuations Committee
SF Labor Council (AFL-CIO)
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SUPPORT/PARTICIPATION COUPON
[ ] I plan to attend the Western Hemisphere Workers' Conference
Against the FTAA. Please send me the conference agenda and more info on
conference logistics.
[ ] My union will be able to send a representative to the Western
Hemisphere Workers' Conference Against the FTAA. Please send me the
conference agenda and more info on conference logistics.
[ ] Unfortunately, I will NOT be able to attend, and my union also will
NOT be able to send a representative to the Western Hemisphere Workers'
Conference Against the FTAA
[ ] I/my union will send a financial contribution of $ ___ to help defray
the expenses for organizing this conference. My check, payable to OWC,
will be sent to OWC, c/o S.F. Labor Council, at 1188 Franklin St. #203,
San Francisco, CA 94109.
NAME
UNION/ORG
TITLE
CITY
STATE
COUNTRY
EMAIL
(please fill out ASAP and return to <ilcinfo@earthlink.net>)
********************
APPENDIX NO. 1
EXCERPTS FROM LETTER OF INVITATION TO SAO PAULO ANTI-FTAA CONFERENCE FROM
JULIO TURRA (BRAZIL) AND EDGAR RAMIREZ (BOLIVIA)
La Paz, Bolivia
October 24, 2003
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the United States:
We send you greetings from La Paz, Bolivia, where the people -- through
the heroic mobilizations and national general strike waged under the
slogan, "Bolivia Is Not For Sale" -- forced President Goni
Sanchez de Lozada to resign. ...
Bush's war policies on our continent continue in the form of the
stepped-up attempt to impose the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
via all the submissive governments of the region, such as that of Goni
Sanchez de Lozada in Bolivia.
For this reason, the mass insurrectional upsurge of the Bolivian people,
led by the Bolivian Workers Federation (COB) and the Bolivian Peasants
Federation (CSUTCB) and organized through popular assemblies and councils,
has represented a blow to the interests of the Bush administration and the
multinational corporations -- all of which backed the Goni government till
the very end and have now provided him a "golden" retirement in
Miami.
We join you and the U.S. labor movement in supporting the national AFL-CIO
leadership's public campaign to stop the FTAA. This is a treaty designed
to further destroy our national economies, which is why it is encountering
such strong resistance from working people across the continent, including
in the United States itself. The uprising of the Bolivian people these
past weeks was in essence an uprising against the FTAA.
We hope you will join us in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Dec. 12-14, 2003, for
the Western Hemisphere Workers Conference Against the FTAA. Join us in
charting a fightback plan for 2004 so that together we can defeat the FTAA.
- Let us unite across the continent to stop the FTAA!
- Long live the strugggle for justice and liberation of working people on
all continents!
Julio Turra,
National Executive Director
Unified Workers Confederation of Brazil (CUT),
Brazil
Edgar Ramirez Santiesteban,
General Secretary Emeritus,
National Federation of Mineworkers of Bolivia
General Secretary Emeritus,
Bolivian Workers Federation (COB)