Open
World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
A Call For Action!
National Labor Conference Against Taft-Hartley & Union-Busting (December 7, 2002, in San Francisco)
Dear Brothers & Sisters,
We invite you and your union to participate with us in a national labor
conference on Saturday, December 7, 2002 in San Francisco.
The use of the Taft-Hartley Act by the Bush administration against the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union is a shot across the bow for
organized labor. Following an 11-day lockout initiated by the Pacific
Maritime Association, the government is now acting as an enforcer for
these union-busters. The Bush crew admits it was having private meetings
with some of the biggest "union-free" corporations in America to
plan strategy on how to defeat the ILWU.
But the ILWU is not the only target. According to the Wall Street
Journal (October 11, 2002), the Bush administration is considering the
possibility of invoking Taft-Hartley against the United Auto Workers union
when their contracts expire next year. The same is true for many other
unions. They will seek to justify this because of their war plans in Iraq.
AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka lambasted the administration's
use of Taft-Hartley: "If all employers know the administration will
rush in with Taft-Hartley to give them what they want," Trumka
stated, "they'll plot and scheme together, they'll figure out what to
do, and then the [collective-bargaining] process will be gutted. The
employers won't come and bargain in good faith because there is no
incentive to."
When Taft-Hartley was first passed in 1947, Phillip Murray of the CIO,
called it "a Slave Labor Act." This was no exaggeration. Jim
Spinosa, president of the ILWU, has pointed out that, "We fully
expect PMA to use all the anti-union provisions of the Taft-Hartley
injunction. ... Taft-Hartley gives them 80 days of free shots at the
union, and we expect the employers will be dragging us to court daily,
trying to bankrupt the union and throw our leaders in jail."
The Bush cabal is now intent on busting the ILWU, just as Reagan did with
the PATCO union in 1981. Bush is already seeking to eliminate union rights
for 170,000 federal workers with his union-busting "Homeland
Security" Department, forcing major wage and contract concessions on
tens of thousands of airline workers, including binding "baseball
arbitrations." He is intent on taking away every right and condition
won by labor during the last 50 years.
Bush also intends to use his drive toward war to justify outlawing strike
action. The proposed Maritime Security Act and other such repressive
measures are aimed at weakening and destroying organized labor. When the
war starts in Iraq, he may seek to militarize the docks to break the ILWU.
He has now thrown down the gauntlet to all of organized labor.
The QUESTION is what will organized labor and the communities do to answer
this challenge?
Only with your help and that of your union can we avoid being sitting
ducks as the Bush administration plans to break our unions. At our
conference, we plan to discuss and lay out a fight-back strategy that
includes education, media strategies and action to defend the ILWU and
other unions that come under attack. This will include the fight against
union-busting (not only with the Taft-Hartley in maritime but other
transportation industries), privatization, contracting-out and the
struggle to organize the millions of unorganized workers.
We need to prepare now to go on the offensive. We cannot allow the ILWU to
be picked off and then for Bush to go after the next union. We plan to
have workshops on Taft-Hartley, the Maritime Security Act, Developing A
Labor Media Campaign, Organizing the Unorganized and Immigrant Workers ,
and how to develop a strategy to take on these robber barons. We need to
be ready now for action when the Taft-Hartley injunction against the
longshore workers expires. We also need to learn the lessons of the
successful fight for the Charleston 5 in South Carolina, and build on this
not only nationally but internationally.
You and your union can play an important part in this effort. Please
endorse this conference and send delegates. Also a financial contribution
to make this conference a success is absolutely critical.
We are also planning to have a Northern California Transportation Workers
Solidarity Rally on the evening of December 7 and hope you can attend this
as well. The rally will be held at Mission High School in San Francisco.
Please let us know if you can endorse this conference and how many
delegates will be attending. We are asking for a registration of $25 a
delegate. Also please let contact us if you are interested in getting
regular information on the battle against Taft-Hartley and union-busting
and if you want to be on our email list.
In Solidarity,
ILWU Local 10
MEBA
GCIU Local 4
Port Workers Solidarity Committee
Please Send Registrations/Endorsements & To Get More Information
Contact
PSC
P.O.Box 15086
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 820-3927
Email solidarity1934_2002@hotmail.com
www.portsolidarity2002.org