Resolution of the San Francisco Labor Council
What Has Happened to Labor Since 9/11?
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, 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
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