Open World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
California Labor Federation (AFL-CIO) in support of a new trial for Mumia
Abu-Jamal
Report from Labor for Mumia organizer Randy Christensen on the July 18th vote by the convention of the California Labor Federation (AFL-CIO) in support of a new trial for Mumia
Abu-Jamal
Friends,
In an historic move, the California Labor Federation - AFL-CIO voted, without dissent, to demand Justice for Mumia
Abu-Jamal and to support the 'Labor for Mumia' Campaign. At its Convention in Anaheim, CA on July 18, 2000, California's 'House of Labor' opened the door for the Labor Movement nationally to champion Mumia's case. As noted in the final section of the resolution, reproduced below, the California Labor Federation "forwards this resolution and encourages its adoption by the national Executive Council of the AFL-CIO."
In a flyer prepared for the Convention, 'Labor for
Mumia' points out:
"Among various initiatives, we are launching a mass letter-writing campaign. We will be circulating letters for union members to sign, protesting the planned execution and the continuing denial of Mumia's Constitutional and Civil Rights. We must demand that the Justice Department launch an investigation. Twenty-nine separate Constitutional violations have been documented. It shouldn't take 18 years to discover just one, which is sufficient grounds to throw the case out. Refusal to investigate this matter amounts to complicity. The Labor movement cannot afford to sit back or look the other way."
"The Labor Movement must continue to champion the struggle against injustice. As we have in the past, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with the African American community in combating racial injustice. This is true even when that injustice is handed down by a white man in a black robe, shrouded by the aura of the criminal justice system."
"Please add your name to the campaign. Secure the endorsement of your Union, Council or affiliated organization. Organize a Mumia Awareness Committee in your local. Help us reach out to the ranks of labor to win this struggle for freedom, justice and equality."
The resolution was introduced by Walter Johnson, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council, who had been one of six honorees the previous evening at the Federations' Banquet. Our literature table was quite busy with delegates stopping by to learn more about the case, and to volunteer their assistance. Many delegates wanting further information picked up the Amnesty International report or a copy of Mumia's latest book.
Check out our WebSite at
http://www.aspenlinx.com/labor
to sign-up and lend a hand with our activities. You can also check out a picture of Walter at our literature table, hard at work campaigning for justice.
In Solidarity,
Randy Christensen,
Labor for Mumia
[Note: Randy Christensen can be reached at
chris98@pacbell.net ]
********************
Resolution adopted by the July 18th convention of the California Labor Federation
in support of a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Resolution for Justice for Mumia
Abu-Jamal
(adopted by the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, on July 18, 2000 - Anaheim, California)
WHEREAS, Mumia
Abu-Jamal is an outstanding African-American journalist and member of the National Writers
Union-UAW who campaigned against police abuses and who, with no previous criminal record, has been on Pennsylvania's death row since 1981, convicted of shooting a police officer in a trial in which there was compelling evidence of his innocence and of gross misconduct on the part of the police, prosecutor and judge; and
WHEREAS, his execution was stopped only by massive international protests, yet he still faces imminent execution if Federal District Court Justice William Yohn refuses to hear evidence on 29 charges of Constitutional violations, even while new witnesses have come forward and new evidence announced by Rubin Hurricane Carter clearly shows perjury and prosecutorial subornation of perjury; and
WHEREAS, despite his life and death need to put his case before the public, Mumia
Abu-Jamal showed courageous solidarity with locked out NABET/CWA workers by his refusal to be interviewed by a scab ABC television crew, helping to bring national attention to NABET's just struggle and has also championed the ILWU's bold efforts in solidarity with the Liverpool dockers in regard to the Neptune Jade scab ship ; and
WHEREAS, Mumia
Abu-Jamal's struggle for a new trial is supported by a broad range of Labor Organizations which stand up for social justice, city governments, organizations such as the NAACP, Amnesty International, American Friends Service Committee and the European Parliament, and by such well known figures as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King III, Alice Walker, Paul Newman, Maya Angelou, Ossie Davis and many others who seek justice and human rights; and
WHEREAS ever increasing numbers of people are being freed from death row because of new evidence of innocence that has brought about public (including political) questioning of the fairness of the death penalty; and
WHEREAS, should he be executed without a new trial, it would be an affront to all who believe in fairness, and it would be an irreversible, tragic miscarriage of justice and a disgrace to the United States of America as a whole; now
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this Twenty-third Biennial Convention of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO commends Mumia
Abu-Jamal for his principled and courageous acts of union solidarity and we continue to take our place alongside those labor organizations who stand up against racism and injustice, demanding justice and a new trial for Mumia
Abu-Jamal; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon Justice Yohn to hear Mumia
Abu-Jamal's new evidence and witnesses, and if he refuses, we call upon the President of the United States to intercede and order a new trial; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we support the LABOR FOR MUMIA Campaign urging the entire Organized Labor Movement to educate and organize our members and to bring Organized Labor's Power to bear to assure Justice for Mumia
Abu-Jamal; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the California Labor Federation adopts this resolution at its Convention on July 17-19, 2000, and forwards this resolution and encourages its adoption by the national Executive Council of the AFL-CIO.