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Issue No. 151 | 06 September 2002 |
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Looking for the Light
Interview: Packing a Punch Bad Boss: Basher Takes Back Passage Unions: Five Star Shafting Economics: TINA � Rest In Peace International: Against Bush's "War on Terrorism" Environment: Saving the World History: A Radical Scribe Poetry: With A Little Help From My Friend Satire: Colonel Gaddafi Promotes Himself to General Review: Workplace Dictatorship
The Soapbox The Locker Room Week in Review Bosswatch Women
 Collex Decision is TerribleCharity Begins At Home
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International Against Bush's "War on Terrorism"
*********** The floor of the convention at the Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) in Spokane, Washington was hushed when Gil Veyna took the mike to support "A Resolution Against the War, Attacks on Civil Liberties and Cuts in Public Services. "As a Chicano and a unionist," Veyna said resoundingly "I resent Bush's war on terrorism which is a war on working people and immigrants." Veyna, a 22-year Veterans Administration hospital employee, was at the August 19-22, 2002 convention as a delegate for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3197. His union is one of several which has raised objections to the governments plan to remove civil service protections and collective bargaining rights from the 170,000 federal workers in the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. In his comments, Veyna criticized the national leadership of the AFL-CIO for its unstinting support of the military actions in Afghanistan. He noted that now the administration has turned its guns on dockworkers, referring to the threat to call out troops in the name of "national security" in the eventuality of a strike by the International Longshore Workers Union. Veyna was no less critical of what he termed "federally sanctioned racial profiling following 9/11" which put immigrants under the spotlight and led to many unfairly losing their jobs. When Veyna sat down, not a single delegate of the 500 unionists representing locals throughout the state rose to speak against the resolution, and it passed overwhelmingly. Thus Washington became the first State Labor Council in the country to call on the AFL-CIO to seek repeal of the USA Patriot Act and oppose the U.S. government's war without end. The American Federations of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 304 from Seattle brought the resolution to the convention after it was proposed by rank and file members active in the Freedom Socialist Party. Following its passage, AFSCME Local 304 President Rodolfo Franco said, "I urge other unions and labor councils to pass similar resolutions and send a message to President Bush: Stop wasting billions of taxpayer dollars on military spending and war, money that is urgently needed to fund decent health care, housing, education, job training and social services for millions of unemployed and low income workers and the poor in this country and elsewhere." The resolution urges the government to redirect federal funds from the military budget to laid-off workers and public services, to promote global justice by providing humanitarian and economic aid to workers in other countries and to release the hundreds of Middle Easterners, Arabs, and other immigrants detained over the past year without due process and/or legal representation. It also directs the WSLC to defend civil liberties by pressuring local and state law enforcement not to cooperate with FBI spying on political, labor, and anti-globalism activists or with INS harassment of immigrants. Rank and file pressure for a change in the AFL-CIO's pro-war position has been building for some time. Passage of this resolution is the culmination of work by many, including San Francisco's Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, New York City Labor Against the War, and Seattle's Organized Labor Against the War. A similar resolution, co-sponsored by AFSCME Locals 304 and Local 2626 (Los Angeles), garnered about 1,000 votes at the national AFSCME convention in June, 2002 and saw the creation of AFSCME Workers Against the War. Resolution Against the War, Attacks on Civil Liberties and Cuts in Public Services Resolution #6 Adopted by the Washington State Labor Council Convention, August 19-22, 2002, Spokane, WA. WHEREAS, President Bushs ever-expanding "war on terrorism" has been cynically used to justify a $48 billion hike in next years military budget, bringing it to $383 billion, in addition to the $15 billion bailout of the airline industry and $25 billion in tax refunds for corporate America; and WHEREAS, Congress is forcing union members and other working and poor people to pay for this war drive and subsidize corporate profits by raiding the Social Security Trust Fund and cutting funding for economically distressed states and vital government programs such as subsidies for low income housing and services to the homeless; and WHEREAS, the billions spent on armaments, domestic repression and bailouts could be better used to provide re-training programs and jobs to the 800,000 workers across the nation who lost their jobs after September 11th, and to plug the $50 billion deficit in state and local budgets that has resulted in a major loss of union jobs and cuts in essential socials services such as fully staffed libraries, education, quality public transportation with reliable access services to the disabled, providing clean water and air, healthcare and treatment for the mentally ill; and WHEREAS, in the aftermath of September 11th over 1,000 immigrants were imprisoned in detention centers, thousands of airport workers (many of them immigrants of color) were fired simply because they were not citizens, and Muslims, people of Middle Eastern descent and other immigrants suffered increased violence sparked by racial profiling by the INS and FBI; and WHEREAS, the federal "USA PATRIOT" anti-terrorism act and similar state measures undermine labors right to organize and fight anti-immigrant attacks and other union-busting tactics by expanding the governments ability to detain non-citizens based on mere suspicion, to conduct telephone and internet surveillance and secret searches, and to define people engaged in political protest as "domestic terrorists;" and WHEREAS, the national AFL-CIOs uncritical support for this profit-driven war has derailed labor opposition to increased military expenditures, corporate subsidies and government spying and provided political cover for Democrats to jump on the anti-terrorism bandwagon; WHEREAS, the AFL-CIO's support for the war has led to the callous withholding of solidarity from labor's working class and poor allies in other countries who are suffering and dying as a result of this conflict; therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Washington State Labor Council expand its efforts to defend civil liberties by taking the following actions and urging the AFL-CIO to do the same: ---Campaign for the repeal of the USA PATRIOT Act and defeat of similar "anti-terrorism" measures in state legislatures; ---Pressure local and state law enforcement to refuse to cooperate with FBI spying on political, union, and anti-globalism activists or comply with INS harassment of Arabs and other immigrants and people of color in the U.S.; and ---Demand the immediate release of the hundreds of Middle Eastern, Arab and other immigrants who are still being detained without due process and/or legal justification; and be it finally RESOLVED that the Washington State Labor Council urge the AFL-CIO and its affiliates to oppose the U.S. government's open-ended "war on terrorism" and participate in rallies, marches and other activities to pressure President Bush and Congress to stop the war and redirect money from corporate handouts and the military budget to assist laid-off workers, restore and expand public services, and promote global justice by providing humanitarian and economic aid--administered by unions--to our brothers and sisters in other countries. Fred Hyde is from Seattle, Washington and was a delegate to the Washington State Labor Council Convention from AFSCME Local 304. He can be reached on mailto:[email protected]
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