US Labor Against the War

US Labor Against the War

by Kim Scipes; October 28, 2003

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=19&ItemID=4416

"Bring the troops home NOW" is not only the slogan of a growing
portion of the US peace movement, but it now part of the ratified
program of US Labor Against the War (USLAW). Meeting in Chicago this
past weekend (October 24-25), 154 delegates representing approximately
500,000 trade union members from all over the country held the first
National Assembly of USLAW, and established the organization.

The purpose of the new organization is to force the AFL-CIO to address
the US occupation of Iraq as well as the escalating war in the US
against working people. The delegates specifically stated their
recognition that people of color and women were those being most
directly and extensively attacked.

Bill Fletcher, Jr., Executive Director of TransAfrica Forum, gave the
key note address to the delegates on Saturday morning. Setting the
tone of the conference, Fletcher asked, "When does silence become
complicity? When does ignorance become compliance?" And then he
answered, "Silence and ignorance are no longer acceptable."

USLAW grew out of frustration by a range of labor activists and
leaders against Bush’s invasion of Iraq and the basic acquiescence by
the AFL-CIO leadership. (In fairness to AFL-CIO President John
Sweeney, he did co-author a letter to Bush and Tony Blair with British
trade union leader John Monks in January 2003 advising the
governmental leaders not to invade Iraq unilaterally, and to seek
peaceful solutions before invasion. Sweeney has been rarely heard on
Iraq since the invasion.)

The AFL-CIO has consistently and continues to separate domestic
developments from foreign affairs. A quick visit to its web site will
illustrate this: there is almost no mention of the war, and one has to
search press releases by the term "Iraq" to even find any mention of
it, other than support for "our" troops. This is despite the war
affecting working class young men and women in the military - in
addition to Iraqi working people - and that Bush’s $87 billion (in
addition to the original $60 billion) will affect working people
across this country. While this "head in the sand" approach is
qualitatively better than in the past - labor leaders previously would
have wholeheartedly supported the war - it is so weak and so inept
that activists decided they had to change it.

The approach is not to split the labor movement but to advocate,
educate and mobilize WITHIN the US labor movement.

USLAW’s Mission Statement begins, "We are living in an era in which
the government has manipulated our nation’s fear of terrorism to
launch wars, destroy our economic security, undermine government
services, erode our democratic rights, and intensify racism, sexism,
religious discrimination and divisions among working people." And
later, after providing further details, the Mission Statement
emphasizes its approach that directly contradicts the official line of
the AFL-CIO: "We cannot solve these problems without addressing US
foreign policy and its consequences."

USLAW’s approach is not just a concern with American working people -
delegates specifically supported the reconstruction of Iraq and other
war-devastated countries. They support the efforts by Iraqi workers to
organize trade unions, bargain collectively, and to strike.

In fact, two trade union delegates sent by USLAW to Iraq returned a
week ago, and gave powerful reports on the current situation. Clarence
Thomas, former Secretary-Treasurer of International Longshore and
Warehouse Union Local 10 (Bay Area local of the West Coast dock
workers), and David Bacon, labor photojournalist and member of the
National Writers Union, spent a week in Baghdad earlier this month.
The most shocking revelation they reported was that the occupation
government is still enforcing Saddam Hussein’s 1987 law banning state
workers from joining unions - most workers in Iraq fall into this
category. Further, the occupation government issued an edict this
summer that anyone organizing strikes would be treated as a prisoner
of war. Seems like odd ways to try to establish a new democratic
society...

The USLAW conferees established US Labor Against the War as an on-
going organization. They promise to continue to fight for a just
foreign policy, an end to US occupation of foreign countries, to
redirect the nation’s resources from inflated military spending, to
take care of needs of working people in this country, to protect
workers’ rights, civil rights, civil liberties and the rights of
immigrants, and to build solidarity with workers and their
organizations around the world.

The big question now - and stressed again and again during the
conference - was the need for financial support and on-going
resources: can members develop it? A number of unions - mostly at the
local level - have already contributed, and a number of leaders at the
conference pledged to return to their locals, report on the
conference, encourage continued support, and work to raise these
needed resources.

And a big question not resolved was whether to see Bush as the main
enemy - and focus on getting him out of office - or whether the
Democrats were guilty as well. My sense of the proceedings - and this
is a personal opinion - is that pro-war Democrats will be seen as part
of the problem, NOT part of the solution.

For those not used to seeing the labor movement at the forefront of
progressive politics, the founding of USLAW suggests that a growing
number of labor organizations will join with other progressive
organizations and groupings to fight for a just world for all. It is a
development that all should applaud and support.

And most immediately important, USLAW is going to fight to BRING THE
TROOPS HOME, NOW! _____

Kim Scipes is a long-time labor activist and former trade union member
who lives in Chicago. He attended the National Assembly as an
observer, not a delegate. This is not an official USLAW report. For
more information, please go to . Scipes, who served in the US Marine
Corps (1969-73), has also published "Supporting the Troops - It
Depends," condemning the US invasion of Iraq, which appeared in the
San Francisco Call and Canadian Dimension.