USLAW CALL to a NATIONAL LABOR ASSEMBLY for PEACE

CALL to a NATIONAL LABOR ASSEMBLY for PEACE OCTOBER 24-25, 2003 in
CHICAGO

Dear Sisters and Brothers:

The undersigned trade unionists invite you to join us for a National
Labor Assembly on the issues of peace, prosperity, security,
democracy and justice. Its purpose will be to forge an ongoing
labor coalition that will challenge the U.S. foreign policy of
permanent war and its consequences for working families both here at
home and abroad. The Assembly will be held in Chicago on the
evening of October 24 and all day on October 25, 2003.

In the months preceding the invasion of Iraq, hundreds of local,
state and national unions, central labor councils and other labor
organizations took official positions opposing war on Iraq. This
led to the founding, on January 11 in Chicago, of U.S. Labor Against
the War (USLAW). On February 27 the AFL-CIO Executive Council
adopted its own resolution opposing Bush’s unilateral and preemptive
military action. By the time the invasion of Iraq was actually
launched on March 20, labor organizations representing almost one-
third of all organized workers in the U.S. were on record opposed to
the war.

U.S. troops are now committed to an indeterminate occupation of that
war-devastated country. All the important questions about Iraq’s
future remain under a cloud, including what role the Iraqi people
will have in shaping their own future and whether Iraqi workers will
enjoy internationally recognized labor rights, including the right
to organize freely, to bargain collectively and to strike.
Despite its rhetoric about liberation, it is increasingly clear that
the Bush administration is motivated more by global ambitions and
corporate interests than by the freedom of Iraqis. Consistent with
its belligerent posture and preemptive war doctrine, threats of
military action against other countries continue to emanate from the
administration. Its announced decision to resume development of
tactical nuclear weapons will escalate the arms race, making the
U.S. and the whole world less, not more, secure.

Our nation is in the midst of its worst economic crisis in decades.
Organized labor and working families are under a relentless assault
from the Bush administration on every front. Government has become
a willing ally of big business in attacking unions and the right to
organize and bargain. More than 180,000 federal workers have lost
the right to union representation in the name of "national
security." While the social safety net is being shredded, the
administration is massively cutting taxes for the wealthy. It has
undermined cherished democratic ideals and eroded Constitutional
rights with measures like the Patriot Act and Homeland Security Act.
The budget for the military and prisons continues to grow, while
social programs and public sector jobs and services are being
downsized, outsourced, privatized or eliminated. Schools are being
shuttered and teachers laid off by the thousands, veterans benefits
are being slashed, millions are jobless, many millions more are
without health care and adequate housing. In communities of color,
among immigrants and the poor, these cuts will have a
disproportionately painful impact. Children will suffer their worst
effects. The $200 billion being spent to topple Saddam Hussein and
reconstruct Iraq could have been spent addressing these urgent
needs.

The stakes at this moment in history are high. For many trade
unionists who did not oppose the war earlier, the relationship
between a militarized foreign policy and its effect on our domestic
economy are becoming painfully clear. "National security" has
become the cover for gutting many of the social and economic gains
won by working people during the 20th century. The Administration
is using the power of the US military to boost Bush’s image in the
face of the disastrous results of his economic policies.
This administration presents the most serious threat to the economic
and social well being, civil liberties and civil rights, security
of the nation and peace in the world of any in memory. Bush’s
defeat in the 2004 election is of paramount urgency. However, in
seeking his defeat, we must assure the defeat of the policies he has
promoted so that no matter who is elected, it will be politically
impossible to pursue them. We believe organized labor can defeat
these policies only by making the connection between the
militarization of U.S. foreign policy and the militarization of our
society, the curtailment of civil liberties and encroachment on our
Constitutional rights, and the bankrupting of government services at
all levels.

We propose to create a voice within the labor movement that is an
energetic advocate for policies that strengthen international
institutions so that conflicts between nations can be resolved
through diplomacy rather than war. We seek a U.S. foreign policy
that promotes global economic and social justice, not the use of
military force. We want our government to meet human needs, not
cater to corporate greed.

INITIATING SIGNATORIES (list in formation)

ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS

1199 New England SEIU

AFSCME District. Council 1707, NYC, by President Brenda Stokely

AFT Local 2121, San Francisco, by President Allan Fisher

Arabs Building Community - Bay Area (CA) Labor Committee

Bay Area (CA) Labor Committee for Peace & Justice

California Federation of Teachers, by President Mary Bergan

Chicago Labor Against the War, by Treasurer Larry Duncan

Coalition of University Employees (UC - CA) Anti-war Caucus

Washington, DC Metropolitan Labor Council, by President Joslyn
Williams

King County (Seattle) Labor Council, by Executive Secretary Steve
Williamson

Los Angeles College Faculty Guild, Local 1521, by the Executive
Board

Massachusetts Labor for Justice With Peace

Pride at Work by Co-President Nancy Wohlforth and Executive Director
Marta Ames

PSC-CUNY/AFT Local 2334, by Senior College Officer Nancy Romer

San Francisco Labor Council, by Secretary-Treasurer Walter Johnson

SEIU Health Care Workers Local 250 (CA) by President Sal Rosselli

United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers, by General Secretary-
Treasurer Bruce Klipple

United Educators of San Francisco, by the UESF Executive Board

INDIVIDUAL ENDORSEMENTS (organizations and titles for identification
only)

Amatullah Alaji-Sabrie, President of Local 3, Coalition of
University Employees (UC - CA)

Thomas Balanoff, President, SEIU Local 1 and International V.P. of
SEIU

Alan Benchich, President, UAW Local 909, Warren, MI

Anna Burger, Secretary-Treasurer, Service Employees International
Union

Gene Carroll, Director of Union Leadership Program, ILR, Cornell
University

Miguel Contrerez, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Los Angeles County
Federation of Labor

Alice Dale, President, SEIU Local 49 and International V.P. of SEIU
(Portland)

Art Doherty, President, Philadelphia Area Local APWU, V.P.
Philadelphia CLC, V.P. PA State Federation of Labor

Maria Elena Durazo, President, HERE Local 11, Los Angeles; VP of
HERE

David Foster, Director, United Steelworkers of America, Region 11
(MN)

Fred Hirsch, Vice President, Plumbers & Fitters Local 393, San Jose

Claudia Horning, Statewide President, Coalition of University
Employees (UC-CA)

Marty Hittelman, Vice President, CA Federation of Teachers

John Kirk, Chief Grievance Officer, AFT Local 1493, San Mateo County
Community College Faculty

Nancy Lessin, USWA 9358 (Boston); Co-founder of MFSO

Zev Kvitky, President, United Stanford Workers; Vice-President, SEIU
Local 715

Charles Lester Political Director, Los Angeles County Federation of
Labor

Michael Letwin, Co-Convenor, NYC Labor Against War

Elena Marcheschi, Chicago Labor for Peace, Prosperity & Justice

Eliseo Medina, Executive V.P., SEIU Western Region

David Novogrodsky, Executive Director, Professional & Technical
Engineers Local 21, San Francisco

Debby Pope, Director of Communications, Chicago Teachers Union, AFT
#1

Charley Richardson, SEIU 254 (Boston) and Co-founder, MFSO

Louie Rocha, President, CWA Local 9423, San Jose

Wendy Thompson, UAW President 235, Detroit

Jerry Tucker, Executive Director, United Health Care Workers, St.
Louis

Howard Wallace, Executive Committee, San Francisco Labor Council;
Former National Co-Chair, Pride at Work

Gerry Zero, President, Teamsters Local 705, Chicago

Our website provides an easy and convenient way for both
organizations and individuals to endorse the National Labor Assembly
for Peace. Just go to the USLAW home page
(www.uslaboragainstwar.org). At top center is a purple box with a
link to the endorsement form. It can also be accessed from a link
in a box at the left below the table of contents.

We encourage principal officers to endorse as individuals while they
take the steps needed to get an organizational endorsement, then
return to register their organization’s endorsement once it has been
approved.

If you have any questions, let us know by writing to
info@uslaboragainstwar.org.

Registration procedures and forms and information about hotel
reservations will be available on the webpage shortly. OR
COMPLETE and RETURN this form! (Hotel information is below the
form)

Add your organizational or individual endorsement to the call by
returning the form below:

My labor organization endorses this call and wants to be listed
as a cosigner.

I endorse the call and want to be listed as an individual
cosigner with organizational affiliation and office for
identification only.

NAME_____________________________________________

DATE_______________________

OFFICE/POSITION____________________________

LABOR ORGANIZATION_____________________________________

LOCAL NO.______

ADDRESS______________________________________________

CITY_____________________STATE____ ZIP______

PHONE (____)__________________FAX (____)__________________

CELL/PAGER (_____)__________________ EMAIL

ADDRESS___________________________________________________________

___I PLAN TO ATTEND THE ASSEMBLY

___MY ORGANIZATION WILL SEND DELEGATES

Return to USLAW at info@uslaboragainstwar.org or send to USLAW, P.O.

Box 153, 1718 M ST NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036