In case anyones interested:A Call For Action! National Labor Conference Against Taft-Hartley & Union-Busting(December 7, 2002, in San Francisco)Dear Brothers & Sisters,We invite you and your union to participate with us in a national laborconference on Saturday, December 7, 2002 in San Francisco at Mission HighSchool 3750 18th St/Dolores from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.The use of the Taft-Hartley Act by the Bush administration against theInternational Longshore and Warehouse Union is a shot across the bow fororganized labor. Following an 11-day lockout initiated by the PacificMaritime Association, the government is now acting as an enforcer for theseunion-busters. The Bush crew admits it was having private meetings with someof the biggest "union-free" corporations in America to plan strategy on howto defeat the ILWU.But the ILWU is not the only target. According to the Wall Street Journal(October 11, 2002), the Bush administration is considering the possibilityof invoking Taft-Hartley against the United Auto Workers union when theircontracts expire next year. The same is true for many other unions as well.They will seek to justify this because of their war plans in Iraq.AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka lambasted the administration'suse of Taft-Hartley: "If all employers know the administration will rushinwith Taft-Hartley to give them what they want," Trumka stated, "they'll plotand scheme together, they'll figure out what to do, and then the[collective-bargaining] process will be gutted. The employers won't comeandbargain in good faith because there is no incentive to."When Taft-Hartley was first passed in 1947, Phillip Murray of the CIO,called it "a Slave Labor Act." This was no exaggeration. Jim Spinosa,president of the ILWU, has pointed out that, "We fully expect PMA to useall the anti-union provisions of the Taft-Hartley injunction. ...Taft-Hartley gives them 80 days of free shots at the union, and we expectthe employers will be dragging us to court daily, trying to bankrupt theunion and throw our leaders in jail."The Bush cabal is now intent on busting the ILWU, just as Reagan did withthe PATCO union in 1981. Bush is already seeking to eliminate union rightsfor 170,000 federal workers with his union-busting "Homeland Security"Department, forcing major wage and contract concessions on tens of thousandsof airline workers, including binding "baseball arbitrations." He is intenton taking away every right and condition won by labor during the last 50years. Bush also intends to use his drive toward war to justify outlawing strikeaction. The proposed Maritime Security Act and other such repressivemeasures are aimed at weakening and destroying organized labor. When thewarstarts in Iraq, he may seek to militarize the docks to break the ILWU. Hehas now thrown down the gauntlet to all of organized labor.The QUESTION is what will organized labor and the communities do to answerthis challenge? Only with your help and that of your union can we avoid being sitting ducksas the Bush administration plans to break our unions. At our conference,weplan to discuss and lay out a fight-back strategy that includes education,media strategies and action to defend the ILWU and other unions that comeunder attack. This will include the fight against union-busting (not onlywith the Taft-Hartley in maritime but other transportation industries),privatization, contracting-out and the struggle to organize the millionsofunorganized workers.We need to prepare now to go on the offensive. We cannot allow the ILWU tobe picked off and then for Bush to go after the next union. We plan to haveworkshops on Taft-Hartley, the Maritime Security Act, Developing A LaborMedia Campaign, Organizing the Unorganized and Immigrant Workers , and howto develop a strategy to take on these robber barons. We need to be readynow for action when the Taft-Hartley injunction against the longshoreworkers expires. We also need to learn the lessons of the successful fightfor the Charleston 5 in South Carolina, and build on this not onlynationally but internationally.You and your union can play an important part in this effort. Please endorsethis conference and send delegates. Also a financial contribution to makethis conference a success is absolutely critical.We are also planning to have a Northern California Transportation WorkersSolidarity Rally on the evening of December 7 at ILWU Local 10 400 NorthPoint/Mason St. SF at 7:30 PM and hope you can attend this as well.Please let us know if you can endorse this conference and how many delegateswill be attending. We are asking for a registration of $25 a delegate. Noone will be turned away from lack of funds. Also please contact us if youare interested in getting regular information on the battle againstTaft-Hartley and union-busting and if you want to be on our email list.In Solidarity, ILWU InternationalILWU Local 10 San Francisco Labor CouncilAlameda Labor CouncilSouth Bay Labor CouncilIBT Joint Council 7SF Maritime Trades Port CouncilILA1422, Charleston South CarolinaIBU-ILWU Bay Area ChapterNorthern California Media Workers Guild/Typographical UnionMEBA ATU 1555GCIU Local 4 NALC 214UTW-CWACWA9423UA393SUPBART Chapter SEIU 790Labor Committee For Peace & JusticeAlliance For Sustainable Jobs & EnvironmentPort Workers Solidarity CommitteeGlobal ExchangeSF LCLAA