03/14/04: Post by Bob
Posted by: BLOWBACK
Sorry for the cut and paste, you guys. I thought maybe your audience might be interested in this.MILLION WORKER MARCHThe International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 10 recently passed aresolution proposing a million worker march on Washington in 2004. No datehas been set however, we; envision it taking place before the election inNovember. This mobilization is being proposed in response to the attacksupon working families in America and the millions of jobs lost during thecurrent Bush Administration. The working class has not suffered suchhardship since the era of the Great Depression.The Bush Administration¹s focus of placing the acquisition of capital andthe quest for profits above the needs of the people is undermining theeconomic security of working people and the nation as a whole.Now is the time for organized/unorganized labor, the interfaith andcommunity organizations to show solidarity to demand that all electedofficials address the needs of working people.While we are in the early stages of planning this action, we are urgingorganizations to join us in making this march a reality.We are encouraging everyone have the attached resolution adopted by yourmembership or organization. We¹re also asking that your organization start aMillion Worker March Committee to mobilize labor in your local area,ultimately merging with a National Committee to be formed at a later date.Finally, we¹re asking for financial contribution from your organization tobe sent to the address below until a National Committee is created.Please contact:MILLION WORKER MARCH COMMITTEEILWU, Local 10400 North PointSan Francisco, CA 94133(415)441-0610Email: millionworkermarch@comcast.netRESOLUTION PROPOSING A MILLION WORKERS MARCH ON WASHINGTONWhereas: our ancestors fought tirelessly in this country for the right toorganize unions and ensure that our government recognized this right becauseit is a cornerstone of democracy, andWhereas: that because of unions and solidarity among working people we havebeen able to win basic human rights, including employer paid health care,social security and retirement benefits, safe working conditions, decenthours and wages, education for our children, social services for thedisadvantaged, civil liberties, and most important, the right to politicalinfluence over our nation¹s foreign and domestic policies, andWhereas: Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address in 1944acknowledged our rights, saying, "We have come to the realization of thefact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security andindependence. Necessitous men are not free men. People who are hungry andout of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made." andWhereas: the current administration has cooperated with big business inattacking our rights, using legislation such as the Patriot Acts I and II,denying the right of hundreds of thousands of Federal employees to belong tounions and bargain, forcing longshore workers to work under a Taft-HartleyAct injunction and threats of Federal intervention, andWhereas: the administration has negotiated trade agreements costing thejobs of hundreds of thousands of US workers, calling this a move towards ahealthy economy, while promoting other economic policies which have resultedin the loss of over 3 million jobs since taking office, andWhereas: the administration has given corporations and the wealthy huge taxbreaks, while cutting billions of dollars in spending for social services,education, and other government programs won by working people throughdecades of effort, andWhereas: the Bush administration has excused all these policies by usingthe terrible events of September 11 to label any opposition unpatriotic anda threat to national security, has taken our country into an unjust warunder the false assertion that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction,costing the lives of hundreds of US service members and innocent Iraqicivilians, and is whipping up fear and hysteria even further to try tostampede the public into giving it another term in office,Be it therefore resolved: that Local 10 of the ILWU calls on unions andworking people generally to go to Washington DC for a Million Worker March,to demand that politicians and the administration listen to the people whopay their salaries, rather than the voices of big business and the rich, andBe it further resolved: that this resolution be forwarded to unions, laborcouncils and labor organizations, as well as other organizations to whichworkers belong, whether organized or not, so that they can take similaraction to organize this March as soon as possible.Be it finally resolved: that this event coincide with all labor organizedvoter registration drives planned for the next election.