On December 9, 2002, the San Francisco Labor Council
(AFL-CIO) unanimously adopted the following
resolution: "Labor Needs to Take a Clear Stand Against
the War." The resolution also includes an endorsement
of the January 18 National March in Washington DC and
joint action in San Francisco, and of the People's
Anti-War Referendum.



RESOLUTION OF THE SAN FRANCISCO LABOR COUNCIL

Labor Needs to Take a Clear Stand Against the War

Whereas, since the tragic events of September 11,
2001, we have seen the beginning of a relentless new
assault on labor -- from the employers, and from the
government acting on their behalf; and

Whereas, using the so-called "war on terrorism" and
"national security" as a pretext, the Bush
Administration has spearheaded a renewed assault on
organized labor, starting with the use of Taft-Hartley
(and threats to militarize the ports) against West
Coast dockworkers...wholesale threats to the job
security and union rights of 170,000 federal
workers...the racist firings of experienced airport
screeners...threats to curtail the right to strike and
organize?and the impending contracting out of hundreds
of thousands of federal jobs. On more than one
occasion, government spokespersons have referred to
union actions defending our jobs, working conditions
and living standards as akin to terrorism, or as
"aiding and abetting terrorists", or as a "threat to
national security"; and

Whereas, Bush's war (on Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia,
the Philippines, where next?) has become the main
engine for the repression of labor. "National
security", in the hands of a thoroughly anti-labor
Bush Administration, is being used as a bludgeon
against labor, with the intent of rolling back all the
gains workers have won since the 1930s, including
collective bargaining itself, and including social
programs championed by the labor movement like
welfare, social security, unemployment insurance; and

Whereas, a strong fight-back requires that labor make
it a priority to stake out a clear, forthright and
fighting stance against Bush's war, and see the
anti-war and anti-globalization movements as our
strategic allies, needed if we are to defeat the
assault on labor and move to the offensive. We got a
glimpse of the potential power of this combination
during the 1999 showdown in Seattle; and

Whereas, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. embodied the
coming together of the labor, anti-war and civil
rights movements during the tremendous upsurge of the
mass movement in the 1960s, and we need to revive this
powerful combination of the people's forces to defeat
Bush's war and the racism that underlies it and that
it promotes; and

Whereas, our opposition to the Bush Administration's
war on the Iraqi people, and to their attacks or
threats against other smaller, sovereign countries
around the globe, fits hand in glove with labor's
fighting defense of the interests of the working
people of all races and nationalities here at home;
therefore be it

RESOLVED: That the San Francisco Labor Council,
AFL-CIO, endorse the Martin Luther King weekend
anti-war activities -- the January 18, 2003 marches in
San Francisco and Washington, DC in opposition to the
war on Iraq, and the Grassroots Peace Congress being
held in Washington, as well as the People's Anti-War
Referendum ["VoteNoWar"] by which millions of
Americans are casting their "votes" against this war;
and be it further

RESOLVED: That this council work to ensure that
organized labor and the national AFL-CIO take a clear
and early stand against Bush's war.

-- Adopted unanimously by the San Francisco Labor
Council, December 9, 2002