‘No bombs, no borders, no bosses’

Labor activists protest Iraq war in Cleveland Dec. 2. WW photo: Susan Schur

A large contingent of young activists marched alongside the many unionists from Cleveland and around the country and made “Bring the Troops Home Now” the central demand of a militant march and rally here Dec. 2. The protest, which drew nearly 500 people, was sponsored by the North Coast Labor Federation and U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW).

Chant leaders from UNITE/HERE and the United Auto Workers (UAW) got the crowd to join a group of youth in shouting, “No bombs, no borders, no bosses!” Other march slogans included, “We want jobs, we want peace, U.S. out of the Middle East” and “Unions yes, war no, the occupation has got to go.” Percussion accompaniment added to the spirit of the demonstration.

Speakers at the rally included North Coast Labor Federation General Secretary John Ryan, Ohio State AFL-CIO President Bill Burga, Maryland State AFL-CIO President and USLAW Co-Convenor Fred Mason, A. Philip Randolph Institute President Clayola Brown, Samir Adil of the Iraq Freedom Congress, and Farm Labor Organizing Committee Secretary-Treasurer Beatriz Maya.

The action was part of the national assembly and national conference of USLAW, which attracted over 100 labor leaders and activists. With 140 labor organizations as affiliates, USLAW has helped bring the issue of the Iraq war to the labor movement. Four state AFL-CIO presidents—from Ohio, Wisconsin, South Carolina and Maryland—attended the conference. Some national unions and state labor federations have passed antiwar resolutions, although most have resisted putting the word “immediate” before “withdrawal.”

The assembly passed an important resolution opposing U.S. intervention against Iran. On the other hand, a number of solidarity resolutions, and one on maintaining the position for immediate withdrawal, were not passed but referred to committee.

Later in the day hundreds came out for a Saturday evening rally. Chaired by USLAW Co-Convenors Mason and Nancy Wohlforth, who is the president of Pride At Work and secretary-treasurer of Office and Professional Employees International Union, the rally featured Ryan, Brown, Adil, UNITE/HERE President John Wilhelm, Congressperson Dennis Kucinich and anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan.

Sheehan touched on many issues. She contrasted the pay and benefits of her son Andy, who is a member of the Operating Engineers union in the Bay Area, to that of her son Casey, who was killed in the Iraq war. She described her trip to South Korea, where she met unionists fighting the Free Trade Agreement and farmers trying to save their land from the U.S. military, which wants to build an exclusive golf course on land families have farmed for generations. “People say ‘What does that have to do with your son getting killed in Iraq?’ Well,” she explained, “it’s the corporations and the military that are doing all these things. That has everything to do with my son being killed.”