NATIONAL MARCHES ON OCT. 25
Labor ranks say: 'Bring troops home'
By Sharon Black
Mounting casualties in Iraq and the call-up of
an additional 15,000 reserve troops have increased popular
resistance here in the U.S. to the war. Combined with Bush's
recent demand for $87 billion for this military operation,
these events have aroused growing support for Oct. 25 national
demonstrations to "End the occupation" and "Bring the troops
home now."
Rank and file trade unionists have begun pressing their
locals to pass resolutions in support of these actions, and are
making plans to bring their fellow workers to the protests in
Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
Thousands of people came out Sept. 25-28 to protest the Iraq
occupation and in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. On
Oct. 4 hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers, with strong
backing from organized labor, will be mobilizing in Queens,
N.Y., to raise demands for immigrant rights.
Despite the national AFL-CIO's position of silence on the
issue of war and occupation, rank-and-file union officials and
members are nevertheless speaking out. Labor is becoming an
important component of the anti-war movement.
The union members' sons, daughters and loved ones are dying
in this war. Programs that affect union members and provide
jobs are being slashed because of the ever-growing budget spent
on war. This has fueled opposition.
Boston's school bus drivers' union, Steel Workers Local
8751, is gearing up for the Oct. 25 national march. The union
and other area labor groups have formed ANSWER (Act Now to Stop
War and End Racism) Labor. Local 8751 has also passed a
resolution against the occupation, and is organizing buses to
bring workers to the march.
Michigan's Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice has
distributed a special four-page labor newsletter against the
war and is organizing buses from that region. Dave Sole,
president of UAW Local 2334, has endorsed and is helping to
spearhead this movement.
In San Francisco, the AFL-CIO Labor Council has passed a
hard-hitting resolution supporting the Oct. 25 protest. This
reso lution has become a model for union locals across the
country.
In New York City the 200,000-member 1199/Service Employees,
which represents health and human services workers, has voted
to support the Oct. 25 demonstration. The union is providing
free bus transportation to members. New York City Labor Against
the War, which has been in the forefront of all the national
protests against the war, is also mobilizing.
The University of Massachusetts/Amherst Graduate Employee
Organization, UAW Local 2322, passed a resolution supporting
the anti-war protest. Chicago's Teamsters Local 705, which
represents United Parcel Service workers, went on record
opposing the war and called for the immediate withdrawal of
U.S. forces from Iraq.
Labor from Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland and
Atlanta is also organizing for the march.
Reprinted from the Oct. 9, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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