FW: S.Bay Labor Council Foreign Policy Resolution

[Seth Ackerman]

> ----------
> From: 	Kim Scipes[SMTP:sscipe1 at icarus.cc.uic.edu]
> Sent: 	Tuesday, November 28, 2000 12:41 AM
> Subject: 	S.Bay Labor Council Foreign Policy Resolution
> 
> November 27, 2000
> 
> Dear Folks--
> 
> The below message and accompanying resolution was sent out by the South
> Bay
> Center Labor Council, headquartered in San Jose, California, USA.  As a
> result of the work done by Fred Hirsch and his colleagues, the Resolution
> was stimulated by an article I wrote on the AFL-CIO foreign
> policy--focused
> around what the AFL-CIO did in Chile in the early 1970s which sabotaged
> the
> economy, leading to the coup on September 11, 1973--which was published in
> the July 2000 issue of Labor Studies Journal, along with responses by Judy
> Ancel and Sam Lanfranco.  As you can see, the South Bay Central Labor
> Council has decided to make this a major campaign, and this resolution has
> been forwarded to John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO.
> 
> Please pass this along, especially to union members and labor
> organizations.  Encourage them to support the resolution--it is IMPORTANT.
> 
> Should you want to read the initial article of mine, Judy Ancel's
> response,
> and/or my account of this effort, these articles have each been posted by
> David Hollis at LabourNet Germany--and thanks, again, David!  My article
> is
> at <www.labournet.de/diskussion/gewerkschaft/scipes2.html>, Judy's is at
> <www.labournet.de/diskussion/gewerkschaft/ancel1.html>, and my article
> about the entire effort is at
> <www.labournet.de/diskussion/gewerkschaft/scipes1.html>.
> 
> Thanks for your help is passing it widely!
> 
> With best wishes and
> 
> In solidarity--
> 
> Kim Scipes
> Chicago
> ______________
> 
> 
> [PLEASE REDISTRIBUTE THIS TO RELEVANT LABOR LISTS AND UNION
> ORGANIZATIONS.]
>       (Apologies for duplicate copies through cross-posting.)
> 
> The resolution, "It's Time to Clear the Air About AFL-CIO Policy Abroad!"
> was passed by the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council (SBLC) in San Jose,
> California.  We feel that is an extraordinary resolution which can have a
> very important impact if it is passed by many unions and labor councils
> and
> sent off to the AFL-CIO in Washington, DC.
> 
> Below you'll find the resolution, the cover letter the SBLC sent to
> AFL-CIO
> President John Sweeney and the letter being sent to selected unions and
> labor councils calling upon them for action on the issue.
> 
> If you'd like to have this resolution and the letters on hard copy
> letterhead or if you'd like to have them sent to your union or labor
> council, please contact Cristina Grijalva at the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor
> Council, 2102 Almaden Road, Suite 107, San Jose, CA 95125.  Telephone
> (408)
> 266-3790.
> 
> Your effort to pass this resolution in your union and labor councils will
> help bring appropriate action from the AFL-CIO. Please call if you have
> any
> questions.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> November 8, 2000
> 
> Dear Brothers and Sisters,
> 
> Attached you will find a copy of a resolution passed by the South Bay
> AFL-CIO addressing the issue of Labor's involvement in foreign affairs.
> You will also find attached a copy of the letter sent to AFL-CIO President
> John Sweeney introducing our resolution and reiterating our goals and our
> vision.
> 
> On behalf of the South Bay Labor Council I strongly urge you to adopt this
> resolution and communicate your support to the AFL-CIO.  Together we can
> rectify our past and move forward together in creating trust and unity
> among workers around the world.
> 
> In Solidarity,
> 
> (signed)
> 
> Amy Dean
> Executive Officer
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> 
> November 8, 2000
> 
> Mr. John Sweeney, President
> AFL-CIO
> 815 16th Street, N.W.
> Washington, DC 20006
> 
> Dear President Sweeney,
> 
> I have been directed by a democratic and deliberate vote of the South Bay
> AFL-CIO Labor Council to forward to you the attached resolution. This
> resolution was the result of widespread discussion and debate, resulting
> ultimately in unanimous adoption.
> 
> It is hard to capture the sincerity and passion with which proponents of
> this resolution pursued its passage.  Some of the movers of the resolution
> were born and raised in Chile and saw their loved ones tortured and
> killed.
> Others spent time with victims of the oppression and, to this day, feel a
> heart felt commitment to right the wrongs on their behalf.  Others simply
> are ashamed of the role we played in Chile and elsewhere around the world.
> In the end, consensus was reached around the following principle: that in
> order to address the issues working people face in this new global
> economy,
> we must establish a renewed trust and a renewed solidarity among all
> workers around the world.
> 
> The South Bay Labor Council, like our sisters and brothers around the
> country, are proud of the new direction the AFL-CIO has taken under your
> leadership.  We recognize that the AFL-CIO in general, and the Solidarity
> Center in particular, have taken significant steps toward goals such as
> those expressed in the attached resolution. Examples of this include the
> development of our Union Cities Program and our Women's Department, the
> integration of our constituent organizations into real labor leadership,
> the power we have awakened among our members and potential members in
> fighting for immigrant workers' rights and amnesty, and the demonstrations
> we led with environmentalists, faith based community members, students and
> workers around the world against the World Bank and corporate
> globalization.
> 
> The labor movement, led by the AFL-CIO, must continue to take positive
> steps to build our authenticity with workers around the world through acts
> of true solidarity.  We must take those steps based solely upon our
> working
> families agenda and thus rectify our past and erase the distance that
> still
> exists between us and some of our natural allies abroad and here at home.
> 
> We should not be diverted by a debate over approach.  Instead, let us
> agree
> on a common agenda - to distance ourselves from our past and create a new
> image of trust and unity.  That is the goal of this resolution.  That is
> the goal supported unanimously by our Council.  And that is the goal we
> wish to move forward together as our country's most effective force in
> shaping tomorrow.
> 
> In Solidarity
> 
> (signed)
> 
> Amy Dean
> Executive Officer.
> 
> Cc. Executive Board Members
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
>        IT'S TIME TO CLEAR THE AIR ABOUT AFL-CIO POLICY ABROAD!
> 
> WHEREAS the impact of economic globalization on American working families
> and workers everywhere is causing more job dislocation ,  impoverishment
> of
> working families, division among workers and a huge economic gap between
> rich and poor in the U.S. and among nations, with power shifting more and
> more into corporate hands; and
> 
> WHEREAS an effective strategy to serve our members' interests and counter
> the corporate economic globalization agenda is to build solidarity and
> unity among unions and workers' organizations worldwide based upon  mutual
> respect and our common needs, with mutually determined labor standards
> based on social justice and human rights as they are perceived by workers
> in each nation; and
> 
> WHEREAS while we recognize and applaud the many changes in the
> international  policy and practice of the AFL-CIO in recent years and, as
> we are taking steps to increase credibility among workers and members in
> the U.S., we must also overcome fear and suspicion of workers abroad based
> upon errors and excesses of the Cold War years  - so that the AFL-CIO may
> become a more trusted  and vital actor on the stage of working class
> international affairs; and
> 
> WHEREAS recent articles in the Labor Studies Journal for Summer 2000 show
> that the AFL-CIO played a role leading to the bloody Pinochet overthrow of
> the democratically elected government in Chile, that its work was linked
> to
> corporate and CIA intervention ordered by Richard Nixon and led by Henry
> Kissinger (clearly against the best interests of the labor movement in
> Latin America and the United States,) that the AFL-CIO engaged in similar
> activities in many countries on almost every continent and that such
> activities served corporate interests and were largely funded by the U.S.
> government; and
> 


> 
> 
> WHEREAS the bitter fruit of the experience in Chile and other countries
> was a strengthened hand for Corporate America, the destruction of militant
> unions and support of spurious unions, the persecution of working families
> and the torture, disappearance and death of many trade union activists and
> leaders, situations which defy rebuilding trust without taking
> responsibility for such events where it may be due, and accounting for and
> renouncing such policies; Therefore,
> 
> BE IT RESOLVED that, to advance the progressive new policies of the
> AFL-CIO
> in global affairs, we call upon our Federation to fully account for what
> was done in Chile and other countries where similar roles may have been
> played in  our name, to forever renounce such policies and practices and
> to
> openly invite concerned union members and researchers to review and
> discuss
> all AFL-CIO archives on international labor affairs;  and be it further
> 
> RESOLVED that the AFL-CIO describe, country by country, exactly what
> activities it may still be engaged in abroad with funds paid by government
> agencies and renounce any such ties that could compromise our authentic
> credibility and the trust of workers here and abroad and that would make
> us
> paid agents of government or of the forces of corporate economic
> globalization; and be it further
> 
> RESOLVED that the above actions be taken to clear the air in affirmation
> of
> an AFL-CIO policy of genuine global labor solidarity in pursuit of
> economic
> and social justice with attention to domestic and international labor
> standards that include the right to organize and strike, an adequate
> social
> safety net, living wages, the right to health care and education,
> elimination of mandatory overtime, protection of the rights of immigrant
> workers, prohibitions on strikebreaking and the pursuit of peace among
> nations and peoples; and be it
> finally
> 
> RESOLVED that we send this resolution to the AFL-CIO and circulate it to
> Labor Councils and local unions in our area and elsewhere asking them to
> take similar action .
> 
> 
> 
> 
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