From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: CALL for LABOR PARTY
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 02:55:57 GMT


    "More and more labor officials and union bodies have endorsed the
    idea of a labor party, recognizing that while the bosses have two
    parties, we the workers don't even have one.


[Via misc.activism.progressive from PeaceNet's labor.newsline]
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Topic 262       Labor Party Conference Call 
dwalters        Labor News & Notes       3:32 pm  Aug 18, 1992 
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CALL FOR 1992 CONFERENCE FOR INDEPENDENT LABOR POLITICAL ACTION THE
LESSONS OF CLINTON, THE CATERPILLAR STRIKE AND THE LABOR PARTY ISSUE

The U.S. labor movement is at a crossroads: either chart a new
political course and break from our reliance on the Democratic Party,
or let the bosses, the government and the courts continue to walk over
us.  Two recent events underscore this point.

The U.S. trade unions have long tied our political power to the
Democratic Party. Now this party gives us Bill Clinton: an open union
buster, supporter of "right-to-work" laws and an ardent defender of
the multinationals, as indicated by his loud endorsement of Bush's
call to "fast track" the North American Free Trade Agreement. Despite
this, Bill Clinton was endorsed recently by the AFL-CIO's national
political committee.  Clinton is the most openly anti-labor Democratic
Party candidate in modern history. This is the "pay-off" to us Q the
labor movement Q for years and years of providing phonebanks,
volunteers, and resources of the trade union movement for the
Democratic Party Q as well as the votes necessary to get them into
office.

At the same time, the cave-in by the UAW leadership to Caterpillar
spells the beginning of a no-holds-barred offensive to break the back
of the UAW and, indeed, the entire union movement. The bosses are
emboldened. Taking advantage of the major defeat imposed on the
Caterpillar workers, the Big Three auto companies will seek to break
pattern bargaining, the phone companies will set out to bust the
unions, and other major corporations will attempt to impose similar
defeats in upcoming contract negotiations.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

It's time for labor to take a close look at where we are and where we
are going in the '90s.  In the face of the all-out assault on working
people and the unions by the corporations, the government, and the
courts, labor needs its own political instrument to defend itself.
Caterpillar workers and millions of other trade unionists face a fight
for their unions and their jobs. The percentage of workers organized
into unions is the lowest since the early 1930s. This situation is
totally unacceptable for all working people.

NO TIME TO LOSE

The political vacuum in this country cries out for a labor party with
a program for all working people.  More and more labor officials and
union bodies have endorsed the idea of a labor party, recognizing that
while the bosses have two parties, we the workers don't even have one.

Sentiment for a new party, based on the organized labor movement and
democratically controlled by the membership, is widespread.  We
support the call for a broad-based national labor conference this
election year to examine the political crisis faced by U.S. workers
and to discuss prospects and possibilities for building a labor party
in the '90s. Among the many issues to be discussed is running
independent labor candidates in state and local elections in 1993.  We
propose to hold this conference for independent labor political action
in San Francisco on July 25-26, 1992 Q just a few days prior to the
California state AFL-CIO convention, which at its past convention
endorsed the need to carry out education work for a labor party.  We
ask that you and/or your union local endorse this effort and publicize
it in your workplace or office.

Organizing a successful conference will also require a major
fundraising effort. Conference endorsers are requested to make a
financial contribution (large or small) with their endorsements.  This
conference call has been initiated by Labor Party Forum, a coalition
of San Francisco Bay Area unionists and other working people
interested in furthering the development of a labor party based on the
unions.

##################################################################
FINAL LIST OF ENDORSERS:
##################################################################

UNION LOCALS:

United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1100 (S.F.); UAW Local
879 (St. Paul, Minn.); OCAW Local 2-286 (Salt Lake City); AFSCME Local
3211 (U.C.  Berkeley).

INDIVIDUALS:* Ron Daniels, Former Deputy Director, National Rainbow
Coalition, independent candidate for U.S.  president; Baldemar
Velasquez, Pres., Farm Labor Organizing Committee (Toledo, Ohio); Don
Rojas, Editor, The Amsterdam News (New York); Bill Fiore, Pres., UFCW
Local 1100; Tom Laney, Recording Secretary (and Past Pres.), UAW Local
879, member National Organizing Committee of New Directions (St. Paul,
Minn.); Mark Masaoka, Unit chair, UAW Local 645 (Van Nuys, Calif.);
Dennis Serrette, Chief Steward, CWA Local 2108, founding member
Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and Black Workers For Justice
(Baltimore, Md.); Andy Cirkelis, Pres., Teamsters Local 921; Seymour
Kramer, Chairperson, Local 1741 UTU; Joe Stack, Retired vice pres.,
National Maritime Union; Ray Markey, Pres., AFSCME Local 1930 (New
York); Benjamin Visnick, Pres., Oakland Education Association; Dan La
Botz, labor journalist, National Writers Union/UAW; Robert Kimbrough,
Past pres., AFT Local 223 (U. of Wisconsin); Bob McCloskey, Business
Agent, SEIU Local 660 (Los Angeles): Bruce McClellan, Sec.-treas.,
OCAW Local 2-286; Brian Lewis, Pres.  UTU Local 1730; Frank Grinnon,
Asst. Bus. Mgr., IBEW 1011; Eric Mann, Director, Community/Labor
Strategy Center (Van Nuys, Calif.); Ed Ott, Political Director, CWA
Local 1180 (New York);

Barbara Nabors-Glass, Director, Income Rights Project; Howard Wallace,
Field Rep., SEIU Local 250; Peter Rachleff, Prof., Macalester College
(St.  Paul, Minn.); Millie Phillips, Pres., San Francisco Coalition of
Labor Union Women; Maureen Karpan, ASGE/U.C. Berkeley; Pat Tobin, ILWU
retirees, past ILWU legislative rep. in Washington, D.C.; Yolanda
Navarro, Green Giant Frozen Food Workers Comm., Teamsters Local 921
(Watsonville, Calif.); Nancy Snyder, Recording sec., SEIU Local 790;
Jim Brough, Pol. Action Coord., Region 48, CSEA (Watsonville, Calif.);
Mark Thisius, Exec.  Dir., Up and Out of Poverty (St. Paul, Minn.);
Dianne Stein, OCAW Local 8149; Ralph Schoenman, Editorial board, The
Organizer; Carlos Muoz, Jr., Chair, Chicano Studies Dept., U.C.
Berkeley, AFT 1474; Barbara Ann Rodgers-Hendricks, Coord., Green
Politics Network (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.); John Silver, AFT 1936, Film
Producer, RDirty BusinessS; Merle Woo, lecturer, WomenUs Studies S.F.
State Univ.; Earl Silbar, Exec. Bd., AFSCME Local 3506 (Chicago); Mike
Connell, Former Vice Pres., Janitors SEIU Local 87; Elaine Isaacs,
Rep., Richmond Education Association;

E.R. (Ed) Brown, Field Rep., Hospital Workers Local 250 (San Jos,
Calif.); Janice RCookieS Pemberton, WomenUs Health Action Mobilization
(Los Angeles); Fred Hyde, Delegate, Kings County Labor Council/AFSCME;
Don Bechler, Trustee, IAM Local 565 (Sunnyvale, Calif.); Bill
Balderston, Oakland Education Assn; Steve Zeltzer, Labor Video
Project; Tim Kaminsky, UAW Local 110, member New Directions (St.
Louis); Carmen White, Chop from the Top Coalition; Elombe Brath,
Chairperson, Patrice Lumumba Coalition (Harlem, N.Y.); Pat Hendricks,
Shop steward SEIU Local 250, co-chair U.S.-Cuba Labor Exchange;
Marilla Argelles, SEIU Local 250; Terry Collins, Pres., KPOO Radio,
SEIU 790; Charlene Lilie Plasencia, SEIU Local 715 (San Jos); John
Leopold, President, AFT/CFT Local 4128 (Reseda, Calif.); Roberto Lobo,
Exec.  Bd., CWA Local 9410; Bill Edwards, Retired, Marine Cooks and
Stewards; Jerry Dumahaut Jr., CWA Local 2336 (Washington, D.C.);
Dennis Gretsigner, IAM Local 1128 (San Diego); Alan Benjamin, Editor,
The Organizer; Shirley Isaacson, Unit chair, United Teachers (Los
Angeles); Burt Vulliet, Retired, Master Mates & Pilots (Seattle,
Wash.); Jack Heyman, Steward, ILWU Local 10; Tony Russo, OCAW Local
1-5 (El Cerrito, Calif.); Radical Women; Jay Bradshaw, Carpenters
Local 22; Robert Irminger, Exec. Bd., S.F. Region Inland BoatmanUs
Union/ILWU; Constance Scott, CWA Local 9410; Norman Leavens, Former
Pres., CWA Local 1040 (Trenton, N.J.); Alex Corns, Bus. Mgr., Hod
Carriers Local 36; Melody Knight, Exec. Bd., NABET 51; Lisa Martinez,
Pres., Valley College Pro-Choice Coalition (Los Angeles); Mya Shone,
Editorial Board, The Organizer; Eric Lerner, Pres., New Jersey Local,
National Writers Union (UAW); Miguel Angel, Chair, Ethnic Studies
Dept., Laney College; Edith Fox, UAW retiree (Los Angeles); Jim
Eggleston, Labor attorney; Socialist Organizer; Fred Hirsch, Plumbers
and Fitters Local 393 (Santa Cruz); Jack Tobin, Petaluma Peace Group;

Henry Kroll, Member, Board of Directors, KQED; Doug Thompson, UAW
Local 974 (Peoria, Ill.); Barri Boone, Health and safety, SEIU Local
790; Ted Selander, Leader 1934 Toledo Auto-Lite strike; Andy Blauvelt,
IFPTE Local 21; Marianne Gabriel, The Organizer; Jack Ford, Trustee,
Teamsters Local 921, S.F. TDU; Erica Zweig, S.F.  University Labor
Studies; Tom Boot, AFSCME 3211; Anton Maglic, IBEW Local 11 (Los
Angeles); Vi P. Huynh, Peace and Freedom Party; Workers Socialist
League; Julian Torres, Teamsters Local 921; Dave Reardon, Teamsters
Local 85, member TDU (S.F.); Lee Heller; Larry Duncan, Member CWA
14408, producer RLabor BeatS (Chicago); Freedom Socialist Party;
Shirley Lee, SEIU Local 616; Robin David, IBEW Local 1245; Jeff
Blankfort, Editor, Middle East Labor Bulletin; Robert McCall, HERE
Local 2; James Green, Member, Board of Dir., SEIU Local 660 (Los
Angeles); Tom Condit, Peace and Freedom Party; Fred Lonodier, Pres.,
Univ.  Council AFT Local 2034 (San Diego); Utah Socialists; Al
Marshal, NABET Local 531; Earl Gilman, Former Pres., SEIU Local 535
S.F.; Bill Sparks, Local 510 Sign Display; David Walters, IBEW Local
1245; A.R. Torres, Editor, Doghouse Newsletter (Auburn, Calif.); Marc
Rich, United Teachers of Los Angeles; Joe Stack, Retired, Painters,
Cleaners and Caulkers Local 66; Frank Lister, Retired, UAW (Ventura,
Calif.); Constance Kuruppu, WILPF; Conrat Radcliffe; Tom Burghardt,
Bay Area Coalition For Our Reproductive Rights (BACORR); Dayne
Goodwin, Utah Socialists.

 * organizations and titles listed for identification only 
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive