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ILWU Resolution for California
AFL-CIO Convention
RESOLUTION IS DEFENSE OF THE RIGHT TO
PICKET AND ACT IN SOLIDARITY
7-15-98
Whereas, the California Federation of Labor,
AFL-CIO has always resisted attacks on organized labor's freedom of
association, its First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly, the
right to picket and honor picket lines and the right to act in
solidarity for social justice and workers' rights, and
Whereas, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has
consistently held high labor's banner, "An injury to one is an
injury to all" implementing this basic labor principle, by
supporting oppressed workers internationally, whether under the gun of
South African apartheid or the right-wing military dictatorships of
Chile and El Salvador; and
Whereas, presently the ILWU is currently under legal attack from
the Pacific Maritime Association, the employer organization representing
global shipowners and stevedoring companies, because longshore workers
here in the port of Oakland refused last year to cross a picket line of
labor activists (against the containership Neptune Jade with scab
cargo from England) in support of the Liverpool dockworkers, themselves
waging an international struggle against union busting, and
Whereas, before the court hearing the California Labor
Federation, AFL-CIO passed a resolution in support of the Neptune Jade
defendants, and
Whereas, the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO helped
turn out Bay Area organized labor turned out in force in downtown
Oakland on February 26, 1998 to demand the charges be dropped and to
protest the PMA's strategy of harassment and intimidation, using
McCarthyite tactics to demand defendants "name names" of
individuals and unions involved in the protest, and
Whereas, in the wake of this mass labor demonstration Judge Henry
Needham Jr., on March 4, dismissed the charges against all but picket
captain Robert Irminger, citing their right to exercise the First
Amendment, and
Whereas, the PMA, intent on halting future ILWU actions of
international labor solidarity and as part of a campaign by global
maritime employers to break dockworkers unions around the world has
raised the ante, adding new plaintiffs and going to court on July 22,
1998, to compel the ILWU International and ILWU Locals 10 and 34 to turn
over internal union documents to gather evidence against Irminger and
other possible defendants,
Therefore be it resolved that the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
condemns PMA's anti-union attack and its witch hunt tactics with the
full weight of the organized labor movement and demands that this case
be dropped once and for all and be it finally
Resolved that the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO reaffirms its
support of workers' First Amendment rights and the right to picket and
honor picket lines in solidarity with other workers.
RESOLUTION IS DEFENSE OF THE RIGHT TO PICKET AND ACT
IN SOLIDARITY
Whereas, the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO has always
resisted attacks on organized labor's freedom of association, its First
Amendment rights of free speech and assembly, the right to picket and
honor picket lines and the right to act in solidarity for social justice
and workers' rights, and
Whereas, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union has
consistently held high labor's banner, "An injury to one is an
injury to all" implementing this basic labor principle, by
supporting oppressed workers internationally, whether under the gun of
South African apartheid or the right-wing military dictatorships of
Chile and El Salvador; and
Whereas, presently the ILWU is currently under legal attack from
the Pacific Maritime Association, the employer organization representing
global shipowners and stevedoring companies, because longshore workers
here in the port of Oakland refused last year to cross a picket line of
labor activists (against the containership Neptune Jade with scab
cargo from England) in support of the Liverpool dockworkers, themselves
waging an international struggle against union busting, and
Whereas, before the court hearing the California
Labor Federation, AFL-CIO passed a resolution in support of the Neptune
Jade defendants, and
Whereas, the California Federation of
Labor, AFL-CIO helped turn out Bay Area organized labor turned out in
force in downtown Oakland on February 26, 1998 to demand the charges be
dropped and to protest the PMA's strategy of harassment and
intimidation, using McCarthyite tactics to demand defendants "name
names" of individuals and unions involved in the protest, and
Whereas, in the wake of this mass labor demonstration Judge Henry
Needham Jr., on March 4, dismissed the charges against all but picket
captain Robert Irminger, citing their right to exercise the First
Amendment, and
Whereas, the PMA, intent on halting future ILWU actions of
international labor solidarity and as part of a campaign by global
maritime employers to break dockworkers unions around the world has
raised the ante, adding new plaintiffs and going to court on July 22,
1998, to compel the ILWU International and ILWU Locals 10 and 34 to turn
over internal union documents to gather evidence against Irminger and
other possible defendants,
Therefore be it resolved that the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
condemns PMA's anti-union attack and its witch hunt tactics with the
full weight of the organized labor movement and demands that this case
be dropped once and for all and be it finally
Resolved that the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO reaffirms its
support of workers' First Amendment rights and the right to picket and
honor picket lines in solidarity with other workers.
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