Nation's
Largest Union Calls for End to U.S. Occupation of Iraq and Withdrawal of
U.S. Troops
Nearly 4000 delegates of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the
nation's largest with 1.6 million members, voted unanimously at the union's
national convention in San Francisco today to end U.S. occupation of Iraq
and to bring U.S. troops stationed there home.
The strongly worded resolution pointed to military intervention aboard and
attacks on workers at home. The resolution charged the Bush administration
(backed by a majority in Congress) with responsibility for declining wages
and benefits, deunionization, cuts in public services, crumbling health care
and educational systems, cuts in veterans benefits, escalating public debt,
and eroding economic, social and personal security.
The union proclaimed, "We cannot solve these economic and social problems
without addressing U.S. foreign policy and its consequences."
It accused the Bush administration of using "deception, lies and false
promises to the American people and the world" to launch a "unilateral,
preemptive war" in Iraq, causing the death of thousands of Iraqis and
hundreds of U.S. soldiers, and costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of
dollars.
The resolution aligned SEIU with the principles contained in the Mission
Statement of U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW), a national network of labor
organizations founded in 2003 to oppose war in Iraq and the Bush
administration's foreign policies of unilateralism, militarism and
preemptive war. USLAW has more than 70 affiliated labor organizations,
including a dozen SEIU's largest local unions.
Those principles include * a just foreign policy based on international law
and global justice; * an end to U.S. occupation of Iraq; * redirecting the
nation's resources from "inflated military spending" to meeting
human needs; * supporting U.S. troops by bringing them safely home; *
protecting labor, civil and immigrant rights and civil liberties; and *
solidarity with workers around the world struggling for labor and human
rights, and those in the U.S. who support U.S. foreign and domestic policies
that "reflect our nation's highest ideals."
The union resolved to work with all religious, community, political and
foreign policy groups (such as USLAW) that are committed to a set of
principles delineated by SEIU President Andy Stern in a letter to President
Bush in January 2003, which include: war as a last option, not first resort;
peaceful multilateral solutions to international disputes; a foreign policy
that prioritizes improving the lives of people around the world; and
protecting at home those rights and freedoms the administration claims it
seeks for people abroad.
The resolution was adopted without dissent after a half dozen or more local
union leaders rose to passionately advocate its passage. The resolution had
been submitted by the SEIU International Executive Board for convention
action based on resolutions submitted by Locals 49, 250, 535, 615, 715, 790,
1199NE, 1199P, and 1199NW.
Bob Muehlenkamp and Gene Bruskin, Co-convenors Amy Newell, National
Organizer Michael Eisenscher, Organizer & Web Coordinator Adrienne
Nicosia, Administrative Staff
