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AFSCME (Locals 304, 341, 843) Anti-war strike resolution
"FOR A national AFSCME strike to fund public services by ending the war and taxing corporations and the rich
WHEREAS the war to control Iraq's oil has already cost over $500 billion, with long-term costs that include healthcare for veterans estimated to be at least $3 trillion; and
WHEREAS the rapidly deteriorating economy is forcing at least 28 states and many local governments to face budget cuts (many of them severe like California's $16 billion shortfall) which will slash funding for vital services such as healthcare for the poor and elderly, education, libraries, and parks; and
WHEREAS thousands of AFSCME members are threatened with lay offs as a result of these cuts; and
WHEREAS neither Democratic nor Republican state legislators or governors are proposing even modest tax increases on the wealthy or closing tax loopholes on big business in order to fill these funding gaps; and
WHEREAS the federal tax burden has steadily shifted onto workers, while the percentage of federal tax receipts from corporate income tax has gone from over 30% in the 1950s down to less than 10% today; and
WHEREAS over the last quarter century there has been an enormous concentration of wealth in fewer hands, with over 90% of the gains from economic growth going to the richest 10% of the population, and the richest 1% alone pulling in more than half; and
WHEREAS working people across the nation--who are suffering from escalating unemployment, energy and food prices, and home foreclosures- -cannot be expected to bear the brunt of the war and a worsening economic crisis: and
WHEREAS the Democratic controlled Congress has refused to end the war by cutting off funding for it, and will be averse to taxing their big business contributors in order to provide financial aid to state and local governments; and
WHEREAS the ILWU inspired workers around the world when they closed the west coast ports on May Day in protest of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, prompting a solidarity statement from the General Union of Port Workers in Iraq that said, "a better world will only be created by the workers and what you are doing is an example and proof of what we say"; therefore be it
RESOLVED that AFSCME organize it's entire membership for a national strike to demand an end to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the immediate return of all troops, and the diversion of military spending to fund social and public services; and be it further
RESOLVED that this national AFSCME strike demand the taxing of corporate profits and the wealthy in order to provide funds for the following:
Massive grants of federal funds to state and local governments to stave off damaging cuts in services
Relief for the unemployed through an extension of unemployment benefits and large federal jobs programs to rebuild the infrastructure and construct more public housing: and be it further
RESOLVED the strike put forth other demands to alleviate the plight of workers caught in the grip of a worsening recession, including:
A national moratorium on foreclosures, utility shutoffs, evictions and public housing demolitions, as recently called for by the San Francisco Labor Council
Federal control over and the rolling back of prices for gas and home heating oil
Affordable, universal healthcare and prescription drug coverage; and be it finally
RESOLVED that AFSCME send this resolution to the AFL-CIO and the Change to Win labor federations and encourage them to mobilize for a general strike to achieve the same ends."
Approved by vote of the membership of WFSE/AFSCME Local 304 at its June 26, 2008 general meeting in Seattle, Washington.
Rodolfo Franco, President
Michelle Henry, Secretary
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