OPPOSITION TO THE U.S. OCCUPATION OF IRAQ

WHEREAS: The ostensible purpose of the U.S. military invasion of Iraq was to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, facilitate "regime change" by ending Saddam Hussein's brutal dictatorship and "liberate" the Iraqi people; and

WHEREAS: The real purpose that war was waged by Bush was for control of Iraq's nationalized oil fields and to impose its influence in the Middle East; and

WHEREAS: To realize those aims the U.S. is occupying Iraq and imposing its own military dictatorship while the Iraqi people have been angrily demonstrating in the streets demanding U.S. military withdrawal; and

WHEREAS: This war cost $75 billion dollars while the U.S. economy is in shambles, leaving people jobless, homeless, without universal health care, and public school systems in major cities like Oakland bankrupt; and

WHEREAS: Over a billion dollars is being cut from veterans' benefits as many who fought in the 1991 Gulf War are still suffering from debilitating diseases while hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts are being given to U.S. companies closely connected to the Bush Administration like Stevedoring Services of America to run the port of Umm Qasr and the San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation to rebuild the infrastructure destroyed by U.S. bombs in Iraq; and

WHEREAS: The war in Iraq is over and Bush is now making threats in that region against Syria and Iran, not to mention North Korea, China and Cuba;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That we demand that the U.S. military immediately withdraw from Iraq and the Middle East and recognize the right of the Arab peoples to self-determination free of foreign interference.

Submitted by ILWU Local 10

****************************************************************************

OPPOSE THE U.S WAR AGAINST IRAQ

WHEREAS: Working people in the U.S. will pay for the war on Iraq by cuts on health, education, workers' safety and social services; and

WHEREAS: The war in Iraq is being used to escalate attacks on the working class, workers' democratic rights, and our civil liberties, through the use of the Homeland Security Act, Patriot Act, and Port Maritime Security Act; and

WHEREAS: Workers throughout the world, and in every trade union, must stand together to oppose this war; and

WHEREAS: United labor action internationally has the power to stop the war against Iraq; and

WHEREAS: The ILWU had opposed the Vietnam War and the first U.S. invasion against Iraq in 1991;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the International Longshore and Warehouse Union opposes the war against Iraq and stands in defense of labor and people's democratic rights throughout the world.

Submitted by ILWU Local 8

****************************************************************************

GENERAL STRIKES AND TAFT-HARTLEY

WHEREAS: This Union was born of a general strike; and

WHEREAS: The current national and international political environment restrains the rights of workers to such a degree that they are unable to rise above the oppression; and

WHEREAS: The achievement of the Longshore hiring hall, the elimination of the shapeup, and the current right for all members to attend every Longshore Local Union General Membership meeting followed the San Francisco general strike of 1934;and

WHEREAS: Since the inception of Tart-Hartley, workers have been unfairly and unjustly fettered in their ability to organize, to strike in sympathy with other workers, to engage in secondary boycotts and pickets and engage in large scale acts of solidarity;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the ILWU will publicize and champion the goal of regaining the right of workers to engage in a General Strike, in plain and proud view of all workers for further consideration; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED: That the ILWU will work with other Unions and coalitions towards repealing the Taft-Hartley Act.

Submitted by ILWU Local 5

****************************************************************************

STOP ALLOWING THE THREAT OF WAR TO ATTACK OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES AND WORKERS' RIGHTS AT HOME

WHEREAS: The Bush Administration has carefully crafted a strategy of distracting Americans from its anti-civil liberties, anti-labor and anti-worker agenda at home by an endless war on terrorism; and

WHEREAS: Wars have been waged in Afghanistan, Iraq, with Syria and Iran possibly being next; and

WHEREAS: The Bush Administration has used the issue of patriotism to silence the dissent of working people who oppose the wars and who speak out against the growing infringement on our civil liberties, civil rights and workers' rights; and

WHEREAS: The anti-labor agenda of the Bush Administration using the cover of the economy and national security intervened into our contract negotiations; and

WHEREAS: Taft-Hartley was invoked against us subsequent to the lock-out by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) during an impending war against Iraq;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That in the tradition of the ILWU's progressive history, we take an active role in building labor and community coalitions to organize to protect our workers' rights and civil liberties here at home.

Submitted by ILWU Local 10