Call For

International Transportation Workers Conference 11/16/2006 SF
It's Time For A United Defense!

The growing worldwide attack on all transportation workers continues unabated.
The past  30 years has seen the destruction of millions  of jobs through deregulation and privatization of the transportation industry  in nearly every country of the world. This has led to a growing health and safety crisis with an epidemic of accidents leading to deaths, injuries and  destruction in all areas of transportation from rail and trucking, to maritime, buses  and airlines.
At the same time using these same "free trade" economic policies, bosses and governments from all parts of the world have sought to destroy hard won union gains and to if possible eliminate unions and their power. In the last decade we've seen waterfront unions busted in Liverpool, Singapore and Veracruz. And we've seen police attacks on dockworkers protesting the "self-handling" a year ago at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the year before in Barcelona.
The use of the "war on terror" and the wars in the Middle East waged by the US and its allies, like Britain and Israel,  have been used as a pretext by these same employers and governments to launch attacks on  basic democratic rights of transportation and other workers. These wars for imperial domination are aimed at not only working people of the Middle East but in the rest of the world. Riot police in the port of Oakland at the start of the war brutally attacked longshore workers and anti-war protesters at the explicit behest of maritime employers.
As Japan rebuilds its imperialist military, a national security act threatens to target workers who strike, marking as "traitors" punishable by death. In the U.S. the "Patriot Act" and the Maritime Security Act seek to target transportation workers, especially  immigrants, and will potentially be used against militant trade unionists and political activists.
At the same time, there have been few international labor actions by transport workers unions to call a halt to these attacks. While there have been some successes such as the dockworkers demonstration in Europe which temporarily halted the unionbusting "self-handing" deregulation scheme for the ports, the capitalist "free trade" onslaught continues.
he call for this international transport workers conference on November 16, 2006  is to bring together transportation workers from around the world to provide reports on the specific conditions facing transportation workers, to learn throught these reports and video presentations and finally to map out a program of education and international action to help unite and defend workers internationally against joint employer/ government attacks.
We call on your union to endorse this statement and participate in the organizing of this critical conference.
Initial Speakers: Bob Crow, General Secretary of the UK-RMT, Leonard Riley, Pres. ILA 1422, Osada Toshiyuki  Secretary Treasurer Doro-Chiba Rail Workers-Japan, Tony Nelson, A Leader of Liverpool Dock Workers Fight

Initiated by Transport Workers Solidarity Committee.Endorsed by  ILWU Local 10, Sailors Union Of The Pacifica, AMFA Local 9,  UTU 239, Doro-Chiba, ILA 1422

For further information contact:
Jack Heyman jackheyman@comcast.net

Visit the Transport Workers Solidarity Committee website:
www.transportworkers.org