Labor Resolution

Ohio Labor Says:

End the War!

Rebuild the Economy!
Make 2008 Elections count!

(This resolution, originating from the Cleveland AFL-CIO Retiree Council, was passed unanimously in April 2008 by the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans, the North Coast and Ashtabula AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils, and is being circulated in other labor organizations.

The war is an economic disaster which effects every issue labor is supporting on behalf of working families, and must be dealt with in the course of the election campaign.

We urge your organization to consider adoption of this or a similar resolution.)

-From a letter from Ohio trade unionists

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Resolution on the 2008 Elections and the War in Iraq

Whereas, the AFL-CIO, on the national, state and local levels, as well as the Change to Win unions, is officially on record as being opposed to the war in Iraq; and polls continue to show that 70% of the American people, including union members, believe the U.S. never should have gone to war in Iraq and should bring our troops home; and

Whereas, the two Democratic candidates for President, Senators Obama and Clinton, share labor's opposition to the war, while the GOP candidate, Senator John McCain, supports the war and President Bush's military policy; and

Whereas, McCain and the Administration has indicated they will make support for the war a major campaign issue and attack the Democratic candidates for their anti-war position; and

Whereas, the AFL-CIO has launched a campaign to inform its members McCain should not get the support of working people, based on his voting record, including:

1. his opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act;

2. his opposition to extending unemployment benefits and increasing the minimum wage;

3. his opposition to universal, affordable health insurance;

4. his support for NAFTA and other job-killing trade agreements;

5. his support for privatizing Social Security; and

Whereas, McCain has also strongly supported every pro-war measure in Congress, and has said he is prepared to continue the war until 'victory', for a hundred years, if necessary; and

Whereas, the war will eventually cost taxpayers three trillion dollars, and, so far, the lives of 4,000 of our troops and tens of thousands seriously wounded; and

Whereas, these funds should be used to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, to revive our failing education and health care systems, to provide adequate medical care and support for returning veterans and their families, to develop clean alternative energy systems, all of which would provide millions of needed jobs; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED, that we urge the AFL-CIO, their affiliates and other unions, inform our members of McCain's pro-war position and how his support of the war is directly related to his anti-union economic policies; and how the continuation of the war is fueling the current economic crisis; and be it further

RESOLVED, that the best way to protect the Democratic candidates from the GOP attacks on their ant-war position, is for our members to be informed of the economic ramifications of the war and to lend Labor's powerful voice in support of the Democratic candidates on this issue; be it further

RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be sent to higher bodies in the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, ARA, and respective International Unions.