S. F. Labor Conference to Stop the War this Saturday

International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 has initiated this national conference in San Francisco, to be
held this Saturday (10/20/07), and is moving in the direction of serious
anti-war action. Although the call for the conference is national in
scope, it could well lead to labor action at the Port of Oakland. Local
10 may be getting ready to initiate their own labor action against the war.

The conference will also be an excellent opportunity to discuss and strategize around the next
community organized picket at the Port of Oakland. (The terminal of
SSA, a company accused of war profiteering, was shut down by a community
picket on May 19, when the ILWU refused to cross the line. That picket,
at which the OEA was prominently represented, called for an end to war
profiteering, to bring the troops home now, and for the Port of Oakland
to fund local schools and social services.)

It is not hyperbole (well maybe a little) to say that ILWU Local 10 is
the vanguard of the U.S. labor movement. Local 10, and the rest of the
S. F. ILWU locals, have repeatedly honored community pickets against the
war since 2003 (ILWU members and protesters were wounded when OPD fired
upon them in 2003). Their strong position against the war is doubtless
far in advance of most of organized labor. Yet those who know labor
history know that time and again Local 10 has played a leading role, a
catalytic role, whether in refusing to work ships in opposition to
Apartheid South Africa, striking for freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal, or
going all the way back to setting off the San Francisco General Strike.

This conference has received a number of important endorsements,
including the S. F. Central Labor Council AFL-CIO, the New York
Metropolitan Postal Workers Union, and the Bay Area and NYC affilates of
U.S. Labor Against the War. The conference will also build on the local
alliance between the ILWU and the Oakland Teachers Association.
Participants will include Cindy Sheehan, Alexander Cockburn, and many
key labor leaders and militants.


10/20/2007
Labor Conference To Stop The War
ILWU Local 10
400 Northpoint/Mason St.
San Francisco, CA

Donation Requested

Labor Conference to Stop The War
Register On Line by going to
http://laborstopwar.googlepages.com/laborconferencetostopthewar
or emailing
laborstopwar [at] gmail.com

8:00 - 9:00 AM Continental Breakfast

9:00 AM ­ 10:30 AM Introductions & Opening Statements

Poetry by San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman

Jack Heyman- Conference Chair, Executive Board, ILWU Local 10
Tommy Clark ILWU 10 President Richard Cavalli, President,ILWU
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local
34
Takumi Shimizu, Executive Board, Doro-Chiba Rail Union (Japan)
Bob Crow, General Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union
(Britain)
Betty Olsen-Jones- President of Oakland Education Association and Bob
Mandel Executive
Board OEA
Jeremy Corbyn, UK Member of Parliament
Clarence Thomas- International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)
Local 10
Alexander Cockburn, editor of CounterPunch

Labor Conference Workshops 10:30 AM ­ 12:00 Noon

Class Struggle and The War
Chair-Jack Heyman Bob Crow (RMT Gen.Sec) Jack Rasmus (NWU/author)
Bob Mandel, Exec. Bd. OEA
Takumi Shimizu, Executive Board of Doro-Chiba

Racism, Class and the War at Home
Chair- Clarence Thomas
Chaired by Clarence Thomas ­ILWU Local 10
Olga Miranda SEIU Local 87(invited)
Gerald Saunders, Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Christina Gutierrez
Jason Ruffin, ILWU Local 10 member

Middle East, The War for Oil and Empire
Chair-Steve Zeltzer, Labor Video Project & Transport Workers Solidarity
Committee
Iliam Burbano, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario
Division's International Solidarity Committee
Hossam el-Hamady, Egyptian labor journalist
Ralph Schoenman, UAW 1871 and Radio Host Taking Aim

Lunch 12:00 Noon ­ 1:00 PM

Panels Session 2 1:00 PM ­ 2:30 PM

Soldiers And Vets Against the War
Chair-Jeff Paterson Aimee Allison, KPFA Host Morning Show (invited)
Andy Stapp, Tape Video
Cindy Sheeham, Gold Star Families*

War and the Destruction of Civil Liberties Chair-
Alexander Cockburn, Journalist, Editor Counterpunch
Lawrence Thibeaux, ILWU Local 10
Rachel Lederman (NLG)
John Stauber, author Mark Kline, CWA AT&T technician (invited)

2:30 PM ­ 3:30 PM

Plenum-Closing Session and Resolutions

Opening of Discussion and action on resolutions

6:00 PM Closing Party and Dinner ILWU Local 34
Embarcadero and 801 2nd St/Embarcadero St.

Conference Endorsers:

ILWU Longshore Local 10
ILWU Ship Clerks Local 34
Northern California District Council (All Northern California ILWU locals)
Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (Britain)
Doro-Chiba Rail Union (Japan)
Oakland Education Association New York City LAW (Labor Against War)
United Teachers of Los Angeles
San Francisco Labor Council
Gary Huck and Mike Konopacki, Labor Cartoonists
National Association of Letter Carriers, Local 214
Transport Workers Solidarity Committee (http://www.transportworkers.org)
National Writers¹ Union (UAW 1981)
New York Metro Area Postal Union
Inkworks Press Workers Collective
Bay Area Labor Committee For Peace and Justice

http://www.laborradio.org/node/6533
ILWU Planning October Antiwar Effort

In October, two ILWU locals are calling for a labor conference to
develop a plan
of action against the war.

Click on the link below for complete details.

Read the complete story: http://www.laborradio.org/node/6533

Listen: http://208.185.252.177/laborradio/files/lo/winsheadlines.ram

ILWU Planning October Antiwar Effort - 08/07/07
One of the first unions to voice opposition to the war in Iraq was the
International
Warehouse and Longshore Union. In October, two ILWU locals are calling
for a labor
conference to develop a plan of action against the war. Jesse Russell
has this story:
By Jesse Russell
The ILWU has been one of the most vocal labor organizations opposing the
war in Iraq. As plans to embark on the war ramped up they were some of
the first to voice
opposition. In 2006 they passed a resolution calling for a strike as
long as the
war continued. Now ILWU locals 10 and 34 are calling for a conference
the weekend
of October 20 in San Francisco so organized labor can mobilize a plan of
action of solidarity for bringing an end to the occupation and war in
Iraq. ILWU local 10 has called the ³war on terror² a war on working
people, civil liberties, and worker rights. The ILWU represent workers
at the largest ports in the United States.
Local 10 has a long history of opposition to war including refusal to
load bombs
in 1978 that were intended for Chile¹s General Augusto Pinochet.

10/20 International Labor Conference to Stop the War!

Initiated By ILWU Local 10 & ILWU Local 34