Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign

Campaign for Solidarity Day III in DC Next Spring to Demand Jobs, Peace, Affordable Health Care For All and Ending Foreclosures and Evictions

From: WERC Interim National Committee

To: Unionists and labor activists nationwide

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

We are writing to urge your endorsement of — and active support for — our proposal calling on the labor movement to organize a Solidarity Day III march & rally in Washington, D.C., next spring to demand jobs, housing, health care, full funding for public education and social services, and peace.

We have drafted a model resolution to be submitted to unions and other labor bodies for endorsement. This resolution [see below] was drafted with carefully chosen formulations. It does not attempt to articulate our moral indignation at the countless injustices that currently infuse our society. Nor is it aimed at a small percentage of the population who are already condemning these injustices.

Rather, it attempts to strategically reach out to the broadest layers of working people and the oppressed in general — who are bearing the burden of this economic crisis — in order to forge the greatest possible unity. In this way the labor movement can succeed in bringing together massive numbers of people in a show of force to demand that our needs be addressed.

The political climate is rapidly changing. More and more unions across the country are demanding progressive taxation to generate revenue that can be used to save jobs and social programs.

On September 14 at the AFL-CIO national convention in Pittsburgh, filmmaker Michael Moore premiered his new movie “Capitalism, A Love Story.” He also urged the AFL-CIO to call a national protest day in Washington, DC to fight for healthcare and the unemployed.

Moore’s proposal for a national march was cheered loudly by the convention delegates. One day later, the AFL-CIO convention voted to support single-payer healthcare, a giant step forward for working people.

We call on trade unionists and activists to endorse this resolution below, or a similar one along these lines, and to join the Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign (WERC) in promoting this campaign nationwide within the labor movement.

We must fight for our own interests and demand that the economy operate in the interests of the majority, not in the interests of a small, obscenely rich minority.

We thank you in advance for your support,

In solidarity,

Interim National Steering Committee of the Workers Emergency Recovery Campaign (WERC):

Kali Akuno, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Gulf Coast Reconstruction activist; Alan Benjamin,* Executive Committee member, San Francisco Labor Council; Mike Carano, Progressive Democrats of America; Colia Clark, Veteran, Civil Rights Movement; Donna Dewitt*, President, South Carolina AFL-CIO; Pat Gowens, National organizer, Welfare Warriors; Bill Leumer,* International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 853 (ret.); Luis Magaña, Coordinator, Organization of Farmworkers of California (OTAC); Cynthia McKinney, Former Member of Congress, 2009 Green Party presidential candidate; Jack Rasmus, Economist, Professor at St. Mary’s College; Al Rojas, Coordinator, Frente de Mexicanos en el Exterior; Marc Rich*, United Teachers of Los Angeles; Cindy Sheehan, Gold Star mother, antiwar activist; Clarence Thomas, Member, ILWU Local 10; Mark Vorpahl*, SEIU Local 49, Portland, OR; Nancy Wohlforth*, Co-Pres., Pride at Work/AFL-CIO, Vice Pres., California Federation of Labor

(* titles and organizations for id. purposes only)

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

MODEL RESOLUTION

National March on Washington for Jobs, Peace, Affordable Health Care For All and Ending Foreclosures and Evictions

Whereas — despite the so-called economic recovery — the economic crisis for working people has continued unabated with growing unemployment and rising home foreclosures and evictions,

And whereas this economic crisis has resulted in the underfunding and degrading of public education and social services,

And whereas the government has bestowed billions of dollars of bailout money on the financial institutions whose recklessness and greed created this economic crisis,

And whereas there is growing opposition to the wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq by a majority of the people here in the U.S. — not to mention the great and ever-growing opposition by the citizens in Afghanistan and Iraq,

And whereas these wars are costing billions of dollars each month,

Therefore be it resolved that ____________ call on the AFL-CIO and Change to Win to organize a Solidarity Day III march on Washington D.C. in the spring of 2010 to demand jobs, housing, health care, full funding for public education and social services, and peace.

WORKERS EMERGENCY RECOVERY CAMPAIGN

P.O. Box 40009, San Francisco, CA 94140

Tel. (415) 641-8616; fax: (415) 626-1217

Email: wercampaign@gmail.com

Web: www.wercampaign.org

Tags: Cynthia McKinney, labor unions, Solidarity Day III, WERC