Above photo from Photo District News.
The NJ State Industrial Union Council after hosting the Labor Fightback Conference at Rutgers in May passed the following resolution in support of the August 24 March on Washington. We say All Aboard – buses, trains, planes, cars and the Metro. Make your voices heard for a National Jobs Program, Medicare for All, Expanded and Improved Social Security, Redirection of Military Spending to Fund Human Needs, Make Wall St Pay, Restore Voting Rights and so much more! For more information, go to www.laborfightback.org
We are mobilizing for the Aug. 24 March on Washington and endorsers can be found on the Labor Fightback website. We’re hoping there will be many buses from NJ and around the country converging on DC.
Here is the resolution (and endorsement form attached) introduced at the May conference and passed by the NJ State Industrial Union Council at our June 10 meeting:
Keep the Dream Alive!
NJ IUC Resolution in Support of Mobilizing
for the August 24, 2013, March on Washington
WHEREAS, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and The King Center have joined together to call for events — including anAugust 24, 2013, March on Washington — commemorating the 50th anniversary of the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech; and
WHEREAS, this speech was delivered to more than 250,000 civil rights supporters, including many from organized labor, on August 28, 1963 at the March on Washington demanding Jobs and Freedom; and
WHEREAS, the AFL-CIO has endorsed the 50th anniversary commemorative events; and
WHEREAS, SCLC President Dr. C.T. Vivian has declared, “We still have to march. We must tell the President and Congress that 50 years later, the struggle continues and poverty continues unabated;” and
WHEREAS, other 50th Anniversary Commemorations will be held over the next few months, including the one co-sponsored by the UAW and the Detroit Branch NAACP in Detroit on June 22, 2013; and
WHEREAS, the NJ State Industrial Union Council participation in the August 24 March on Washington and in the other commemorative actions will give us an opportunity to honor King’s memory and the things he fought for, including his commitment to the cause of organized labor, which was shown by his support for AFSCME’s campaign to organize sanitation workers in Memphis, where he was assassinated; and
WHEREAS, what is needed today is a “Martin Luther King’s People’s Agenda,” which will make clear that the causes Dr. King fought for are still very much in the forefront now and that if he were still with us he would certainly support a March on Washington to demonstrate the massive support for that agenda — including jobs, justice, freedom, civil rights, human rights, labor’s rights, protection and expansion of safety net programs, and peace; and
WHEREAS, the sequestration, involving $85 billion in federal spending cuts, has already started to depress the economy by reducing the number of new jobs, and the AFL-CIO has called for its “wholesale repeal;” and
WHEREAS, the percentage of people working is at its lowest since 1979; and
WHEREAS, President Obama’s proposed 2014 budget calls for cuts to Social Security and Medicare; and
WHEREAS, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stated that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are “indefensible” and declared “The President should drop these misguided cuts in benefits and focus instead on building support in Congress for investing in jobs;” and
WHEREAS, the NJ State Industrial Union Council participation in the August 24 March on Washington will provide an occasion for promoting labor’s demands for no cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other vitally needed social programs, which need to be expanded and improved, not reduced; repeal of the sequestration; creation of a federally funded public jobs program to put the 27 million unemployed and underemployed people back to work by taxing the rich; investing at home instead of the militarization of our foreign policy; and defense of labor’s rights — all of which were essentially part of King’s core beliefs; and
WHEREAS, the NJ State Industrial Union Council participation in the August 24 March on Washington will reflect our commitment to the cause of civil rights, with freedom, justice and equality for all; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the NJ State Industrial Union Council hereby endorses the August 24 March on Washington and will mobilize to bring as many trade unionists and community allies as possible from our area to Washington to participate in this event; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the NJ State Industrial Union Council will call on the national AFL-CIO, Change to Win and the National Education Association (NEA) to issue a mass call to mobilize their members and community supporters to demonstrate on August 24 in Washington and participate in the other commemorative activities around these demands; and be it finally
RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, NEA, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, whose address is 320 Auburn Ave., Atlanta, GA 30303, phone number is 404-522-1420 and email address is info@nationalsclc.org .
Passed by the NJ State Industrial Union Council at its June 10, 2013 meeting
Please add your/your organization’s name to the list of endorsers showing support for mobilizing for the August 24 March on Washington.