RedTrackWorker
17th October 2011, 23:28
An opportunity for action: an open letter
We, the undersigned Wall Street protesters and union members, think the response to Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has shown that broad layers of working people are ready to support a movement that stands up to the ongoing attempt to solve the economic crisis on the backs of working-class and poor people. Union solidarity has contributed a growing momentum of protest that we should build on and not let fade away.
To that end, we have endorsed the attached motion that calls on the NYC Central Labor Council and other union organizations to build for a march of hundreds of thousands on Saturday, November 5, with the following slogans and demands:
Working People Shouldn’t Pay for a Crisis That They Didn’t Make!
No to Layoffs, Budget and Service Cuts!
Create Jobs, Build Infrastructure with a Federal Program of Public Works!
Stop Police Harassment of the Wall Street Occupation!
We will be leafleting the next CLC delegates meeting on Wednesday, October 19, starting at 5:30pm at:
IBT Local 237 First Floor Meeting Room
216 West 14th Street (between 8th and 7th avenue)
We hope to draw attention to the opportunity for and need for broader action, and to provide an opportunity and focus for those in and outside the unions to agitate for the unions and other organizations to commit themselves to broader action.
We ask activists and organizations who see the need for this to:
• endorse this call;
• publicize this motion and letter on websites and through other means;
• raise similar motions in unions and other organizations; and
• help build for the leafleting of the CLC meeting.
We wish there was more time to circulate this proposal more broadly than we already have to allow for more discussion and improvement, but the next CLC meeting where we can push for action is just days away on October 19. We trust that activists understand our sense of urgency and support this initiative in the spirit of solidarity that inspires it.
For more information or to be listed as endorsing, please e-mail us at [email protected]
Also, when this and related motions are voted on in other unions or organizations, please let us know!
Whereas, the response to ‘Occupy Wall Street’ (OWS) has shown that broad layers of working people are ready to support a movement that stands up to the ongoing attempt to solve the economic crisis on working and poor people’s backs;
Whereas, unions can best defend their members’ jobs, wages and working conditions by standing up in defense of all working people;
Whereas, OWS and trade unions’ solidarity with the protests have created momentum toward a fight-back in defense of working people’s living standards against layoffs and budget cutbacks that should be built on and not allowed to fade;
Whereas, it is necessary for our struggles to go forward to bring into action much larger numbers of workers and other people facing the brunt of this economic crisis,
We move that:
1. This body call on its member unions as well as all other unions and community organizations to build a massive march on Wall Street of hundreds of thousands, mobilizing organized and unorganized workers, on November 5, the first Saturday of next month,
2. That this protest raise demands that can unite all workers, poor people and all those facing the brunt of the crisis:
Working People Shouldn’t Pay for a Crisis That They Didn’t Make!
No to Layoffs, Budget and Service Cuts!
Create Jobs, Build Infrastructure with a Federal Program of Public Works!
Stop Police Harassment of the Wall Street Occupation!
3. And to this end, we appeal to other union bodies, council and federations around the country to organize similar protest actions across the country on November 5.
In Solidarity,
{list in formation}
We, the undersigned Wall Street protesters and union members, think the response to Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has shown that broad layers of working people are ready to support a movement that stands up to the ongoing attempt to solve the economic crisis on the backs of working-class and poor people. Union solidarity has contributed a growing momentum of protest that we should build on and not let fade away.
To that end, we have endorsed the attached motion that calls on the NYC Central Labor Council and other union organizations to build for a march of hundreds of thousands on Saturday, November 5, with the following slogans and demands:
Working People Shouldn’t Pay for a Crisis That They Didn’t Make!
No to Layoffs, Budget and Service Cuts!
Create Jobs, Build Infrastructure with a Federal Program of Public Works!
Stop Police Harassment of the Wall Street Occupation!
We will be leafleting the next CLC delegates meeting on Wednesday, October 19, starting at 5:30pm at:
IBT Local 237 First Floor Meeting Room
216 West 14th Street (between 8th and 7th avenue)
We hope to draw attention to the opportunity for and need for broader action, and to provide an opportunity and focus for those in and outside the unions to agitate for the unions and other organizations to commit themselves to broader action.
We ask activists and organizations who see the need for this to:
• endorse this call;
• publicize this motion and letter on websites and through other means;
• raise similar motions in unions and other organizations; and
• help build for the leafleting of the CLC meeting.
We wish there was more time to circulate this proposal more broadly than we already have to allow for more discussion and improvement, but the next CLC meeting where we can push for action is just days away on October 19. We trust that activists understand our sense of urgency and support this initiative in the spirit of solidarity that inspires it.
For more information or to be listed as endorsing, please e-mail us at [email protected]
Also, when this and related motions are voted on in other unions or organizations, please let us know!
Whereas, the response to ‘Occupy Wall Street’ (OWS) has shown that broad layers of working people are ready to support a movement that stands up to the ongoing attempt to solve the economic crisis on working and poor people’s backs;
Whereas, unions can best defend their members’ jobs, wages and working conditions by standing up in defense of all working people;
Whereas, OWS and trade unions’ solidarity with the protests have created momentum toward a fight-back in defense of working people’s living standards against layoffs and budget cutbacks that should be built on and not allowed to fade;
Whereas, it is necessary for our struggles to go forward to bring into action much larger numbers of workers and other people facing the brunt of this economic crisis,
We move that:
1. This body call on its member unions as well as all other unions and community organizations to build a massive march on Wall Street of hundreds of thousands, mobilizing organized and unorganized workers, on November 5, the first Saturday of next month,
2. That this protest raise demands that can unite all workers, poor people and all those facing the brunt of the crisis:
Working People Shouldn’t Pay for a Crisis That They Didn’t Make!
No to Layoffs, Budget and Service Cuts!
Create Jobs, Build Infrastructure with a Federal Program of Public Works!
Stop Police Harassment of the Wall Street Occupation!
3. And to this end, we appeal to other union bodies, council and federations around the country to organize similar protest actions across the country on November 5.
In Solidarity,
{list in formation}