'Friday Night Light': Bruce Wolf, OPEIU Local 2, at the Walter Reed Hospital VigilAnd it's one, two, three
What are we fighting for?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
--- Country Joe McDonald and the Fish, "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag," (1968)
Bemusings first posted on union member Bruce Wolf's Friday night peace vigils at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. on August 27, 2005 and continue to follow his leadership that, together with other anti-war groups such as Code Pink, church groups, veterans and members from the region's various unions and locals. Bruce Wolf is also a member of the DC Labor for Peace Committee which coordinates union anti-war efforts locally.
Below are two recent writings by Bruce Wolf of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), Local 2, Washington Region, and first appeared in the OPEIU, #2 e-newsletter.
Quote
WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR? (August 2007)
US working people should be outraged. Our sisters and brothers in uniform are in the middle of a maelstrom in Iraq supporting, whether they want to or not, a government opposed to the rights of working people to have unions.
A letter dated July 18, 2007 from the Iraq Oil Ministry's General Director, Laith Abd Al Hussein Al Shahir, reads in part, "The [Oil} Minister has directed the prohibition of cooperation with any member of any union in any of the committees organized under the name of the Union as these unions do not enjoy any legal status to work inside the government sector."
Recipients of the letter were all of the ministry's companies throughout Iraq.
In the tradition of the deposed dictator, Saddam Hussein, the US occupation and its puppet government continues the practice of making trade unions illegal and outlawing the workers' rights to organize. These laws are enforced at the point of US guns. We cannot let our young women and men be turned into gun-toting scabs and thugs in the tradition of the company goons that were used to break up union organizing in our own country. Our people are being kept faraway from home, in constant danger and privation, for a cause that people here at home cannot condone.
Last week, the Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told UPI, "There are no legal unions in Iraq."
The unions are calling for the Oil Minister to resign or be fired.
The AFL-CIO National Convention in July 2005 called for US troops to be rapidly withdrawn from Iraq. Two years later, the number of US troops in Iraq has grown. Our voices should not be silent. Iraqi workers are not our enemies. We support their right to organize and build their unions. We support the right of those unions to bargain collectively for wages, working conditions, and justice in the workplace. Our army is not protecting those rights. We must call for its immediate and complete withdrawal from Iraq.
THREE HUNDRED US TOWNS, CITIES, AND STATES HAVE PASSED RESOLUTIONS OPPOSING THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
Local governments throughout the United States have passed resolutions against the Iraq Occupation. Their jurisdictions number approximately 50% of the US population. We can be sure many more people in other areas oppose the war even if their local governments have not spoken up.
The main reasons for the resolutions are the cost in lives and money. Rural areas carry a particularly heavy burden because of the cost of the war. Money local areas would ordinarily have to care for the elderly and other vulnerable members of society simply is not there.
Every country gives reasons to rationalize going to war. History, in retrospect, most often debunks these very good reasons--but then it is too late. The blood of those made to fight and civilians who get in their way has already been spilt. Injustice and brutality follow in the wake of armies and battles. All the fine posters and banners are tattered, torn, and mostly forgotten by the end of the war. Those who speak up now, calling for the war to end now, demonstrate the kind of courage and wisdom we need.
MORE SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQI WORKERS
The Education International 5th World Congress meeting in Berlin, Germany July 22-26, 2007, passed a resolution of solidarity with Iraqi workers. The resolution was submitted by the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association the United Kingdom's NASUWT.
The Education International pledges to "continue to provide our full solidarity to Iraq's workers as they struggle for an end to the violence and a more just and democratic nation."
Submitted by Bruce Wolf, OPEIU L2 Social Justice Committee
Compiled from news posted by the USLAW Information Service
" . . . the promise of a better world." (July 2007)
US working people should be outraged. Our sisters and brothers in uniform are in the middle of a maelstrom in Iraq supporting, whether they want to or not, a government opposed to the rights of working people to have unions.
A letter dated July 18, 2007 from the Iraq Oil Ministry's General Director, Laith Abd Al Hussein Al Shahir, reads in part, "The [Oil} Minister has directed the prohibition of cooperation with any member of any union in any of the committees organized under the name of the Union as these unions do not enjoy any legal status to work inside the government sector."
Recipients of the letter were all of the ministry's companies throughout Iraq.
In the tradition of the deposed dictator, Saddam Hussein, the US occupation and its puppet government continues the practice of making trade unions illegal and outlawing the workers' rights to organize. These laws are enforced at the point of US guns. We cannot let our young women and men be turned into gun-toting scabs and thugs in the tradition of the company goons that were used to break up union organizing in our own country. Our people are being kept faraway from home, in constant danger and privation, for a cause that people here at home cannot condone.
Last week, the Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told UPI, "There are no legal unions in Iraq."
The unions are calling for the Oil Minister to resign or be fired.
The AFL-CIO National Convention in July 2005 called for US troops to be rapidly withdrawn from Iraq. Two years later, the number of US troops in Iraq has grown. Our voices should not be silent. Iraqi workers are not our enemies. We support their right to organize and build their unions. We support the right of those unions to bargain collectively for wages, working conditions, and justice in the workplace. Our army is not protecting those rights. We must call for its immediate and complete withdrawal from Iraq.
THREE HUNDRED US TOWNS, CITIES, AND STATES HAVE PASSED RESOLUTIONS OPPOSING THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
Local governments throughout the United States have passed resolutions against the Iraq Occupation. Their jurisdictions number approximately 50% of the US population. We can be sure many more people in other areas oppose the war even if their local governments have not spoken up.
The main reasons for the resolutions are the cost in lives and money. Rural areas carry a particularly heavy burden because of the cost of the war. Money local areas would ordinarily have to care for the elderly and other vulnerable members of society simply is not there.
Every country gives reasons to rationalize going to war. History, in retrospect, most often debunks these very good reasons--but then it is too late. The blood of those made to fight and civilians who get in their way has already been spilt. Injustice and brutality follow in the wake of armies and battles. All the fine posters and banners are tattered, torn, and mostly forgotten by the end of the war. Those who speak up now, calling for the war to end now, demonstrate the kind of courage and wisdom we need.
MORE SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQI WORKERS
The Education International 5th World Congress meeting in Berlin, Germany July 22-26, 2007, passed a resolution of solidarity with Iraqi workers. The resolution was submitted by the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association the United Kingdom's NASUWT.
The Education International pledges to "continue to provide our full solidarity to Iraq's workers as they struggle for an end to the violence and a more just and democratic nation."
Submitted by Bruce Wolf, OPEIU L2 Social Justice Committee
Compiled from news posted by the USLAW Information Service
" . . . the promise of a better world." (July 2007)
We need the promise of a better world. War, pollution, oppression, drought, hunger, ignorance, and harm done to animals; intolerance, hatred, and loss of our humanity are just some horrors we can list. Distrust and suspicion corrupt our minds. It simply does not have to be this way. If we can build cars, computers, and tall buildings, we can build a better world. If we can dream of winning the lottery, we can dream of making a society that uplifts people. If we can hang out on the corner, stay home and watch television, or go shopping at the mall, we can find a way to gather our collective strength to change the world.
When we look into the eyes of our children, we look to see their future. We probe for the positive, strong, generous, and creative spirits we hope to find there. Then, we ask ourselves what sort of world will it be that we leave behind for them. It is our responsibility to do our best to leave something better—and we cannot do that as disconnected individuals. We must act collectively. In the Union, we call each other "brother" and "sister" because we are a family. Families work together for a goal. We lift each other up. We lend an arm to the faltering and weak; we combine our strength to build the future and knock down those who get in our way.
There is a reason why pictures and photographs of workers show them smiling—even when behind those smiles is a world of suffering and struggle. We cannot help but smile because we know the future belongs to us. It will not come without our effort. We cannot just dream and talk about it. Each drop of us will combine into a mighty stream that will rush down the mountains, across the plains, and through the valleys to sweep away the logjams and obstacles put up by those who like things just the way they are.
Those are my preachy words. Now, please share your vision of what kind of world we are fighting to create. Then, we will roll up our sleeves and get to work.
In solidarity,
Bruce Wolf, Chair OPEIU Local 2 Social Justice Committee
Endquote
1 comments:
More. There was a major action alert campaign in the spring and early summer to Congress. And Leo Gerard spearheaded the campaign.
Actually, think about this:
Leo as President of the nation.
If Lech could do it, why not?
Christ, theres even a lot of middle managers who would vote for him, he saved their asses too.
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