Million Worker March!
Get On The Bus Oct. 17 For The Million Worker March declaration is here:The call for a Million Worker March came from one of the most well-known labor organizations in the country, famous for its long history of militancy, boldness and courage in defense of working people—Local 10 of the International Longshore Workers Union in San Francisco. Over the past few months this call has rolled across the country, picking up the support of scores of labor unions, labor activists and leaders including:The Coalition Of Black Trade Unionists; Bill Lucy, Secretary-Treasurer, AFSCME; the National Education Association; Transportation Workers Union Local 100 (NY); AFSCME District Council 1707 (NY); South Carolina AFL-CIO; Farm Labor Organizing Committee; AFSCME District Council 92 (MD); D.C. Labor Against The War; International ANSWER; actor Danny Glover; American Indian Movement; ILWU Local 34; Troy and Albany Labor Council (NY); National Immigration Solidarity Network; New York City Labor Against the War; Global Women´s Strike; Teamsters Black Caucus; comedian Dick Gregory; Myra Shone and Ralph Schoenman, Taking Aim, Pacifica; National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 3825; Howard Wallace, co-founder, Pride at Work; Jim Houghton, Director, Harlem Fight Back; Justice 4 Homeless, SF; United Steel Workers of America Local 8751; International Action Center; former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Nellie Bailey, Harlem Tenants Council; Howard Zinn, historian; Noam Chomsky, linguist;AFSCME Local 95, Local 205, Local 215,Local 389,Loca167,Local 1881, Local 1930; ILWU Entire West Coast division; CUE Local 3; and many more.Working people are coming to Washington, D.C. on Oct. 17 because whether their concern is about jobs, or decent wages, or layoffs, or union busting, or the battle to protect our pensions and Social Security and to make health care a universal right instead of a privilege for the wealthy--with all we face, we had better raise our own voices and act in our own interests instead of relying on the next president, whoever that will be.And most important, the time for us to speak in our own voice is not after people vote in November, but before. The Million Worker March on Oct. 17 is about the people telling the president, the candidates, the politicians and the corporate elite who are the real power behind the election campaigns and the politicians to “Shut up! and listen to us for a change.______"Get on the bus" for the Million Worker March, Oct. 17, 2004, Washington, D.C.!The struggle of working people and the struggle against the war are the same struggle!Bring the troops home now! End the occupation of Iraq!Organize a local “AntiWar 4 the Million Worker March" committee now!
Dear Activists and Organizers,This fall in Washington, D.C., you will have a timely and historic opportunity to unite the anti-war movement with an unprecedented and vitally necessary mass march of working people speaking for themselves. This is a rare opportunity that serious anti-war activists can't afford to pass up.Some of the strongest voices and most active groups in the labor movement, together with the active support and participation of organizations representing every progressive movement and cause, will be “getting on the bus to D.C. on Sunday, October 17, for the MILLION WORKER MARCH. A sea of workers from every industry, from every union and every place where workers want a union, from every part of the country, will be streaming into the capital to demand things like jobs, a living wage and workers' rights.They will also express their anger over the senseless dying that is going on every day in Iraq and elsewhere, and their desire that it end now. Why? Because it is working families who bear the burden, it is their loved ones who are sent off to fight and die--and it is their, our, the workers' money that is stolen to pay for war and occupation.What makes the Million Worker March unique is that the event´s principal organizers want to make the anti-war movement´s demand to “End the Occupation of Iraq, and Bring the Troops Home Now central to the march's message and the goals.We are asking anti-war activists to set up local “Anti-war 4 the Million Worker March committees. Start meeting, planning, and reserving buses to go to Washington on October 17. Anti-war coalitions and groups need to let us know ASAP if their group can be listed as an “Anti-war 4 Million Worker March committee in their locality or region.We encourage activists to form committees in their unions, schools, work places, churches and communities. It is our hope that “Anti-war 4 MWM" committees will complement the labor union and community-based organizing that is going on across the country for Oct. 17.We urge you to start now, before the Republican National Convention protests in NYC. Please get back to us so that we can send you information and resources that will be helpful to your organizing.* Add your name, title and endorsement as a signer to this urgent call.* Set up an Anti-War 4 the Million Worker March committee* Send this email to your friends, co-workers, and neighbors.* Commit to sending a bus from your city, town or region.Let´s make sure that after many of us march in NYC against the Republican convention, Nov. 2 isn´t the only important date this fall. We urge all of you to work to make the Oct. 17 Million Worker March in D.C. the next major event for the entire anti-war movement. If we rise to this challenge, we will put the next president and Congress on notice that we will accept no excuses for prolonging the occupation of Iraq and wasting lives and precious resources that should go toward satisfying people´s needs like housing and schools. Moreover, we will have helped to forge a critical alliance between the grass roots of the labor movement and the anti-war movement that would represent a whole new level of unity, potential and power.Does this sound like something worth working for? Does this sound like something you´ve been waiting for? You can help make it happen.In solidarity,Clarence Thomas, Co-Chair, Million Workers March Organizing Committee, ILWU Local 10Brenda Stokely, President, District Council 1707 AFSCME, Co-chair, NYC Labor Against the War, Chris Silvera, Secretary-Treasurer, Local 808 IBT, President National Teamsters Black Caucus, Ralph Shoenman, Communications Coordinator, Million Worker March, Larry Holmes, International Action Center, Steering Committee ANSWER, Sharon Black, Washington/Baltimore Coordinator, Million Worker March, Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
* To bring the troops home now!* For money & for jobs not war!* For a living wage!* Against layoffs, union busting, & for workers´ rights!* For the rights of immigrant workers!* Because young people need jobs not jails!* To end the occupation of iraq!* To defend civil rights! * Because working people need to speak in their own voice!Contact --AntiWar4theMillionWorkerMarch@action-mail.org39 W. 14th Street #206NYC, NY 10011phone (212) 633.633.6646
