War and Workers’ Rights Highlight May Day Celebrations

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/05/01/war-workers%e2%80%99-rights-highlight-may-day-celebrations/

by James Parks, May 1, 2008

Workers around the globe today are celebrating International Labor Day, better known as May Day, to make it clear they want to live in a world where people live in peace and prosperity.

On the U.S. West Coast, thousands of dockworkers are participating in a voluntary action by members of the Longshore Division of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). The workers are refusing to work on the docks for eight hours today to demand that the United States immediately end the war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan and withdraw U.S. troops from the Middle East.



Union President Robert McElrath said in a press release:

We are supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq.

The dockworkers’ action has drawn support from workers throughout the country, including the Washington State Labor Council and the Martin Luther King Jr. County Labor Council in Seattle. Workers in Seattle will march along the waterfront to demand an end not only to the war in Iraq but also to the war on workers, both here and abroad.

The Vermont AFL-CIO also endorsed the action, saying the war in Iraq is “immoral, unwanted and unnecessary.” The Vermont resolution adds that the war will only be brought to an end by “the direct actions of working people.”

FULL story at link.