Texas Labor Against the War

Building on the spirit  and energy of rallies around the country calling on state governments to prioritize education, health care, public safety, the environment, and jobs, we will demand that Texas take a balanced approach to balancing the state budget by spending our state’s savings in the Rainy Day Fund and finding new revenue.  Be part of the movement to move Texas forward!  Bring your family and friends and wear your rain gear!  There’s a torrential storm in Texas and together we have  the power to turn the tides!http://www.april62011.org/

 SCHEDULE

9am – 10am Buses arriving, lobby day training and staging for the march
11am – 12pm  March from Waterloo Park (13th & Trinity) to the Capitol
NOON Rally on the South Steps
1pm – 4pm Lobby Visits and Workshops
4pm Buses leave
5pm Day ends officially

Our TSEU union sister and CodePink member, Alice Embree, celebrates the intersection of rallies on two crucial issues. And why does an anti-war website publish this stuff? Well, readers no doubt have no trouble figuring that out: another intersection, war, U.S. imperialism, repression of unions and workers and women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan, money spent on war, not on jobs and education; and sending our working class young people to kill and be killed.

http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/alice-embree-spirited-austin-rally-is.html

Hundreds of pro-choice demonstrators marched down Congress Ave. in Austin Saturday, Feb. 26 (above), and then joined with supporters of Wisconsin workers for an enthusiastic rally on the steps of the Texas state Capitol. Photos by Terry DuBose / The Rag Blog.
Rallies at Texas state Capitol:
Pro-choice demonstrators join
supporters of Wisconsin workers

See more photos below.

By Alice Embree / The Rag Blog / February 28, 2011

AUSTIN — Two spirited demonstrations took place in front of Austin’s state Capitol on Saturday, February 26th. The Austin American-Statesman failed to cover the pro-choice rally and carried two paragraphs on the second Austin rally in a larger AP story on nationwide events supporting Wisconsin workers.

Hundreds of demonstrators showed up at noon at the south steps of the Capitol to defend women’s reproductive rights and later marched down Congress Ave. Speakers from Planned Parenthood, Whole Women’s Health, National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) Texas, the Lilith Fund and CodePink addressed the crowd. Pink was prominent and bright pink placards read: “I Stand with Planned Parenthood,” “Don’t take away my birth control,” “Don’t take away my breast exams.” Four of CodePink’s Pink Police led the march decked out with their crime prevention badges.

The crowd was mostly young and mostly female. Chanting: “Women’s rights under attack. What do you do? Stand up, fight back!” and “Not the church, not the state, we’re the ones who ovulate.” Placards were both informative and inflammatory. A homemade sign read: “Keep your Boehner out of my uterus.” One woman had lettered: “Get your laws off my body” on her exposed belly. Another woman had constructed a box around her lower body that read: “Think outside my box.”

Marchers split off from the south steps of the Capitol and went down the sidewalks on both the east and west side of Congress, trading sides at Sixth Street as the two lines returned. Passers-by honked and returned peace signs and fists. It was an impressive turnout, organized primarily with word spread through Facebook and listserves.

In some ways, just as impressive was the decision by the pro-choice demonstrators to march up the sidewalk to the Capitol steps and join a 2 p.m. rally organized by MoveOn.org in support of Wisconsin workers. DPS troopers attempted to block the newcomers, but union advocates welcomed them.

A crowd of about 1,000 listened to music led by Bill Oliver and friends. Texas Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett addressed the crowd, as did former Texas Agricultural Commissioner and populist pundit, Jim Hightower. Austin’s demonstration was one of many throughout the country and coincided with the largest turnout in Madison to date. More than 70,000 demonstrators gathered in Madison despite freezing temperatures.

Hightower said: “You are the Koch brothers’ worst nightmare.” The reference is to conservative donors Charles and David Koch who made huge contributions to conservative candidates in the last midterm elections and who, according to Reuters, “are playing an influential role in the drive to strip public employee unions of their rights to bargain in several U.S. states.”

Wisconsin’s newly elected Governor Walker returned the funding favors with over $100 million in tax breaks to corporations in January before he named teachers and public workers in his state as the cause of Wisconsin deficits.

This was the second mobilization by Austin union supporters in one week. A demonstration organized by the AFL-CIO attracted hundreds to the south steps of the Capitol on Monday night.

Austin’s teachers’ union, Education Austin, is calling for a large turnout at the AISD School Board meeting on Monday evening, February 28, where layoffs and school closures are on the agenda. It seems that the aggressive actions of conservatives who feel empowered by midterm elections are prompting nationwide mobilizations to defend rights ranging from the right to collective bargaining to family planning.

On a related front, the Workers Defense Project is convening a march and rally to commemorate the 138 workers who lost their lives while working at Texas construction sites. The March 2 event, a “Day of the Fallen,” begins at 3:30 p.m. at the federal building and ends at the Capitol.

[Alice Embree is a long-time Austin activist and organizer, a former staff member of The Rag in Austin and RAT in New York, and a veteran of SDS and the women's liberation movement. She is active with CodePink Austin and Under the Hood Café. Embree is a contributing editor to The Rag Blog and is treasurer of the New Journalism Project.]

Photo by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog.
Photo by Terry DuBose / The Rag Blog.
Photo by Terry DuBose / The Rag Blog.
Photo by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog.
Photo by Alice Embree / The Rag Blog.
Photo by Terry DuBose /The Rag Blog.

In solidarity with the ONE NATION March for Jobs, Peace, Justice, and Education for All ! to be held in Washington, D.C., Oct. 2, 2010, the Texas State Employees Union will rally at the AFL-CIO (11th & LaVaca) in Austin Friday, Oct. 1, at 4:45 pm.

TSEU calls for:
JOBS
EDUCATION
REBUILD PUBLIC SERVICES
DEFEND PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

In conjunction with our biennial General Assembly, TSEU always has an action the first afternoon of the GA highlighting issues of importance to state/university workers and the provision of state services.  This year our GA is Oct. 1 – Oct. 3, and we want to show our solidarity with all our sisters and brothers gathering in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 2.

We expect there will be a couple of hundred TSEU members from all over Texas here in Austin for the event.  Join us!

For more information call the TSEU office at 512-448-4225

http://www.cwa-tseu.org/

The Iraq Debacle
As corporate media heralds the end of combat forces in Iraq, Fort Hood is deploying 3,000 troops to Iraq from the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment. Many of them have been deemed “undeployable” due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and other conditions resulting from previous deployments during this decade of warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several upcoming events are aimed at peeling back the mass deception surrounding “the end of combat operations.”

5:00 pm, Sunday, August 29th, 1700 South First, Austin, Texas. Iraqi-American doctor, Dahlia Wasfi will speak in Austin about the U.S. Policy in Iraq: A Humanitarian Catastrophe. This event is co-sponsored by Texas Labor Against the War and CodePink Austin and will take place at the Texas State Employees Union meeting hall.  (TSEU is on S. 1st St. near Annie, across from Freddie’s Restaurant.)

10:00 am, Monday, August 30th, Under the Hood, 17 S. College, Killeen, Texas. A press conference will highlight the Iraq debacle – its impact on US. soldiers, Iraqis, and funding to meet domestic needs. Dahlia Wasfi, Iraqi-American doctor and Rep. Lon Burnam from Fort Worth, Texas will join representatives from many groups including Iraq Veterans Against the War, Veterans for Peace, CodePink and Texas Labor Against the War.

for more information:  http://www.underthehoodcafe.org/

on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112882012098277

Thanks to Jeff Zavala of ZGraphix for this visual report on part of the US Social Forum program held at the Texas State Employees Union on Thursday, August 19.  You’ll see the slide show of the USSF shown by Anne Lewis of TSEU, and the video that Austin Tan Cerca de La Frontera took to Detroit for the workshop that they presented at the USSF in June.  Jeff adds music from David Rovics.  (You can also go to Anne Lewis’s website to see clips from her documentary on Anne Braden that she showed at the USSF.)

http://www.blip.tv/file/4031183

Domestic workers union at USSF (LaborNotes, Jim West)

Above:  March against the world’s largest waste incinerator.

Austin, October 5, 2008. The biennial statewide general assembly of the 12,000 member Texas State Employees Union (CWA Local 6186) passed an antiwar resolution Sunday morning, Oct. 5. TxLAW members and other TSEU activists promoted the resolution, which passed by a voice vote, though not without considerable opposition. We publicized the resolution prior to the Assembly and got a number of folks to enthusiastically sign on. More signed on when they arrived at the Assembly and learned about the resolution. We tried to talk to a lot of delegates during the weekend and we passed out numerous copies of the resolution. Our union has a large and diverse membership, so opposition was to be expected. It was mostly along three lines: people who argued the resolution was unnecessary and divisive; veterans (especially those who have served in Iraq) and family of deployed military members, who believe in the wars; people who oppose the war in Iraq but believe the Afghanistan war needs to be fought. Of course, many veterans supported the resolution.  We believed it was appropriate for our union to consider an antiwar resolution at this time.  The human and financial toll of these wars has a direct effect on members of our union and on the people we serve.

Below is the text of our resolution. You can read the national resolution on a previous news post on this website. Our resolution has been posted on the national US Labor Against the War website. We appreciate the attention! See it at http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/article.php?list=type&type=52

Resolution adopted by Texas State Employees Union 2008 General Assembly, October 5, 2008

Working for Peace and Labor Rights in Iraq and Afghanistan: In support of resolution passed at 2008 CWA national convention

Whereas: Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a disaster for the U.S. people, U.S. military members, and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Whereas: TSEU members, family, and friends are among those who’ve been killed and wounded, who are veterans, or who are now in harm’s way.

Whereas: The U.S. continues to spend billions of dollars on these wars that we need at home for public services, veterans services, infrastructure rebuilding, and public worker pay and benefits.

Whereas: U.S. and Iraqi government attacks on the Iraqi labor movement are an affront to labor unions everywhere.

Whereas: The national convention of our parent union, the Communications Workers of America, adopted a strong resolution opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting our troops and veterans, and supporting our union brothers and sisters in Iraq.

RESOLVED: TSEU/CWA Local 6186 adopts the national CWA resolution.

RESOLVED: TSEU/CWA Local 6186 will actively work to implement this resolution by adding our voice to those demanding that resources spent on these wars be redirected to our needs at home; by demanding of our government that our troops, veterans, and their families get the medical care and benefits they deserve; and by exploring affiliation with U.S. Labor Against the War and other groups which support international labor standards.

The biennial statewide General Assembly of the Texas State Employees Union/CWA Local 6186, to be held Oct. 3 – Oct. 5 in Austin, will be presented with an antiwar resolution originated by Texas Labor Against the War activists.  The resolution is co-signed by over 30 TSEU delegates and members from Austin and Dallas.  Here is the resolution, which endorses the resolution passed at the Communications Workers of America national convention in June.  The CWA resolution was printed in an earlier TxLAW news item on this website.

Resolution to be presented at the Texas State Employees Union 2008 General Assembly

RESOLVED:  TSEU/CWA Local 6186 will actively work to implement this resolution by adding our voice to those demanding that resources spent on these wars be redirected to our needs at home; by demanding of our government that our troops, veterans, and their families get the medical care and benefits they deserve; and by exploring affiliation with U.S. Labor Against the War and other groups which support international labor standards.

Activists will present a resolution opposing the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at the general assembly of the Texas State Employees Union/CWA Local 6186, to be held Oct. 3 – 5 in Austin. The resolution will be an endorsement of the antiwar resolution passed in June at the national convention of the Communication Workers of America, TSEU’s parent union.

Here’s the CWA resolution. We will publish the proposed TSEU resolution when its wording is finalized.

2008 CWA Convention Resolution: Working for Peace and Labor Rights in Iraq
Communications Workers of America
June 28th, 2008
Resolution 70A-08-9

The military actions of the Bush administration in the Middle East have reached a critical point, one which may commit future administrations to an expanded war. The costs of that war are now running over $341 million per day and total more than $531 billion to date. These costs will be borne by generations to come.

The money spent on this war could be spent to repair our nation’s infrastructure and restore social programs that have been devastated by years of Republican neglect. But the cost in human Iives is even more important, with 4,104 of our young men and women killed to date, over 30,000 wounded, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children killed.

The Iraqi labor movement also has been devastated. It is increasingly dangerous to be a union leader in Iraq. The Iraqi labor movement reports that union property has been seized and destroyed, bank accounts have been frozen, and leaders have been abducted, arrested and assassinated. With their lives in danger, many labor leaders have been forced to leave the country.

Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Coalition Provisional Authority kept intact a 1987 decree by Saddam Hussein outlawing unions in the public sector and in public enterprises. This ban has been continued by the current government of Nouri Al-Maliki. In place of free union elections, the government is imposing an elections process. This is an affront to the principles of free trade unionism and counter to the Iraqi government’s 2004 pledge to create a law that would comply with International Labor Organization (ILO) standards and guarantee workers the right to form their own trade unions.

A coalition of international labor rights organizations, including the AFL-CIO, is calling for the lraqi government to cease its interference with lraqi unions and to respect workers’ rights to form unions. In the United States, local unions, state and regional labor organizations and others have built a solidarity network – U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW). USLAW has sponsored two visits by lraqi trade unionists to the United States and continues to provide a key link between U.S. workers and our brothers and sisters in the Iraqi labor movement.

RESOLVED: CWA continues to support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and believes that the best support is to bring them home and give them all medical treatment, care and benefits they need and deserve.

RESOLVED: CWA encourages all Locals to unite with labor unions here and internationally in the growing movement against the war and to deepen their active solidarity with the Iraqi trade unionists.

RESOLVED: CWA Joins with the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations to call on the lraqi government to take immediate steps to bring Iraq into compliance with International Labor Organization core labor standards.