Socialist Viewpoint

Following is a resolution passed unanimously by Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 5’s executive board. Local 5 of Hawaii is trying to work with other unions and mainstream membership organizations to create a broad anti-war coalition in Hawaii.

Whereas, the war on terrorism has been used to justify a $37.5 billion hike in the military budget, bringing it to $355 billion, in addition to the $15 billion bailout of the airline industry and $25 billion in tax refunds for corporate America; and

Whereas, union and other working and poor people are being forced to pay for this war drive and subsidize corporate profits by raiding the Social Security Trust Fund and cutting funding for economically distressed states and vital government programs such as subsidies for low income housing and services to the homeless; and

Whereas, the billions spent on armaments, domestic repression and bailouts could be better used to provide training programs and jobs to the 800,000 workers across the nation who lost their jobs after September 11th and to plug the $50 billion deficit in state and local budgets that has resulted in a major loss of union jobs and cuts in essential social services, such as education, fully-staffed libraries, quality public transportation with reliable access services to the disabled, providing clean water and air, healthcare and treatment for the mentally ill; and

Whereas, in the aftermath of September 11th, over 1,000 immigrants were arrested, including workers at a Sky Chef facility who were arrested in the middle of bargaining between the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union and the company, and some imprisoned in detention centers, and thousands of airport workers were fired simply because they were not citizens, and Muslims, people of Middle Eastern descent and other immigrants suffered increased violence sparked by racial profiling by the INS and FBI; and

Whereas, the federal USA PATRIOT anti-terrorism act undermines labor’s right to organize and fight anti-immigrant attacks and other union-busting tactics by expanding the government’s ability to detain non-citizens based on mere suspicion, to conduct telephone and internet surveillance and secret searches, and to define people engaged in political protest as “domestic terrorists”; and

Whereas, support for this war has led to the withholding of solidarity from labor’s working class and poor allies in other countries including the Philippines, where many of our members have families who are suffering and dying as a result of this conflict; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that Local 5 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union:

Oppose the USA PATRIOT Act;

Oppose spying on union organizers and political activists and INS harassment of immigrants and people of color;

Oppose any unjustified, unilateral attack on any country, including a U.S. invasion of Iraq which is not in the interest of workers, but rather to benefit the oil industry, the military-industrial complex and President Bush’s 2004 campaign;

Support immediate release of the hundreds of Middle Eastern, Arab and other immigrants who are still being detained without due process and/or legal justification; and be it finally

Resolved, that HERE Local 5 oppose the open-ended war on terrorism and urge that money from corporate handouts and the military budget be redirected to assist laid-off workers, restore and expand public services and promote global justice by providing humanitarian and economic aid, administered by unions, to our sisters and brothers around the world.