Members of the San Francisco Community College Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 2121, come out in the rain to protest the Iraq war and its waste of lives and public funding, on January 27 in San Francisco. The march, which drew ten thousand participants, coincided with others around the country, putting pressure on congress to redraw the country's spending priorities. The San Francisco march featured a prominent labor dimension, as well. Besides the large contingent marching behind the US Labor Against the War banner, the marchers took some time out to form a huge picket line at the dock of the scab ferry boat operator, Alcatraz Island (click here for story), along the way. Vince Meis, photo
CFT Executive Council reaffirms opposition to Iraq War
The CFT has been on record opposing the Bush administration's war on Iraq and on working people at home since September, 2002, when the CFT State Council passed a resolution to that effect. CFT has marched at each major anti-war demonstration since that time. At the CFT Convention on March 22, 2003, the delegates voted to join United States Labor Against the War (USLAW), an organization of more than one hundred fifty union locals, central labor bodies, state councils of unions, and national unions; individuals may join as well. CFT President Marty Hittelman serves on the USLAW steering committee, and Cuesta Community College faculty member Hedy Cara was sent by CFT as its delegate to the December 2006 annual USLAW conference (click here for her report on the conference).
The California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, at its biannual convention July 13-14, 2004, voted for a resolution to recall the troops from Iraq immediately. CFT delegates were pleased to find the overwhelming majority of CLF delegates in agreement. The resolution also called for the state federation of labor to explore affiliation with US Labor Against the War.
More recently, in response to the Bush administration's proposed "troop surge," the CFT Executive Council on January 12, 2007 passed a resolution reaffirming the organization's opposition to the carnage and waste that daily continues to take lives and resources away from us. And at the CFT convention in 2008, the delegates passed resolution 31, supporting "Option 8" to protect your students from Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB (see link below).
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ASVAB, one of the longest acronyms in public education, stands for giving your students names, phone numbers, addresses, and career profiles to the Pentagon for military recruitment and inclusion in one of the largest databases on youth ever created. Protect your students with OPTION 8.
And finally, at the September 2009 AFL-CIO convention, delegates reaffirmed the federation's opposition to the war.
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