UE Convention Resolutions
Fight Racism
Racism has no place in society. Racism has no place within the ranks of labor. Racism is a specific form of discrimination based upon the false belief that people are divided into a hierarchy of races, with certain groups inherently superior to others by virtue of genetic inheritance. American racism became the justification for the brutal, legal system of coerced labor called slavery. Racism is a means by which ruling elites hold onto power through division and delusion.
Racism, with its violence against democracy and decency, continues to be a part of our daily reality. During the 2008 presidential election campaign – and continuing right up to the present – ugly racist forces burst onto the scene first as a tool to try to stop, and now destroy President Barack Obama. The racist assaults take many forms, ranging from the far out to the highly sophisticated. The attacks are promoted from the top by the Republican Party and their media smear machine, and are allowed to filter down to the grassroots for maximum effect.
During the 2008 campaign the labor movement made some progress in confronting and pushing back against both racists and racism in general. Confronting racism became part of labor's campaign to put the country on a new footing and move in a new and positive direction with the election of Barack Obama. Further resistance against the malignant racist virus will be necessary, as racist, bigoted, and degraded eruptions of anti-Obama poison multiply.
The persistence of institutional racism affects all people of color, and is evident in the economic and social disadvantages experienced by African Americans in particular. African-American unemployment remains disproportionately high. On average, African Americans are twice as likely to die from disease, accident and homicide as whites. Skin color makes some Americans more likely to be stopped by police, more likely to be searched, and more likely to be arrested. African Americans are three times more likely to become prisoners once arrested, and serve longer terms. Racism is evident in the not-too-subtle remarks of media commentators and politicians who blame the victims, and not corporate and government policies, for these unnecessary conditions.
Racist ideas fuel anti-immigrant hysteria directed primarily against Latinos of various national origins, Arabs, and Muslims in general. All these groups have increasingly been targets of racist hostility. This racism has been used by the U.S. government to promote military intervention in the Middle East and attacks on civil liberties.
The ban on collective bargaining between government and public sector workers in North Carolina, Virginia and other southern states is an attempt to prevent the growth of unionism and perpetuate the subordinate status of African American workers. These laws are predicated on the outrageous belief that men and women who cook and clean, care for the disabled and ill, haul trash, maintain roads and carry out a myriad of other socially necessary tasks are not good enough to sit at the same table and bargain with those who govern.
Progress for working people in building unions at the bargaining table and in legislatures depends upon our ability to achieve and maintain working-class unity. Unity can never be taken for granted; our success ultimately depends upon our success in the fight against racism. We must recognize that our organization and movement are not immune from the influences of a society permeated by racism. We must consciously work to overcome those influences in our diverse working class.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THIS 71st UE CONVENTION:
- Reaffirms the union's policy of aggressive struggle against racism and in support of equal rights for all;
- Calls on locals to defend our members aggressively against on-the-job discrimination;
- Declares its support of workers and their communities' fight against divisive racist terror and actions in workplaces and communities;
- Calls on the leadership of our union at all levels to seek out and encourage the development and election of more minority leaders and the hiring of minority staff;
- Opposes the assault on affirmative action;
- Endorses the continuation of workshops on racism and discrimination at all levels of our union;
- Calls for elimination of racial profiling;
- Condemns all attacks on the basis of ethnicity and religion, particularly those on Arab-Americans and Muslims as a consequence of fear;
- Calls on locals and the national union to make our members and our communities aware of the increase of hate groups in our country and to provide information to help them to recognize and combat all forms of hate, to expose racism in the media;
- Urges regions and locals to set up unity councils on the model pioneered by UE Local 506;
- Demands strict enforcement of existing anti-discrimination laws and just punishment for violation of those laws;
- Condemns as racist the message of media commentators and news media reporting which blames the victims of corporate and governmental policies, and urges the union movement to expose and condemn racially biased and selective reporting.