New York Peace Rally Drawing Broad Labor Support

Labor union members from the New York City area and busloads of them from other states are expected to join tens of thousands of other activists in a march for peace in New York on April 29.

The March for Peace, Justice and Democracy, endorsed by the CWA Executive Board at its March meeting, will begin with a rally and speakers, including labor leaders, at 10:30 a.m. Participants will march south to Foley Square beginning at noon. A "Peace and Justice Festival" will follow at Foley Square from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., with speakers, tables of information and items for sale.

CWA Local 1180 in New York City has been hosting meetings and providing space for the rally's labor organizers and is planning a phone bank to help turn out union members on the 29th, Local President Bill Henning said. U.S. Labor Against the War is coordinating the effort and officers from unions including the UAW, AFSCME, SEIU and the Teamsters have attended planning meetings.

District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton has signed a letter with other labor leaders to the city's Central Labor Council, asking it to lend its support to the event.

"Our labor movement is at a crucial juncture," the letter says. "Attacks on our members, on immigrant workers, on our basic freedoms — on our very ability to organize — keep growing in tempo with a war in Iraq which seems to have no end in sight. The broad gains we fight for as working people aren't possible while this administration spends well over a billion dollars a week on an unjust war."

Said CWA Public, Health Care and Education Sector Vice President Brooks Sunkett, who will speak at the New York protest: "If you wonder why New Orleans is such a mess, or why things aren't getting done in your community, consider that this unjust war has already drained $275 billion in U.S. tax dollars and is likely to cost between 1 and 2 trillion dollars."

Details are available on the march website, www.april29.org and at www.uslaboragainstwar.org.