MLK King County Labor Council AFL-CIO Joins Rochester in Call For a General Strike

Seattle General Strike 1919 Source

 

Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired

 

King County is the most populous County in the US state of Washington with some 2.5 million people. Martin Luther King County Labor Council is the county arm of the AFL-CIO in Washington State and includes Seattle. It was the King County Labor Council that ran the historic Seattle General Strike in 1919 which is an important part of US labor history. It is so important because it was an embryonic (can’t think of a better word) example of what true democracy, workers democracy and control, can look like. The Russian word for council is soviet.

The resolution below has been passed by this labor council that represents 100,000 workers. These are crucial workers when one considers that Seattle in an important port and Boeing is there. Read this article about the crane operators strike in western Washington that could have transformed the balance of class forces in the labor movement were it not for the timid approach of the labor hierarchy of the union involved and atop the AFL-CIO.  The resolution was passed in response to the threat by the Trump administration, by Trump himself and the religious fanatic Mike Pence, to refuse to accept the result of an election if they lose.  This comes on the heels of the Rochester (NY)labor council that passed a similar resolution. This is a very important decision as it is not an individual or a few individuals but a call for a General Strike to defend democracy by two major labor bodies.

It is unfortunate that this call for a general strike has arisen to defend the right of one of the two parties of capitalism to govern society unhindered and was never raised in the past as US workers faced savage attacks on our rights and living standards. Or that it has not been raised in response to the murder of Black folks by the police or the separation of immigrant families by the state. It is a call for a General Strike to defend capitalist democracy. 

 

Nevertheless, democracy is worth defending and we must look beyond this and recognize that this is an extremely important development because, like any action by organized labor, something like this or a strike or a call to action, have ways of moving beyond the control of those who institute them; there's a reason the labor hierarchy does not like mass meetings of their members; getting a few thousand people together is one thing, controlling what they want to do or say is another. If you are in a union please get your local to sign on to this resolution, endorse it, forward it or pass one of your own. Richard Mellor

 

Resolution on Protecting Democracy

October 22, 2020

Labor Must Protect Democracy Resolution

PASSED OCTOBER 21, 2020

WHEREAS, MLK Labor and our affiliates are committed to the defense of democratic rights and the institutions of democracy;

WHEREAS, President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence have refused to state publicly that they will respect the outcomes of the election and have repeatedly promoted conspiracy theories meant to undermine democracy;

WHEREAS, President Trump has refused, on multiple occasions, to denounce the activities of white supremacist and fascist militias and organizations that have stated desires to overthrow American democracy and instead has conveyed support for their actions;

WHEREAS, the Trump administration and Republican allies have a concerted campaign to obstruct, sabotage, and reject a fair and complete count of presidential ballots by creating barriers to voting targeted at people of color, immigrants, women and young people. These tactics include intimidation of BIPOC voters at polling places and requirements to have two people sign a ballot that hurt women voters, as well as dismantling key infrastructure such as the U.S. Postal Service;

WHEREAS, the Constitution requires voting results and Electoral College tallies to be completed and submitted to Congress by the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, and the new 2021 Congress to validate the results, and voters should be determining the results, not courts;

WHEREAS, Trump has denied science, resulting in more than 200,000 Americans dying from COVID and millions more facing deep economic pain due to ongoing impact from the virus, and can do irreparable harm during a lame-duck session;

WHEREAS, the extreme risk currently posed to the historic institutions of democracy in our nation may require more widespread and vigorous resistance than at any time in recent history;

WHEREAS, the Labor Movement and trade unions have played a proud and vital role in protecting democracy and opposing authoritarianism in many nations throughout the world;

WHEREAS, united working people refusing to work across the nation have greater power than any political machinations of aspiring despots. The most powerful tool of the Labor Movement in our history has been the power of the General Strike;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that MLK Labor will work with allies in the anti-racist, environmental justice, feminist, and poor peoples movements as well as the LGBTQ+, religious minorities, and immigrant communities to make contingency plans, in response to undemocratic actions by President Trump and his allies;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that MLK Labor will take actions to prepare for widespread non-violent action including protests and work-stoppages by coordinating peacekeeper and other necessary training;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that MLK Labor will encourage people to sign the Coup Preparation pledge;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that MLK Labor will call on City and County governments to pledge to protect the protesters defending democracy and commit to not using police action or curfews to curtail these activities and to use all available resources to stand up against any effort by the Trump administration to steal the election;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that MLK Labor will call upon the Washington State Labor Council and the AFL-CIO to coordinate the development of shared messaging by organized labor and community allies designed to get out the vote and counter misinformation to be implemented immediately and to support affiliate and community allies efforts to fulfill this resolution.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that MLK Labor, in collaboration with other labor and progressive forces, will take whatever nonviolent actions are necessary up to and including a general strike to protect our democracy, the Constitution, the law, and our nation’s democratic traditions;