Report on Emergency Labor Meeting held in Cleveland, Ohio on March 4-5, 2011

REPORT on Emergency Labor Meeting
Cleveland, Ohio – March 4-5, 2011)

BUILDING UNITY TO DEFEAT UNION-BUSTING AND CONCESSIONS

Ninety-six union leaders and activists from 26 states and from a broad cross-section of the labor movement
gathered at the Laborers Local 310 Hall in Cleveland on March 4-5, 2011, in response to an invitation
sent out in January urging them to “explore together what we can do to mount a more militant and
robust fight-back campaign to defend the interests of working people.”

Three weeks prior to the Emergency Labor Meeting (ELM), unionists and community and student
activists in Wisconsin unleashed a resistance movement against Governor Scott Walker’s union-busting
and concessionary attacks that in a short time has breathed new life into the labor movement. The sustained
occupation of the State Capitol and the sustained mobilizations in the streets -- including 7,000
people who marched on March 3 “Against All Concessions for Workers” at the initiative of National
Nurses United and 50,000 people who rallied on March 5 -- have galvanized working people across the
country.

Participants in the ELM took full note of the new situation and of the grave dangers to the U.S. labor
movement and to workers’ and democratic rights posed by Governor Walker’s attacks. They pledged to
make the fight against union-busting and the budget cuts/concessions in Wisconsin the centerpiece of an
emergency action plan centered on two national days of action called by the labor movement:

* March 12: Participants pledged to go back to their unions and workers’ organizations to promote the
March 12 Day of Action called by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. Brother David Newby, President-Emeritus of
the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, attended the ELM and relayed the proposal from his state federation that
all unionists and labor activists in Wisconsin and neighboring states mobilize in Madison on March 12,
with labor-led solidarity actions the same day in cities across the country.

* April 4: Participants welcomed the call issued by Larry Cohen, International President of the
Communication Workers of America (CWA) to organize on April 4, the anniversary of the death of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., a “not-business-as-usual” Nationwide Day of Action at workplaces and communities
across the country in support of labor rights. This call has since been supported by the AFL-CIO
Executive Board, which is urging “movement-wide dramatic actions” on this day.

Participants agreed to go back to their unions and communities to promote broad support for this April 4
Day of Action in all ways deemed appropriate by unions and community organizations on the ground,
including, where possible, industrial actions. They also urged support for these actions around demands
that link the struggle in defense of labor rights to the struggle against budget cuts and concessions, and
that point to solutions to the federal and state budget deficits, including taxing the rich and the corporations,
cutting the war budget, and creating 27 million full-time jobs through a massive public works program
(which could be launched immediately and without raising the U.S. budget by a penny with a $1 trillion
“Bridge Loan” from the Federal Reserve).

To promote these actions, participants pledged to go back to their cities to build “We Are All Wisconsin!”
committees of labor and community activists.
A
lso, in the event the Walker bill is approved by the Wisconsin legislature, the state’s labor movement
has announced that it is prepared to launch a recall campaign designed to remove from office seven
members of the Wisconsin Senate. The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, in fact, has already initiated a
fundraising campaign for this purpose. http://www.wisaflcio.org or call 414-771-0700.]

In Ohio, a bill to deny collective-bargaining rights to public employees is likely to pass in the General
Assembly. Ohio labor and its allies are already gearing up to get the bill rescinded through a referendum.
To qualify for a referendum for the ballot in Ohio, supporters must gather about 230,000 valid signatures
within 90 days after the bill passes and is signed by the governor. The Ohio labor movement is organizing
to gather the necessary number. The bill will not be implemented for 90 days regardless, but if the
requisite number of signatures is submitted and validated, the bill will be held in abeyance pending the
November 2011 election. A bill passed by the Ohio General Assembly in 1997 to gut workers' compensation
was never implemented because of a successful labor-led campaign to rescind it through a referendum
vote.

Participants in the Emergency Labor Meeting discussed a “Perspectives” document submitted by the
ELM Organizing Committee. Changes and additions were made to the text, which will serve as the
framework for future efforts undertaken by a Continuations Committee that will emanate from the meeting.

Participants also took a stand urging the ELM Continuations Committee, in collaboration with the fighting
unions and community organizations, to consider the possibility of organizing in the not-too-distant future
a broader and open Labor-Community Conference structured around the points included in the ELM
Perspectives document.

Throughout the four panel discussions of the meeting, participants submitted a whole host of proposals
and ideas aimed at bolstering the capacity of the labor movement to assert its independence and fight
back against the employers’ and government’s offensive. These will be incorporated into a “Tool Box” on
the new website that will be set up by the ELM Continuations Committee.

For example, proposals on how best to organize labor-community coalitions, with reports on activities of
the “We Are All Wisconsin!” committees in different cities, will be included in the Tool Box. Also included
will be articles and proposals geared to helping to educate union members about the roots of the current
economic and financial crisis from a working-class perspective. These are just two of the many sections
that will be included in the Tool Box. Participants entrusted the new Continuations Committee with the
task of publishing as many of these texts as possible in Spanish and other languages, to strengthen the
ties with immigrant workers.

Participants left the meeting encouraged by the new fight-back movement in the country and by the necessary
contribution to this movement that this ELM effort can provide. All unionists and activists interested
in working with the ELM Continuations Committee to advance the goals contained in the ELM
Perspectives document should write to <emergencylabor@aol.com>.

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BBI. The above is a public document not subject to copyright restrictions. You can read it and more information regarding the labor conference at:

http://www.kclabor.org/ELM%20FINAL%20REPORT.pdf