Below is the text of a resolution passed last month by the San Francisco Labor Council, representing 80,000 unionized workers.
WHEREAS, NATO forces under the leadership of the United States have unleashed massive air strikes against Yugoslavia designed, in the words of the NATO officer in charge, U.S. General Wesley Clark, to “demolish, destroy, devastate, degrade, and ultimately eliminate the essential infrastructure” of the country, and,
WHEREAS, the U.S. government is allocating billions for war to destroy among other things, bridges, apartment buildings, and factories, as opposed to spending our resources to improve the quality of life in the U.S., and to assist in the productive development of the Balkans and elsewhere, and,
WHEREAS, the massive bombing is contributing to and has in fact severely exacerbated the plight of the ethnic Albanians of Kosovo who are persecuted by the Milosevic regime but whose right to self-determination has never been supported or recognized by the United States or NATO.
Therefore Be It Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council calls for an end to the war, an immediate halt to the NATO/U.S. bombing of Yugoslavia, and an end to the intervention.
Be It Further Resolved, that the San Francisco Labor Council rejects the notion that the U.S. government has, by military might, the legal or moral right to intervene and police the world in such disputes, and,
Be It Further Resolved, that this resolution be sent to the National AFL-CIO, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, all California Congressional Representatives and to President William Clinton.
