January, 1999
Labor Party Press
Delegate
Resolutions
(story continued from page seven)
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Photo ©Harvey Finkle, Impact Visuals |
In addition to the many amendments proposed from the
floor, delegates submitted some 120 resolutions to the Resolutions Committee in advance of
the convention. The Resolutions Committee, a diverse group of union and chapter members,
worked all day on Wednesday and Thursday before the convention to consider these
resolutions. In addition, the committee considered every resolution that emerged from the
caucuses which met in the course of the convention.
"Everyone on the committee was very respectful that people had taken
the time to submit their resolutions, and wanted to give them their proper due, in terms
of reading them, reviewing them, and voicing their opinions about them," said Brenda Stokely, the committee’s elected chair. "I
think one of the most important things we did was incorporate the resolutions that we
concurred with into the Labor Party’s actual work documents. That’s very
different from what happens in most organizations, where resolutions just sit there
separately." As a result, the campaign and organizing resolutions described above
already incorporated a number of proposals that had been submitted by LP members in
advance of the convention.
On Sunday, delegates took up a series of additional resolutions that had
emerged from the Resolutions Committee. Some amended the Labor Party’s program, A Call for Economic Justice; others stood alone.
Among the resolutions: statements opposing corporate advertising in schools and the
injustices of workfare; a resolution to support collective bargaining rights for workers
in the South; a series of worker solidarity resolutions; opposition to police brutality
and hate crimes; support for journalist Mumia Abu Jamal, who is on death row; and a
statement supporting workers’ plant closing struggles and efforts to rebuild their
local economies (here's the full text of these
resolutions).
Unfortunately, time for discussing the resolutions was short. However,
delegates did squeeze in debates on two of the measures.
Some delegates wanted to amend a resolution on workers’ rights to add a statement that
unions should have a right to "run their affairs free of government control."
One delegate argued that "the government, which is all Democrats and Republicans, is
not going to side with the unions." But others countered that government intervention
is sometimes a necessary tool for ridding unions of corruption. In the end, the amendment
was defeated.
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Photo ©Michael Kaufman, Impact Visuals |
Another discussion took place on the language the Resolutions Committee
had proposed amending the Labor Party’s position on reproductive control. The
committee’s resolution states that the Labor Party supports "unimpeded access to
a full range of family planning and reproductive services for men and women, including the
right to continue or terminate a pregnancy." This language widens somewhat a much
debated resolution adopted at the founding convention.
Delegates discussed a proposal to change the language to support
"prenatal services and free, safe, legal abortion." Seattle chapter member Rita Shaw argued against the amendment. "There was
much discussion in the women’s caucus, which met twice," Shaw told the
delegates. "This is the language that the women’s caucus submitted to the
Resolutions Committee, and that the committee accepted in toto and presented to this
convention. We don’t need to use the word ‘abortion’ to cover the right to
control of reproduction."
Delegates voted down the proposed amendment, and also turned down an
effort to return to the earlier, more restrictive language Labor Party delegates had
adopted at the founding convention. In the end, the original
resolution was adopted without amendment.
At the convention’s close, Labor Party co-chair Baldemar Velasquez,
president of FLOC, asked to make a statement that related to the debate on reproductive
choice. "During the course of the convention, several women from the women’s
caucus approached me and asked me if FLOC would walk out of the convention if the Labor
Party adopted a position that used the term ‘abortion,’" he told the
delegates. "FLOC will not walk out of the Labor Party. We are not a one-issue
organization. The question is not whether we will walk out. The question is, will you
accept us and the way we believe?"
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