No to Hillary OR Trump, says Painters Local 10-Portland Painters & Drywall Finishers Say: Break with the Democrats, For a Workers Party

No to Hillary OR Trump, says Painters Local 10-Portland Painters & Drywall Finishers Say: Break with the Democrats, For a Workers Party
https://nwlaborpress.org/2016/08/no-to-hillary-or-trump-says-painters-lo...
Aug 19, 2016 Politics
At the Aug. 17 general membership meeting of Portland-headquartered Painters Local 10, members passed a resolution saying the local does not support Democrats or Republicans, which “are and have always been strike-breaking, war-making parties of the bosses.” The resolution was introduced by Wyatt McMinn, vice president and chair of the union’s Volunteer Activist Committee. It passed unanimously.

Specifically, the resolution calls on the Painters international union to repudiate its earlier endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, and it calls on the labor movement to break from the Democratic Party and build a “class- struggle workers party.” See the full resolution here.

Most unions on the national level have endorsed Clinton by now, including IUPAT, Local 10’s parent organization, and the national AFL-CIO has made defeating Donald Trump a priority.

Some national unions — like American Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union — were early and enthusiastic supporters of the Clinton campaign. Others — and the national AFL-CIO — waited until after the primary season had played out and Clinton had outpolled Bernie Sanders to clinch the nomination. International Association of Fire Fighters decided not to endorse either Clinton or Trump, after polling showed members were very sharply divided. And only one union has endorsed Trump. National Border Patrol Council, which represents 18,000 U.S. Border Patrol agents. That union is a division of American Federation of Government Employees, which itself endorsed Clinton December 10.

Painters & Drywall Finishers Say: Break with the Democrats, For a Workers Party
https://csw-pdx.org/2016/08/19/painters-drywall-finishers-say-break-with...

August 19, 2016
The following resolution was introduced by CSWP supporters and adopted unanimously by IUPAT Local 10 members at their meeting on 17 August 2016. CSWP fights to unchain the power of the working class by breaking our unions away from the parties of capital. Join us!

No Support to the Democrats, Republicans,
or Any Party of the Bosses

Whereas the bosses have two parties to represent their class while the millions of working people have none, and

Whereas the Democratic president Barack Obama sent the U.S. Coast Guard to enforce scabbing against the International Longshore and Warehouse Union during the 2013-14 lock-out of northwest dock workers, and

Whereas the Democratic governor Kate Brown opposed and undercut the movement for a $15 minimum wage across Oregon, and

Whereas in 2014 Democrats in Congress joined with Republicans to pass a disastrous pension “reform,” allowing the bosses to escape their obligations and cheat our retirees, and

Whereas the two presidencies of the Democrat Barack Obama have been eight years of unending war in the Middle East,North Africa and Asia, causing untold human suffering, millions of refugees, and attacks on our democratic rights at home, and

Whereas the Democratic Party in power has deported some 5 million immigrants, a record, and

Whereas across the country, from Oakland to Baltimore, police under Democratic mayors regularly murder black men and women with impunity, and

Whereas the 2016 presidential election offers us the “choice” between a raving, bigoted clown and a career representative of Wall Street, and

Whereas the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Virginia governor Tim Kaine, supports union- busting “right to work” laws, and

Whereas Democrats and Republicans are and have always been strike-breaking, war-making parties of the bosses, and

Whereas so long as the labor movement supports one or another party of the bosses, we will be playing a losing game, therefore be it

Resolved that IUPAT Local 10 does not support the Democrats, Republicans, or any bosses’ parties or politicians, and

Resolved that we call on the International Union to repudiate its endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, and

Resolved that we call on the labor movement to break from the Democratic Party, and build a class- struggle workers party.

News of this resolution was also published by the Northwest Labor Press.