[URPE] Iraq Labor Tour and Video

[urpe-moderator at lists.econ.utah.edu]

 From Michael Zweig
mzweig at notes.cc.sunysb.edu

**********************************


Dear Friends and Colleagues

 

A delegation of six high-level Iraqi labor leaders will be touring the 
United States between June 10 and 26 on a visit sponsored by U.S. Labor 
Against the War.   Their tour provides the first opportunity for 
American workers, labor leaders, peace activists, religious leaders, 
students, and scholars to meet directly with Iraqis to learn of their 
lives under occupation and their concerns as working people.  

 

The Center for Study of Working Class Life at Stony Brook University is 
coordinating the filming of a 27-minute documentary of the delegation's 
visit for DVD that we hope will be a valuable resource for peace, labor, 
and education audiences.   I am writing to ask for your financial 
support to make this documentary, which we hope to complete by September 
2005.  I will send you a copy of the DVD when it is finished for a 
contribution of $100.  For $500 we will list you as a sponsor in the 
credits.   

 

The tour will bring two representatives from each of three major labor 
organizations in Iraq: the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), the 
Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI) and the 
Southern Oil Workers Union in Basra.   They will meet with the 
leadership of the AFL-CIO, hold a Congressional briefing at the Capitol, 
have a press conference at the National Press Club, and meet with civic 
and social groups, labor representatives, and university audiences in 
over twenty cities across the country to address critical issues facing 
Iraqi workers.   They will focus especially on their efforts to organize 
free and independent trade unions in Iraq as part of the process of 
developing a secular civil society, their efforts to oppose the 
privatization of Iraqi industry and oil resources, and their activities 
to end the occupation.  

 

I have attached the tour itinerary at the end of this appeal.  You can 
get more information about the tour at USLAW's website: 
www.uslaboragainstwar.org <http://www.uslaboragainstwar.org/>.  I hope 
you will be able to attend one of the events when the tour comes to your 
city or someplace nearby.

 

The Center for Study of Working Class Life has secured the co-operation 
of important national partners for this project.   The Union Producers 
and Programmers Network (UPPNET) is helping to mobilize professional 
camera operators to shoot in many tour cities.   The video documentary 
staff of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will be 
providing footage.   And U.S. Labor Against the War is giving us full 
access to the tour and complete editorial freedom in shaping the final 
product.

      

To support this video project with a tax-deductible contribution, please 
make your check payable to " The Stony Brook Foundation" and mark on the 
check "for the Iraq Labor Video."  Send the check to me at the address 
below.

 

Thank you for your consideration.  

 

All the best,

 

Michael

 

            Mi ichael Zweig

            Director, Center for Study of Working Class Life
            Department of Economics
            State University of New York
            Stony Brook, NY 11794-4384
            631.632.7536
            michael.zweig at stonybrook.edu 
<mailto:michael.zweig at stonybrook.edu>
            
IRAQI LABOR TOUR SCHEDULE

June 10-15  Tour in DC - the entire delegation.  Then the tour divides 
into three:

East Coast - Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions

June 15           Baltimore
June 16           New Jersey
June 17           NYC
June 18           Vermont (and possibly Albany NY)
June 19           Vermont
June 20-21      Boston
June 22           Connecticut
June 23           Long Island
June 24-25        Philadephia
June 25           DC

Mid-west - Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq

June 16           St.Paul
June 17-18      Chicago
June 18-19      Atlanta
June 20           (divided) Detroit and Madison/Milwaukee
June 21-22      Pittsburgh
June 22-23      Buffalo
June 24           Cleveland
June 25           DC

West Coast - Oil Workers Union

June 16           (divided) LA and SF
June 17-18       LA
June 19           San Jose
June 20           Oakland
June 21           San Franciso and Martinez
June 22           Portland
June 23           Seattle
June 24-25       Philadelphia
June 25            DC