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The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
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| NOVEMBER 9, 1998 11:30 AM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: US Labor Party 1-888-44LABOR |
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| Ralph Nader Statement on the U.S. Labor Party | ||||
| WASHINGTON - November 9 - Between Nov. 13 and 15, the U.S. Labor
Party will have their convention in Pittsburgh to advance a program of action on Key
Workers' Issues. There will be 1,100 delegates, representing more than one million working
people from international unions, union locals and community groups from most of the
states in the United States. The Labor Party, founded at a constitutional convention in Cleveland in 1996, has been endorsed by the United Mine Workers, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, the California Nurses Association and other international and national unions and AFL-CIO local unions and regional bodies. The Labor Party has fielded no candidates. The political philosophy of one of its energizers, long-time unionist Tony Mazzocchi, is that hundreds of discussions with working men and women are needed to forge an agenda that is rooted in past union successes. Drawing on the example of the GI Bill of Rights, the Party wants to shape our economy to provide workers with time to advance their education and talents before their later years. To the Labor Party, there are few excuses for poverty, grinding and often dangerous workplace conditions, dead-end jobs, export of jobs following mass layoffs, other than the excessive concentration of power and wealth. Soon, the Labor Party may be ready to start fielding candidates in carefully selected areas. But for now a top priority is a national campaign for what it calls Just Health Care, followed by a legal right to a job, a foreign trade policy that protects workers and the environment, and labor law reform. This is the first labor movement in years that vigorously seeks the repeal of the notorious Taft-Hartley law of 1947 that did more to impede the right to organize, and the right to help other workers in disputes with corporations than any legislation in post World War II American history. ------ For more information about the upcoming Convention in Pittsburgh or more information about the Labor Party, call 1-888-44LABOR or write to P.O. Box 53177, Washington, DC 20009. -0- |
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