AFT
PEACE AND
JUSTICE CAUCUS
PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS
The following resolutions have been submitted for consideration at the 2008 AFT convention. While the AFT Peace and Justice Caucus has not officially taken a position on any of these resolutions (some of which overlap), we think all are of interest to AFT delegates who agree with our caucus' mission statement. (There is a list of programs and meetings organized by our caucus that will address these issues on the calendar page.)
NOTE: Resolutions are
numbered as they appear
in the 2008 Proposed AFT Constitutional
Amendments and Convention Resolutions
go to resolutions on:
International
Relations Committee
USLAW |
IRAQ
| IRAN |
INT'L LABOR SOLIDARITY
Human Rights Committee
JENA 6 |
IMMIGATION
Political Action/Legislation Committee
SINGLE-PAYER
HEALTHCARE |
FIGHTING RECESSION
Labor and the Economy Committee
RENOGOTIATING NAFTA
Educational Issues Committee
ASVAB-TESTING |
K-12
Labor Education Conference
International Relations Committee
Resolutions calling for
AFT affiliation with USLAW
These resolutions will come before the
International Relations Committee
38. AFFIRM OPPOSITION TO THE IRAQ
WAR AND OCCUPATION
Submitted by
United University Professions, Local 2190
WHEREAS, at Its 2006 national convention the AFT went on record
opposing the war in Iraq and calling for the rapid end of the war and
occupation; and
WHEREAS, the war and occupation have continued nonetheless for the
past two years; and
WHEREAS, ending the war will require concerted organizational effort
following resolutions of intent; and
WHEREAS, U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW) is the organizational
vehicle for the labor movement to pursue the end of the war and
occupation in Iraq, it includes more than 160 union locals, central
labor councils, regional organizations, state federations, and
internationals, representing more than 4.5 million workers; and
WHEREAS, 26 AFT affiliates, including UUP, PSC, UTLA, and the
California, Oregon, and Wisconsin state federations of teachers are
members of USLAW to give organizational force to their resolutions of
intent to end the war:
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers reaffirm its
opposition to the war and occupation in Iraq and affiliate with U.S.
Labor Against the War to strengthen the organizational capacity of the
labor movement to succeed in this effort.
47. Support U.S. Labor
Against the War
Submitted by the
California Federation of Teachers
WHEREAS, U.S. Labor Against the WAR (USLAW) is an organization
that is the leading labor advocate opposing the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and
WHEREAS, USLAW has created a work plan for 2008, that includes
the following strategic priorities:
o Compel Congress to defund the war and bring all troops home now,
funding only their safe return, and reparations and reconstruction in
Iraq. Redirect spending to serve human needs and to promote peace and
justice at home and abroad.
o Strengthen activity in opposition to the war and occupation at every
level of the labor movement.
o Further develop USLAW solidarity with Iraqi unions and allied
organizations.
o Expand education in the labor movement to expose the consequences
for working people of a foreign policy that serves the interests of
corporations instead of the people.
o Oppose military action and subversion in Iran.
o Encourage labor movement solidarity with all the working people of
the Middle East, in particular Palestinians and Israelis, and
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers affirm and adopt the 2008 strategic priorities of USLAW,
and
RESOLVED, that the CFT participate in and encourage
local affiliates and individual members to participate in activities
that further those strategic priorities, including encouraging locals to
affiliate with and individuals to become associate members of USLAW, and
RESOLVED, that American Federation of Teachers establish relationships with
organizations of veterans and military families and build a network of
union members
RESOLVED, that the
American Federation of Teachers become affiliates of U.S.
Labor Against the War.
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Resolutions on the
Iraq war and occupation
These resolutions will come before the
International Relations Committee
39. Against the Current U.S. Policy of Permanent and “Preemptive” War. Submitted by the Professional Staff Congress, Local 2334
WHEREAS, the Bush administration, too often with bipartisan support, has used the idea of a “war on terror” to justify permanent and preemptive war and to provide political cover for:
- attacking and occupying other nations (Iraq 2003) and possibly launching future “preemptive” attacks (including against Iran);
- massively increasing U.S. investment in war and disinvesting in education, health care, environmental safety and other human needs;
- dismantling civil liberties, compromising constitutional rights and violating international law in the name of fighting terrorism;
- transferring billions of dollars from public treasuries to private corporations as unprecedented war profiteering; and
WHEREAS, the “war on terror” is an ideological construct that obscures the reasons for the real war—which include control over wealth and resources; and
WHEREAS, the Bush administration announced a “National Security Strategy” of “preemptive war” in September 2002 which arrogated to the United States the unilateral right of the “use of force before attacks occur” at any time against any country that it deems hostile, even if that country has not taken any aggressive action against the U.S; and
WHEREAS, in line with its “National Security Strategy” of “preemptive war,” the U.S. invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003; and
WHEREAS, the war in Iraq has so far cost the lives of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians; has displaced more than 4 million Iraqis, only a few of whom have returned in recent months, and has had a financial cost of over 2 trillion dollars; and
WHEREAS, the $720 million a day that the war costs could pay for 84 new elementary schools or 12,478 elementary school teachers or 95,364 Head Start placements for children or a year of free school lunches for 1,153,846 children or a year of healthcare for 423,529 children or homes for 6,482 families or 34,904 four-year scholarships for students at state universities (www.afsc.org/cost/); and
WHEREAS, the war has greatly increased the destabilization of the Middle East and Persian Gulf; and
WHEREAS, since the war in Iraq began, Iraq has become a new breeding ground for terrorists, prompting a September 2006 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate to state that “the Iraq conflict has become the ‘cause célèbre' for jihadists, breeding a deep resentment of U.S. involvement in the Muslim world and cultivating supporters for the global jihadist movement”; and
WHEREAS, the Bush administration, in the name of fighting a “war on terror,” has tarnished our constitution, debased our civil liberties, and brazenly ignored international law by:
- denying the right of Habeas Corpus to both non-citizens and citizens under the Military Commissions Act;
- sanctioning rendition, the practice of seizing unindicted individuals and shipping them to nations where torture is used as a method of interrogation;
- detaining almost 400 individuals at Guantánamo Bay without charges and without access to U.S. courts;
- allowing the CIA, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, to use “waterboarding,” a method of interrogation that simulates drowning;
- authorizing surveillance of U.S. citizens without a warrant, in violation of the Fourth Amendment;
- exercising the theory of a “unitary executive” to aggrandize presidential power and limit congressional oversight; and
WHEREAS, the longer the war in Iraq continues, the more privatized both destruction and reconstruction become, with many of the functions of the military contracted to private firms; with Halliburton getting more than $20 billion in Iraq contracts and Blackwater and the mercenary industry more than $4 billion; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that NYSUT go on record in opposition to the Bush administration’s theory and practice of permanent and preemptive war; and be it further
RESOLVED, that NYSUT demand that the United States immediately begin a complete withdrawal of armed forces from Iraq; and be it further
RESOLVED, that NYSUT call for a reversal of the current federal funding priorities that create austerity for labor by investing in unending war while at the same time taking funds from education, health care, environmental safety and other human needs; and be it further
RESOLVED, that NYSUT call for a restoration of the fundamental constitutional, civil and human rights that have been suspended in order to pursue the “war on terror,” and that NYSUT advocate for (1) the elimination of the practices of rendition, torture and warrantless surveillance, (2) the closing of the prison at Guantánamo Bay and (3) the repeal of the Military Commissions Act and the Patriot Act; and be it further
RESOLVED, that NYSUT consider the principles enunciated in this resolution when making endorsements in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections.
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41. End Middle East Wars and
occupation, war profiteering and erosion of human and civil rights
Submitted by
California Federation of Teachers
WHEREAS,
since the attacks on multiple United States targets on 9/11/2001, the
Bush administration and Congress have created policies, under the guise
of a “war on terror,” that led to lying and falsifying evidence in order
to justify attacks on and illegal occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq,
and
WHEREAS, these poliies have led to the erosion of civil
liberties and constitutional rights through increased surveillance of
American citizens without probable cause or reasonable suspicion; and by
detaining non-citizens and citizens (removing the right of habeas
corpus) - without charges and access to counsel; and by justifying
torture and what is call “enhanced interrogation,” and
WHEREAS, this policy invests in war to the detriment of support
of education, health care, environ-mental safety and other human needs,
and allows private corporations massive war profits, and
WHEREAS, since the United States invaded and occupied Iraq, the
United States has had casualties of nearly 4,000 dead and 60,000
wounded, and Iraqi civilian deaths have greatly outstripped those
numbers with estimates ranging from 81,500 (Iraqbodycount.org) to over
655,000 (Lancet, the journal of the British Medical Association), and
WHEREAS, the war has created a refugee crisis which peaked in
September 2007 when the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported
that in a nation with a population of just 27 million there were “4
million displaced Iraqis around the world, including 2.2 million inside
Iraq and a similar number in surrounding countries,” and
WHEREAS, the war in Iraq has cost the United States over $500
billion and will eventually cost over one trillion dollars (by
calculating the immediate cost of the war plus the long term cost of
health care for veterans, interest on debt and replacement of military
hardware), and
WHEREAS, the $720 million a day that the war costs could pay for
84 new elementary schools or 12, 478 elementary school teachers or
95,364 Head Start places for children or a year of free school lunches
for 1,153,846 children or a year of healthcare for 423,529 children or
homes for 6,482 families or 34,904 four-year scholarships for students
at state universities (source:
www.afsc.org/cost),
and
WHEREAS, the Bush administration's pretexts for further expanding
the war to Iran have also been shown to be false according to Department
of Defense memos, and
WHEREAS, it appears that there is little resolve in Congress to
end these policies of preemptive war, attacks on civil and human rights,
and increasing private profiteering, at the expense of innocent
civilians in the Middle East and the people of the United States,
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers state its opposition to the wars in and occupation of
Iraq and Afghanistan, and
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call for full and immediate
withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as removal
of the many permanent military bases there, and
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call for full restoration of
those constitutional, civil and human rights curtailed since 2001 by
working for (1) the elimination of the practices of rendition, torture
and warrantless surveillance, (2) the closing of the prison at
Guantanamo Bay and (3) the repeal of the Military Commissions and
Patriot Acts, and
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call for a reprioritizing of
federal funding from war and occupation to human needs such as
education, healthcare, housing, and the care of returning veterans, and
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call for an end
to private war profiteering, and that contractors be held responsible
for their crimes while engaged in contracted activities.
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Resolution on Iran
This resolution will come before the
International Relations Committee
45. Opposing U.S. Expansion of the War into Iran Submitted by the Professional Staff Congress, Local 2334
WHEREAS,
the American Federation of Teachers passed a resolution calling for an
end to the war in Iraq at its 2006 convention; and
WHEREAS,
preventing U.S. expansion of the war into Iran is in the spirit of AFT,
NEA and AFL‑CIO union resolutions calling for rapid withdrawal
from Iraq; and
WHEREAS,
the Bush administration's pretexts for expanding the war into Iran bear
a striking resemblance to its false pretext for the invasion and
occupation of Iraq (including selectively demonizing Iran while not
demonizing the equally repressive Saudi Arabia); and
WHEREAS,
expansion of the disastrous U.S. war in Iraq into its more powerful
neighbor Iran seems increasingly possible to informed observers of
differing political views and would lead to devastating loss of life in
Iran, a further drain on the education and health budgets in the U.S.,
and catastrophic consequences for the region and the world; and
WHEREAS,
the U.S. government National Intelligence Estimate report, released in
December 2007, makes it clear that there is no imminent danger
from Iran's nuclear weapons program, that Iran halted its nuclear
weapons program in 2003 and that Iran is unlikely‑-"becausc of
foreseeable technical and programmatic problems"‑-to achieve the
capabilitv to use nuclear weapons until after 2015, and
WHEREAS,
the continuing concerns about Iran's use of nuclear technology should be
addressed through negotiation and diplomacy; and
WHEREAS,
instead, the Bush administration and most of Congress have supported
keeping on the table all military options against Iran, including
nuclear strikes, and have sent carrier battle groups into the Persian
Gulf in classic colonial‑style gunboat diplomacy; and
WHEREAS,
the American Federation of Teachers stands in solidarity with our
sister and brother workers in Iran oppressed by the right‑wing,
anti‑labor Ahmadinejad regime, which would only be strengthened by
Iranian national outrage at a U.S. military attack:
RESOLVED,
that the American Federation of Teachers unequivocally
condemn the reactionary regime of Ahmadinejad, his anti‑semitic denial
of the Holocaust and his denial of the right of Israel to exist and his
oppressive policies against workers, women, ethnic minorities, gays and
lesbians; and
RESOLVED,
that the American Federation of Teachers also oppose any
U.S. military intervention in Iran, and, through its national
affiliates, the NEA and the AFL‑CIO, demand that the Bush administration
and Congress take all military options off the table in dealing with
Iran; and
RESOLVED,
that the American Federation of Teachers communicate this
resolution to the NEA, the AAUP and the AFL‑CIO and urge them to educate
and organize teachers, students, and union members to oppose U.S.
military intervention in Iran.
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Resolution on Int'l
Labor Solidarity
This resolution will come before the
International Relations Committee
44. International Labor Solidarity. Submitted by the University Professionals of Illinois, Local 4100
WHEREAS, the AFL‑CIO regularly participates in organizing activities overseas through its Solidarity Center; and
WHEREAS,
in an age of globalized, mobile capital investment, labor organization
must also be global and international, and
WHEREAS, the
predecessors of the Solidarity Center (such as the American Institute
for Free Labor Development) had a sordid history of supporting
repressive policies and governments abroad, working with middle-class
professional unions and business organizations in opposition to
movements of workers in the Third World and collaborating with covert
operations to destabilize democratically elected governments as an
accessory to the worst aspects of U.S. foreign policy, most notably, but
not exclusively, the U.S.‑engineered coup against the
democratically‑elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile, which
led to the brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, one of the most
horrific and murderous of the 20th century; and
WHEREAS, the past AFL‑CIO practice of supporting militaristic U.S. foreign policy in the hope that U.S. labor would gain from the competitive advantage of U.S. corporations proved counterproductive as well as unjust, enabling business to eliminate good union jobs in the U.S. at the same time as it has lowered labor standards and wages around the world and created desperate poverty in poorer nations; and
WHEREAS, in contrast to its noble history of struggling for racial and gender equality at home, the AFT in the past has advocated many of these unjust and counterproductive AFL‑CIO policies and stood behind aggressive U.S. military actions, including being slow to oppose the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of' people and ruincd the lives of many more; and
WHEREAS, U.S. corporations have shown minimal commitment to the general welfare of the people of the United States or the world, but only to the profits of their investors and salaries of their managers; and
WHEREAS, realizing this, the AFL‑CIO, under the administration of John Sweeney, has articulated a new policy of international labor solidarity; and
WHEREAS, the AFT and AFL‑CIO now stand in support of fair trade, international labor rights and humane immigration policy, and against the continued occupation of Iraq; and
WHEREAS, the AFT and AFL‑CIO are labor organizations with a proud history struggling for and winning greater democracy, equality, social justice and human rights, and
WHEREAS, the AFL‑CIO's Solidarity Center does much fine work, such as helping poor workers to organize and cooperating with unions in other countries to fight the scourge of AIDS, work that deserves to be commended and expanded; however, the AFL‑CIO has not thoroughly renounced its earlier policies, and serious questions remain about recent AFL‑CIO actions overseas, such as the possibility that its work in Venezuela abetted, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the failed military coup against the democratically elected government of President Hugo Chavez:
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers, in its role as a major member union of the AFL‑CIO, advocate that the AFL‑CIO strongly and equitably support all independent and democratic movements of working people abroad, even if they oppose current U.S. foreign policy, U.S. corporate interests or the institutions and interests of international capital; and
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers advocate that the AFL~‑CIO support movements for democratic worker‑owned cooperatives, such as the growing worker‑owned enterprises of Argentina; and
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers request the AFL‑CIO to unequivocally renounce any support it has given in the past to military coups and other repressive and undemocratic actions.
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Human Rights Committee
Resolution on Jena 6
This resolution will come before the
Human Rights Committee
28. A Teacher Union Campaign to Defend the “Jena 6.” Submitted by the Professional Staff Congress.
WHEREAS, the AFT Executive Committee in October 2007 passed a resolution, Denouncing Racism Surrounding Events in Jena, La., which stated, in part, that “the AFT has long been committed to the principle of true equality for all people, without regard to race, religion, color, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin,” and that “racism and racial discrimination threaten humanity by preventing fulfillment of basic human rights”; and
WHEREAS, the AFT has begun collecting signatures on a petition to the U.S. Department of Justice calling on the Department to “investigate this situation and take appropriate legal action to prevent its repetition anywhere in our nation, and to remove all rules, policies and procedures that encourage, protect, sanction and/or ignore racial prejudice”; and
WHEREAS, our sister AFT local, the United Teachers of Los Angeles, passed a resolution in November 2007 that “UTLA condemn the individual and systemic racist attacks against the Jena 6, in Louisiana, financially support their legal defense by giving them $1,000, and encourage teachers, parents and students to sign and circulate the NAACP petition that is found on their website…We must defend and stand together with any and all victims, especially students, of racism”; and
WHEREAS, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond called the noose-hanging and the heavy charges against the Jena 6 “an American outrage that demonstrates the continuing shame of racial division in our country. Join us in making it one of the last”; and
WHEREAS, the
events at Jena High School, according to the account on the NAACP
website (www.naacp.org/youth/college
WHEREAS, a large antiracist protest rally of at least 20,000 was held in Jena on September 20, 2007, a rally many commentators likened to “a new civil rights movement”; and
WHEREAS, although one defendant, Mychal Bell, accepted a plea agreement, reportedly under pressure, charges of second-degree battery are still pending against four defendants (the sixth being in juvenile court), so that a defense campaign is still needed; and
WHEREAS, unionized teachers in the American Federation of Teachers should build on the resolution passed by the AFT in October 2007 and set an example of organized workers’ opposition to racism, linking the egregious example of the Jena 6 to other racist injustices committed against black youth and other young people of color in the education system (such as discriminatory abuse of standardized tests), and in the criminal justice system (where young black men make up 50% of the prison population but only 6% of the general population); and
WHEREAS, following the appearance of nooses in Jena, nooses began to appear elsewhere in the country, almost always directed against African Americans, always signifying a threat, and—disturbingly—often in the context of schools or colleges; therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers condemn the noose-hangings at Jena High School and Columbia Teachers College, the delivery of a noose to a school principal in Brooklyn, and the display of nooses in other workplaces, communities and educational institutions: there is no place for racism in our schools, workplaces or communities; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers call on the Louisiana Governor and Attorney General to drop all charges against the Jena 6; and be it further
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers organize a Jena 6 defense campaign, in which our local unions would undertake such activities as publicizing the case, raising funds for the NAACP Jena 6 Defense Fund, collecting signatures on the NAACP petition to the Louisiana Governor and Attorney General, and unite faculty, staff, other workers, and students in vigorous opposition to racism in Jena and in all of our schools and colleges.
35, 36. Immigration. There are two immigration resolutions that are of interest to the Peace and Justice Caucus: 35. Support Immigrants, California Federation of Teachers; 36. Win the Right of Undocumented Students to Receive State Financial Aid to Attend College, Oakland Federation of Teachers, Local 771.
Political Action/Legislation Committee
Resolutions on Single-Payer
Healthcare
These resolution will come before the Political Action/Legislation
Committee
68, 71, 76, 77. Single-Payer Universal Healthcare/ Endorse HR 76 There are four proposed resolutions that call for single-payer universal healthcare and endorsement of HR 676, introduced by Rep. John Conyers and 90 co-signer into the House of Representatives as the United States Health Insurance Act (aka Expanded and Improved Medicare for All). These Overlapping resolutions are:
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68. Endorsing HR 676 -- Single-Payer Universal Healthcare, Chicage Teachers Union, Local 1.
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71. HR 676, United University Professions, Local 2190.
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76. Single-Payer Healthcare, California Federation of Teachers and the New Jersey State Federation of Teachers.
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77. Single-Payer Universal Healthcare, Seattle Community Colleges, Local 1789
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Resolution on Recession
This resolution will come before the Political Action/Legislation
Committee
Fighting a Serious Recession submitted by
West Haven Federation of Teachers,
Local 1547
WHEREAS, the U.S. economy is in serious trouble.
WHEREAS, real wages haven't increased for workers since
the late '1970's while CEO compensation has gone through the roof.
WHEREAS, manufacturing jobs have been off-shored by the hundreds
of thousands.
WHEREAS, Americans are drowning under a sea of sub-prime
mortgages, home equity lines of credit, second mortgages and explosions
in credit card debt.
WHEREAS Wall Street has taken trillions of dollars of wealth and
put them in a crazy quilt of speculative investments which are
collapsing all around us.
WHEREAS, the response by the current Administration is basically
to put the Federal Reserve at the service of those investment banks and
stock brokers whose greed has brought on the collapse.
RESOLVED that the federal government should take the
following emergency measures.
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Establish a single-payer health care system giving every American free high quality, affordable and accessible health care paid for by taxes (or "paid for through a combination of individual and employers contributions and taxes"). Get rid of our massively expensive health insurance and save money through sharply reduced administrative overhead, lowered medicine costs because the government's bargaining power with drug companies, and other economies of scale.
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Spend hundreds of billions to rebuild infrastructure and to refit foreclosed property into affordable housing. This will reemploy millions displaced from the construction, engineering, architectural and other trades. Rebuild the core of a US economy that was once the envy of the world.
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The government should assist Americans who have lost their homes and employment due to natural disasters.
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The United States government should refocus our resources to repair our economy and aid American citizens in coming out from under the massive debt that unemployment, expensive utility and fuel costs and high interest rates have fostered.
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No more money should be appropriated for fighting the Iraq war with only enough budgeted to bring back all our troops and contractors.
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Labor and the Economy Committee
Resolution on NAFTA
54. Renegotiating NAFTA submitted by the Lecturers' Employee Organization (LEO - Univ. of Michigan), local 6244
WHEREAS the “free market” model of economic organization embodied in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has resulted in the erosion of worker rights, reduced union bargaining power, declining investment in public services including public education, and deteriorating standards of living for millions of working people in the three NAFTA countries;
WHEREAS working people in general, as well as teachers, other educators, and our students and their families have seen their real wages fall and their job security decline as a direct result of economic dynamics induced by NAFTA and related forms of free market restructuring; and
WHEREAS these negative effects on our students and their families also negatively impact the conditions of our work and the learning outcomes that we are able to help our students to achieve;
RESOLVED that The American Federation of Teachers shall make known to the Democratic Presidential candidates our determination that:
A. NAFTA must be renegotiated or abrogated; if renegotiated, we must achieve the following:
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A new chapter that establishes continental worker rights and minimum continental environmental standards, enforceable by trade sanctions. Workers and unions must have the right to initiate an action against governments or corporations violating these provisions.
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A new chapter creating what the European Union calls “structural funds.” Among other things, this chapter will recognize the right to free, high quality public education. One of the structural funds set out in this chapter will be dedicated to ensuring that states and provinces with per capita income below a specified level will receive the supplementary transfers necessary to make the right to free, high quality public education a reality.
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A new labor mobility chapter that recognizes the right of any citizen of a NAFTA country to travel to, and work in, the other NAFTA countries. Quotas limiting the number of citizens eligible to work in another NAFTA country could be set initially and phased out over a maximum of seven years.
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Elimination of intellectual property chapter provisions that conflict with the imperative of affordable access for all to high quality, public health care. Provisions permitting agribusiness to patent traditional seed stocks and plant varieties should also be eliminated, and traditional knowledge of nutritional and pharmacological applications should receive some legal recognition and protection.
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Modifications to the auto sector chapter to restore the principles of the U.S.-Canada Auto Pact and to extend those principles to the United States and Mexico.
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Elimination of the investment chapter provisions that give NAFTA investors the right to seek compensation for any government measure that negatively affects investors’ “reasonably expected” profits, as well provisions preventing governments from requiring that NAFTA investors meet “performance requirements” designed to channel Modification of the agricultural chapter to (1) protect campesinos and other small-scale food producers from highly subsidized, industrial agriculture, (2) promote sustainable, organic agriculture, and (3) protect native crop varieties from contamination by genetically engineered crops.
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Modifications to the chapters regulating water and energy to ensure that national development objectives prevail insofar as they conflict with trade liberalization objectives.
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Article 103 should be altered to make it clear that the revised NAFTA provisions prevail to the extent of any conflict between them and the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements signed at the Marrakesh Ministerial meeting of 1994.
B. The process for negotiating what is being called the Security and Prosperity Plan (SPP) – which, among other things, aims to deepen many of the radical free market features of NAFTA – must be made fully transparent, and the agreement must be submitted to Congress for approval prior to implementation.
RESOLVED that the American Federation of Teachers will apply all due pressure to Democratic Presidential candidates to publicly adhere to these positions on NAFTA and other trade agreements.
55. Renegotiating NAFTA and Related Matters submitted by Los Angeles Faculty Guild, Local 1531.
This is virtually the same resolution as 54 -- word for word, except that it has an added resolved calling on "both Democratic presidential candidates' to provide position papers to the AFT and declaring that the AFT should support the candidate who "comes closest to supporting the positions in the first resolved."
Educational Issues Committee
Resolution on ASVAB Testing
3.
ASVAB-Testing Student
Protections
Submitted by the
California Federation of Teachers
WHEREAS the federal Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)
is given without
identification as a military recruitment tool to approximately 600,000
students in two-thirds of the high schools across the nation, and
WHEREAS the ASVAB was created by the Department of Defense (DOD )
to evaluate an individual's eligibility for military enlistment and is
designed to provide recruiters with a source of pre-qualified leads,
but is promoted for career exploration, and
WHEREAS many students and parents believe they are already
protected from having their private information shared with military
recruiters via the Opt Out option defined in Section 9528 of NCLB, and
WHEREAS the ASVAB allows the military recruiters to circumvent
Section 9528, and
WHEREAS individual schools have the option of withholding private
student information from military recruiters by selecting Option 8, an
internal designation the military uses, although statistics from the
U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command indicate that
WHEREAS Option 8 has become the blanket policy in several large
school districts including Los Angeles Unified and two districts in
Maryland, which allows schools and students to receive and use test
results for guidance purposes, and individual students can choose to
release their scores to military recruiters, and
WHEREAS unwanted military recruitment which often includes high
pressure tactics should not be consequential to the taking of any
assessment provided in public schools,
RESOLVED that the American Federation of Teachers, and American Federation of Teacher locals and members,
encourage and promote all ASVAB testing schools to use Option 8 to
protect student privacy and publicize the use of Option 8 in all ASVAB
testing scenarios, and
RESOLVED that the American Federation of Teachers use its media
publications to inform members of this resolution.
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Resolution on Labor Ed Conference
9. Support a
National K-12
labor education plan and conference
Submitted by the
California Federation of Teachers
WHEREAS, union density in the United States has fallen to levels
unseen since early in the last century, and
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WHEREAS, a strong labor movement is crucial to the preservation
and advancement of democracy, and to the betterment of the lives of
working people, and
WHEREAS, students need to know about labor history and the role
of unions in protection of workers' rights in order to make informed
decisions about their lives at work, and
WHEREAS, there are a growing number of local resources and
programs devoted to K-12 labor education and to new member orientation,
including those produced and facilitated by the the California
Federation of Teachers' Labor in the
Schools Committee, and
WHEREAS, these programs and resources, to be more useful and
effective, require support and coordination at levels beyond the
capacity of any one organization,
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers form a task force to develop policy recommendations to support and
coordinate K-12 labor education nationally, and that the
AFT thereafter call upon the AFL-CIO, the
NEA and other appropriate organizations to join this task force, and
RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers convene a national K-12 Labor
Education Conference within the next two years in order to acquaint
teachers, union activists and others with the best practices in the
field, and to begin implementation of a coordinated K-12 labor
education campaign, based on the task force's policy recommendations,
and that the American Federation of Teachers thereafter call upon the
AFL-CIO, the NEA, and other appropriate organizations to co-sponsor this
conference.,
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