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.
Hell yeah! Break with the Democrats, dump the bureaucrats! For a workers party to fight for a workers government!
First of all, I’m a Bernie Sanders supporter. Even now, I think he was cheated out of the nomination and I find it very hard to switch my alligance. I applaud Painters Local 10 for taking this stand.
I am a retired Sheet Metal Worker from Local 105 in Los Angeles, I have never voted for anyone other than a Democrate. Thinking Green this time. I think we need a Labor Party.
Why now??? While I agree with the content of the resolution, why in hell wasn’t this done a year, or more ago, when it could have made a difference in the Sanders effort, built more grassroots support?
Yes, we need a workers/labor party, but this certainly isn’t the best time to attempt forming one. It’s an empty gesture at this point, more tantrum than revolution.
Regardless of the outcome of this presidential election, this is an issue that will not die. I salute IUPAT Local 10 and the author of this resolution, and I hope it doesn’t just end here. I hope other union members will raise this resolution in their own locals and try to get their locals to send messages of support to IUPAT Local 10 as well as getting personal messages of support. Here in Oakland, CA, that’s what I’m working on, including putting news of it on my blog site (oaklandsocialist.com). Hopefully, we can use this resolution to further this idea and start to get some concrete action around it.