LOS ANGELES--The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor unanimously passed a resolution at its January 27 meeting opposing the Bush administration's impending war on Iraq.

The resolution charges that the war is "a pretext for attacks on labor, civil, immigrant and human rights" and "a cover and distraction for the sinking economy, ongoing corporate corruption and layoffs."

It also lashes out at the USA PATRIOT Act, saying that it "serves to undermine labor's right to organize and fight anti-immigrant attacks by expanding the government's ability to detain non-citizens, to conduct telephone and Internet surveillance, and to carry out secret searches."

The Bush administration "has spearheaded a renewed assault on organized labor which includes use of the Taft-Hartley against dockworkers, excluding over 50,000 federal airport screeners' right to organize, privatizing nearly 200,000 federal jobs covered by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and removing collective bargaining rights from these employees."

The resolution concluded: "Therefore be it resolved, that the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor stand firmly against the Bush administration's drive to war and calls for a re-ordering of our national priorities which must include allocation of resources to provide jobs, education, health care, a clean environment and social justice.

"And be it further resolved, that the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor will work so that organized labor, the national AFL-CIO, and the many allies of working men and women take a stand against the USA PATRIOT Act and Homeland Security Act.

"And be it finally resolved, that the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor joins other labor organizations and community allies to actively promote and participate in activities opposing the Bush administration's drive to war."

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