Vermont State Labor Council AFL-CIO issued the following announcement.
GENERAL STRIKE TO DEFEND OUR DEMOCRACY – NO TO FASCISM – VERMONT AFL-CIO PROPOSED RESOLUTION TO NATIONAL AFL-CIO
Last night the Vermont AFL-CIO Executive Board, led by the progressive United! slate, voted to advance the following resolution calling for the National AFL-CIO to take steps to organize a General Strike in the U.S. in 2024 should our republic again be threatened by a rightwing coup. The proposed document also calls on the National AFL-CIO to actively organize against a rising fascism in the U.S. The resolution will be submitted to the National AFL-CIO Resolutions Committee in the coming days for consideration at the AFL-CIO Convention in PA in June.
THE AFL-CIO SHALL FIGHT TO DEFEND OUR DEMOCRACY!
If Democracy In The U.S. Comes Into Crisis We Shall Organize a General Strike!
Adopted By The Vermont AFL-CIO on April 14, 2022
By Vote of The Executive Board For Consideration of The National AFL-CIO At The 2022 Convention, Philadelphia, PA
Whereas in the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. election, where Democratic Joe Biden won, our country faced the very real threat of an undemocratic fascist coup by the Republican Trump Administration;
Whereas the threat of a Trump coup was taken seriously by a numerous political figures such as U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark A. Milley & other Generals;
Whereas a number of AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils and State Labor Councils took such a threat seriously and rightly took steps to defend democracy in our Republic should such a coup come to fruition;
Whereas the Trump Administration, although unsuccessful, took unprecedented and dangerous steps to implement their coup including but not limited to baseless court actions to reverse the election results, attempts to manipulate the Electoral College, efforts to halt the certification of the election, consideration of a
declaration of martial law, and encouragement of armed violent actions by fascist civilian supporters;
Whereas the violent far right January 6th insurrection in our Capital showed just how precarious our democracy is;
Whereas the threats to democracy in the U.S. as experienced in 2020 and January 2021 have not sufficiently subsided and fascism remains on the rise throughout the U.S.;
Whereas it is rational to anticipate that the 2024 Presidential election (and those beyond) may likewise carry with it a new coup threat from fascist and far right elements;
Whereas the power of the Labor Movement and the working class is in our labor, and our strongest weapon is the General Strike;
Whereas the AFL-CIO, the labor Movement, and the working class generally must always be ready to defend democracy in our Republic by any means necessary;
Whereas the AFL-CIO is anti-fascist and is not only committed to defending the democracy we have but additionally to the struggle to achieve a more direct participatory democracy in the United States;
Therefore Let It Be Resolved that should democracy in the U.S. ever again come under existential threat, the AFL-CIO shall call for and organize a nationwide General Strike in order to defend democracy;
Let It Be Further Resolved that should there be a coup attempt in 2024 the AFL-CIO shall call for a General Strike;
Let It Be Further Resolved the National AFL-CIO calls on and encourages State Labor Councils, should the need to defend democracy arise, to take what steps they deem necessary to carry out a General strike;
Let It Be Further Resolved that the AFL-CIO shall commit itself to combating the rise of fascism in the United States and the National AFL-CIO President, working with the Executive Board, shall form an anti-fascism taskforce which shall meet in order to formulate a plan of action to confront the rise of this dangerous ideology of hate. And further that this taskforce shall communicate its recommendations to all affiliated State Labor Councils no later than May 1, 2023.
Click on the following link to read the progressive platform of the Vermont AFL-CIO (Ten Point Program For Union Power, also known as The Little Green Book): https://vt.aflcio.org/news/vermont-afl-cio-ten-point-program
Original source can be found here.
