Call for a Revolution of Values

On the Eve of the Momentous Seattle World Trade Organization Meeting, a Call for a Revolution of Values

As a union member, I'd like to say a few words about Martin Luther King, Jr., and why it is important for the labor movement to honor him and live up to the challenges he gave us. We should of course remember that King was first tapped for leadership by E.D. Nixon, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in Montgomery, that King worked side by side with organized labor throughout his public career, and that his assassination came while he was supporting striking workers-AFSCME members-in Memphis.

The labor movement, at its heart, is a movement for social justice. We need to remember Dr. King, not merely as a civil rights leader, but as a prophet of social justice. Here is what King wrote in 1967, during the war on poverty, before the era of computers and de-industrialization, and decades before creation of the World Trade Organization forced us to think globally and act like members of an international movement:

King warned that the poor countries of the world were being dominated by foreign corporations. He called it neo-colonialism. Now, the rich countries, too, are dominated by large corporations. We can call that neo-colonialism, too. King challenged us to create an "international coalition of socially aware forces, operating outside governmental frameworks," as the way to fight neo-colonialism, and move governments to act on behalf of their citizens rather than the interests of big business.

Thirty years after King's death, the contrast between wealth and poverty is even more glaring. We hear that the CEOs of the biggest US companies make 419 times the pay of their average worker, and that the richest American owns as much wealth as the poorest 40% combined. We know that globalization is increasing inequality everywhere. We read about the American-based companies that contract with Korean-based companies to produce clothes in Honduras, and about workers there who were beaten and tear-gassed last Monday to break their union. We understand in our guts what the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions reports, that while "in theory US law provides for workers to have freedom of association, the right to join trade unions and participate in collective bargaining is in practice denied to large segments of the American workforce in both the public and the private sectors. "

Brothers and sisters, we still need King's revolution of values that looks uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth, and the unequal distribution of power that flows from it. We need the kind of campaigns King led. We should remember that King's last campaign, the Poor People's Campaign, was designed to unite the poor and workers of all races to put pressure on our government for change. And in this global era, we need to pressure not only our government, but also power centers where the rules of the global economy are being dictated.

King's call for international coalitions is being heard. When the World Trade Organization meets in Seattle in November, American steelworkers will be in the streets with Mexican assembly workers, Indian farmers, South American environmentalists, and European consumer advocates, marching with righteous indignation.

On your tables are copies of excellent materials from the AFL-CIO on the WTO summit. They include a fact sheet, a petition, and a resolution you can bring before your local, your labor council, or perhaps to candidates for public office. You can get a complete packet, with an excellent booklet on "workers' rights at the WTO and in US Trade Policy" from the AFL-CIO in Washington. You can invite me or other members of the NH Fair Trade Campaign to speak at local meetings.

Together we will send a message that the needs of global business should not take precedence over the needs of our communities for decent jobs, a healthy environment, human rights, and democracy. Together we can live up to the challenge that Dr. King left us. Thank you.