Veterans & Labor for Sensible Priorities

 

The campaign to generate veteran and labor support for the “People Over Pentagon Act” (H.R. 1134), sponsored by Congressmembers Barbara Lee, Mark Pocan and 18 others, is underway to move $100 billion from the military budget to funding social programs and dealing with climate change.   Our list of supporters among labor groups, veterans groups, and individuals continues to grow.

Our sign-on statement (please share: bit.ly/VL4SP-signon) has over 473 union member and veteran signatories. VFP members and other veterans: please sign-on if you haven’t yet.  Help us build this campaign by sending it to your contacts. Want more background on this campaign?  Here are details.

As of 8/1/24, 32 labor organizations and 16 Veterans For Peace Chapters have endorsed H.R. 1134 as part of the People Over Pentagon campaign.


LABOR ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING PEOPLE OVER PENTAGON

National Unions:

  • American Postal Workers Union (APWU)
  • National Union of Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE) 

National Labor Constituency Groups:

  • National Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW)

State-wide Union Organizations:

  • New Jersey Industrial Union Council
  • American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Wisconsin
  • California Federation of Teachers

Regional Labor Organizations:

  • Am Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) DC 47 (Philadelphia)

Local Unions:

  • American Federation of Teachers locals: Local 2026 (Philadelphia); Local 2121 (San Francisco); Local 2190 (United University Professionals, NY); Local 3220 (Madison, WI); Local 3544 (OR); Local 4848 (WI); Local 6352 (Glendora, CA)
  • American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Local 89 (Philadelphia)
  • Service Employees International Union Local 1953 (CT)
  • UNITE-HERE Local 634 (Philadelphia)

Labor Retiree Organizations:

  • AFL-CIO Philadelphia Labor Council Retirees; APWU Local 89 Retirees (Philadelphia); AFSCME DC 47 Retirees (Philadelphia); AFT Local 2026R (Philadelphia) Retirees; AFT Local 2121R Retirees (San Francisco) 

Regional and Local Labor Constituency Groups:

  • A. Philip Randolph Institute, Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter
  • Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Philadelphia Chapter
  • Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) Chapters: New York City, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, Southwestern Pennsylvania
  • Dorothy Day Labor Forum (Spokane)
  • Labor/Community Alliance of South Florida

For more information contact John Braxton (jwbraxton@gmail.com; 215/796-4933) or use this link: https://bit.ly/VL4SP-covermsg

VETERAN ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORTING PEOPLE OVER PENTAGON

National Organizations:

  • Veterans For Peace

Veterans for Peace Chapters:

  • Chapter 1 – Maine
  • Chapter 7 – Los Angeles, CA
  • Chapter 14 – Gainesville, FL
  • Chapter 27 – Twin Cities, MN
  • Chapter 31 – Philadelphia, PA
  • Chapter 55 – Santa Fe, NM
  • Chapter 63 – Albuquerque, NM
  • Chapter 69 – San Francisco, CA
  • Chapter 74 – Detroit, MI
  • Chapter 80 – Duluth, MN
  • Chapter 91 – San Diego, CA
  • Chapter 101 – South Bay/Peninsula, CA
  • Chapter 102 – Milwaukee, WI
  • Chapter 106 – Dallas/North TX
  • Chapter 112 – Ventura, CA
  • Chapter 132 – Corvallis-Albany, OR
  • Chapter 157 – North Carolina Triangle
  • Chapter 178 – No. Colorado
  • Chapter 180 – Fresno, CA

Check out the 4” x 6” card  https://tinyurl.com/VL4SP-palmcard that VL4SP has passed out by the hundreds at labor gatherings.

Model Resolution. Please read the model resolution for organizations, and work to get your union, VFP Chapter or other organization to adopt it.  Revise it as necessary to meet the needs of your organization and let us know when it is adopted by emailing labor@veteransforpeace.org.

From APWU national President:  Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union wrote in an article for the union newspaper

It is in the interests of postal workers and all working people at home and abroad to stop the madness of the bloated military budget and domination by the military industrial complex. As called for by APWU and AFL-CIO convention resolutions, let’s bring the war dollars home, insist that our tax dollars are used to improve our day-to-day lives and collective societal needs, such as health care, education, public transportation, affordable housing, childcare, food, clean water, addressing the climate crisis, and safe, good paying union jobs, including for veterans.”  

Flyer. Check out and share our flyer that shows a list of social programs that a $100 billion reduction in Pentagon spending could pay for: 

https://bit.ly/100billion-tradeoff-flyer

We welcome your questions, comments, participation, notification of VFP Chapter endorsements, and requests for speakers. Email: labor@veteransforpeace.org.

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