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. A message about the campaign has been sent to the Labor for Bernie list, labor activists on the US Labor Against War list, and other labor lists. Veterans for Peace e-News has published our message, and it was sent to all VFP chapter contacts.
Our sign-on statement (please share: bit.ly/VL4SP-signon) has over 300 signatories. Help us build this campaign by sending it to your contacts. Want more background on this campaign? Here are details.
A growing list of labor organizations (24 as of 2/19/24) have endorsed H.R. 1134 as part of the People Over Pentagon campaign.
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National United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America (UE)
- National Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW)
- New Jersey Industrial Union Council
- American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Wisconsin
- AFT Locals 2026 (PA), 2121 (CA), 2190 (NY), 3220 (WI), 4848 (WI), and 6352 (CA)
- Service Employees International Union Local (SEIU) 1973 (CT)
- Unite-Here Local 634 (Philadelphia)
- Retirees Chapters: Philadelphia AFL-CIO, AFSCME DC 47 (PA), AFT 2121R (CA), APWU Local 89 (PA)
- CLUW Chapters: New York City, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Southwestern PA
- Dorothy Day Labor Forum (Spokane)
- Labor Community Alliance of South Florida
Model Resolution. Please read the model resolution for organizations, and work to get your union and/or other organizations 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 a national union President: Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) 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 new 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, and requests for speakers. Email: labor@veteransforpeace.org.
To go deeper into these issues, please check out these excellent resources:
Growing the Labor Climate Movement From the Roots U[p
by Labor Rise - Climate Jobs Action Group
FROM A MILITARIZED TO A DECARBONIZED ECONOMY: A CASE FOR CONVERSION
By Costs of War Project, Brown University
Excerpt:
Looking at two case studies, HybriDrive and CALSTART, the paper illustrates how the military can redirect its weapons and technological production capacity towards civilian uses and decarbonize the U.S. economy.
Six Stops on the National Security Tour: Warfare Economies
Excerpt:
The U.S. military economy incorporates hundreds of American communities. This is the first book to connect our national security apparatus to the local level via deeply reported portraits of six carefully selected locations, including military Meccas and out-of-the-way places. They are woven into the warfare economy by bases, nuclear weapons labs, and production sites.