By Larry Douglas
On July 26, 1993 the San Francisco Labor Council voted to oppose the US blockade of Cuba and endorsed the US Cuba Friendship Caravan which is delivering supplies to Cuba.
The council, which represents trade unions affiliated to the American Federation of Labor/Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO, the US equivalent of the ACTU), adopted a resolution reading as follows:
"Whereas organised labor believes that food, housing and education and health care are fundamental human rights, and;
"Whereas the current US trade embargo against Cuba makes it difficult for Cuban workers to have adequate food and medical supplies, and;
"Whereas the current trade and travel ban restricts our freedom to travel, and ending it will create jobs for US workers, and;
"Whereas there is a rapidly growing movement of support for ending the US embargo, including the recent call by 21 Latin American heads of state; the recent Johns Hopkins University report showing 73% of Cuban Americans oppose the trade embargo; and editorial support for ending the embargo by New York Times and San Francisco Examiner, and;
"Whereas the US-Cuba Friendship Caravan, led by Pastors for Peace, successfully broke the blockade of Cuba in November 1992, when 103 vehicle drivers from all over the US took 14 tons of medical supplies, food, bicycles, school supplies and Bibles, is scheduled to cross the Mexican border at Laredo on July 29, 1993, en route to Cuba, therefore be it resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council AFL-CIO supports the US-Cuba Friendship Caravan's effort to deliver humanitarian aid from the people of the United States to the people of Cuba, as well as other efforts to end the US ban on trade and travel with Cuba."
The AFL-CIO leadership presently support the blockade and has launched major attacks on Cuba as well as taking US government dollars to organise against politically against the Cuban government.
The AFL-CIO convention will take place on October 4, 1993.The San Francisco Labor Council is urging other city and state labor councils, as well as individual unions to pass similar resolutions for presentation at the convention.