Support the UE Call to Build a Labor Party & Initial List of LCIP Campaign Endorsers

Update: At its membership meeting on December 19, IBT Local 808 (Teamsters Union, Long Island City, NY) voted to support the United Electrical Workers Union (UE) Call for Labor to “Lead the Resistance … and Get Serious About Building a Labor Party.”

[The following statement was adopted unanimously by the Continuations Committee of Labor and Community for an Independent Party (LCIP) on November 20,  2024. See endorsement coupon below.]

According to the corporate media and political pundits, on November 5 the American people dramatically shifted rightward toward fascism, dealing the working class an historic defeat. They are wrong.

What was defeated on November 5 was the orientation to the Democratic Party by the top officials of the Labor movement and oppressed communities  — with the false expectation that supporting Democrats can somehow be a bulwark against the rising tide of fascism, when the opposite is true.

True, working people and oppressed communities were dealt a serious blow. But while there is a growing movement developing toward fascism, there is still time to turn the situation around in favor of the working class and the oppressed. 

The working class and its unions and organizations have been sharply weakened by their policy of subordination to the Democratic Party, but the unions have been revitalized over the past couple of years by a protracted series of rank-and-file-led strikes across all industries. They have shown that they are capable of leading a fight against the MAGA assault. 

We the undersigned unionists and activists affirm that we cannot and must not let fascism catch wind. We cannot and will not retreat.

What is needed to put a halt to — and reverse — the corporate assault is for the labor movement to go on the offensive with strikes and mass actions, combined with organized steps aimed at pressing the labor movement to break with the Democratic Party and to anchor, in alliance with the organizations of the oppressed communities, the fight to build a Labor Party. And it must be a clean break from both corporate parties. 

No sooner had the November 5 election results been announced than the top leaders of the United Electrical workers’ union (UE) issued a statement that combined the call for mass actions and strikes with the call on Labor to build its own  political voice — a Labor Party.

Their statement reads, in part:

“For over half of a century, both major parties have been complicit in a corporate assault against working people. They have maintained their power, and a corrupt two-party system, by dividing the working class along lines of race, gender, and education. 

Project 2025, the 900-page blueprint for a second Trump administration, is the most dangerous political threat that the labor movement, and the working class, has faced in generations.

The labor movement simply cannot afford to go on the retreat. Our unions must be prepared not only to militantly defend workers, but also to lead a broad and militant social resistance to Trump and the Republican Congress. 

The anti-worker Republican agenda can be defeated. For this to happen, the labor movement must help lead such struggles.

This election has demonstrated, once again, that the current two-party system is incapable of uniting working people around a vision for progress. We reiterate the position taken by UE’s General Executive Board in September: 

“’Working people need an independent political organization to fight for our interests against the corrupt two-party system, and we call upon our locals and members, the rest of the labor movement, and our allies in other social movements to get serious about building a true political alternative, a labor party that can unite and speak for the working class.’”

This, of course, is not the first time in recent years that such a call for a Labor Party has been issued, only to see the proposal relegated to some future time. In 2017, the AFL-CIO national convention adopted a resolution for a Labor Party, which went nowhere. 

But this is do-or-die time. There may be no future for labor and its allies if they do not “get serious about building a Labor Party.” The bosses are hell-bent on destroying the trade unions all together. The clock is ticking.

We, the undersigned unionists and activists, support the UE’s call to action and will distribute it widely among our friends and co-workers — and within our unions and community organizations [please fill out the coupon below; a QR Code is in preparation]. Labor and Community for an Independent Party (LCIP), which is sponsoring this signature-gathering campaign aims to help get the Labor Party ball rolling. We can’t wait any longer! The time is now! — LCIP Continuations Committee

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ENDORSEMENT COUPON

[ ] I endorse the UE call for the U.S. labor movement to lead the resistance and get serious about building a Labor Party.]

[. ] I / my union / organization endorse(s) the UE call for the U.S. labor movement to lead the resistance and get serious about building a Labor Party.]

NAME

TITLE (for id. only)

UNION OR ORGANIZATION (for id. only)

CITY AND STATE

EMAIL ADDRESS

(please fill out and return to alanbenjamin2013@gmail.com

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INITIAL LIST OF ENDORSERS

(Titles and organizations listed for id. only)

IBT (Teamsters) Local 808, Queens, New York

Chris Silvera, President,  IBT (Teamsters) Local 808, Queens, New York 

Mark Burrows, Former Co-chair and current publications editor, current editor of Railroad Workers United (RWU), Chicago, Ill;

Nancy Wohlforth, Past president emerita (ret.), Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), Venice, Calif;

Ron Dicks, past regional director (ret.), IFPTE (professional and technical engineers), San Francisco, Calif;

Nnamdi Lumumba, Co-chair, Ujima People’s Progress Party, Baltimore, MD;

Donna Dewitt, Past president, South Carolina AFL-CIO, Charleston, South Carolina

Michael Carano, Teamsters Local 348 (retired), Tallmadge, Ohio

Desiree Rojas, President, Sacramento chapter, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), Sacramento, Calif;

Traven Leyshon, Regional Vice President, Vermont AFL-CIO, Calais, VT;

Mya Shone, Steering Committee, Socialist Organizer, Vallejo, Calif;

Linda Thompson, AFSCME Retirees Council, MA Green Rainbow Party, Boston, Mass

Jerry Levinsky, Organizer, Western Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Western MA.

Alan Benjamin, Editorial Board, The Organizer Newspaper, New York, NY;

Millie Phillips, Continuations Committee, LCIP, Oakland, CA;

Brandon Walker, Ujima, Baltimore, MD;

David Walters, retired member, IBEW 1245, Pacfica, Calif;

Dan Kaplan, Executive Director, AFT 1493, San Mateo, Calif;

Allan Fisher, Past president (ret.), AFT 2121, Santa Cruz, Calif;

Mark Vorpahl, Chief steward, SEIU Local 49, Portland, OR;

Connie White, Continuations Committee, LCIP, Long Beach, Calif.;

Sabrina Peña-Young, Continuations Committee, Labor and Community for an Independent (LCIP), Chicago, IL;

Sandy Eaton, Massachusetts Nurses United (ret.), Quincy, MA;

Don Bryant, Cleveland Peace Action, Cleveland;

Gary Votour, Treasurer, South Carolina Workers Party, South Carolina.

Jim Lafferty, Past president, Los Angeles, National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles, Califl

Donna Dewitt, Past president, South Carolina AFL-CIO, Charleston, South Carolina

Michael Carano, Teamsters Local 348 (retired), Tallmadge, Ohio