New York City Labor Statement on September 11.

• Position: War for Oil - World Trade Center and Pentagon Attacks, 2001 - Brief Article

September 27, 2001

September 11 has brought indescribable suffering to New York City's working people. We have lost friends, family members and coworkers of all colors, nationalities and religions--a thousand of them union members. An estimated 100,000 New Yorkers will lose their jobs.

We condemn this crime against humanity and mourn those who perished. We are proud of the rescuers and the outpouring of labor support for victims' families. We want justice for the dead and safety for the living.

And we believe that George Bush's war is not the answer.

No one should suffer what we experienced on September 11. Yet war will inevitably harm countless innocent civilians, strengthen American alliances with brutal dictatorships and deepen global poverty--just as the United States and its allies have already inflicted widespread suffering on innocent people in such places as Iraq, Sudan, Israel and the Occupied Territories the former Yugoslavia and Latin America.

War will also take a heavy toll on us. For Americans in uniform--the overwhelming number of whom are workers and people of color--it will be another Vietnam. It will generate further terror in this country against Arabs, Muslims, South Asians, people of color and immigrants, and erode our civil liberties. It will redirect billions to the military and corporate executives, while draining such essential domestic programs as education, health care and the social security trust.

War will play into the hands of religious fanatics--from Osama bin Laden to Jerry Falwell--and provoke further terrorism in major urban centers like New York.

Therefore, the undersigned New York City metro-area trade unionists believe a just...