Contents: 1) Proposal Summary • 2) Background: Labor Conditions in South Africa • 3) The LCAA and Solidarity Work with U.S. Labor • 4) 1988 Activities • 5) 1989 Program • 6) Organizational Operations • 7) Funding Resources and Request • Attachments • a) 1989 Annual Budget Projection • b) LCAA Newsletters • c) Africa Fund 501.c.3 verification • The proposal says the Labor Committee Against Apartheid (LCAA) was formed five years ago by unions leaders in the New York area to build solidarity between the labor movements of the U.S. and South Africa. The proposal say the Committee has grown considerably in the past five years, serving four major purposes: to support and defend...
Contents: 1) Proposal Summary • 2) Background: Labor Conditions in South Africa • 3) The LCAA and Solidarity Work with U.S. Labor • 4) 1988 Activities • 5) 1989 Program • 6) Organizational Operations • 7) Funding Resources and Request • Attachments • a) 1989 Annual Budget Projection • b) LCAA Newsletters • c) Africa Fund 501.c.3 verification • The proposal says the Labor Committee Against Apartheid (LCAA) was formed five years ago by unions leaders in the New York area to build solidarity between the labor movements of the U.S. and South Africa. The proposal say the Committee has grown considerably in the past five years, serving four major purposes: to support and defend the, South African labor movement in the struggle against apartheid, recognizing that apartheid is an economic system built upon the forced labor of black workers and sustained by the denial of their human and labor rights; to provide ongoing contacts and forums for the development of independent, bilateral relations between American unionists and their South African counterparts, fostering joint efforts to improve labor conditions among common employers and industries; to educate and mobilize American union members to become an active part of the U.S. anti-apartheid movement, influencing public opinion and government policy on issues such as divestment, sanctions, and political repression; to activate progressive sectors of the American labor movement to promote AFL-CIO policies towards South African unions that support their role in the liberation struggle and respect their right to self-determination. The proposal says the LCAA was formed in June 1983 by union leaders in the New York area, following a United Nations conference on South Africa's emerging labor movement; the Committee was a direct response to the call by South African unionists for international support in this period of dynamic union growth and escalating confrontation with the apartheid regime. The proposal says the black trade unions, which won legal recognition in 1979, have played an increasingly central role in challenging these conditions and in leading the broader political struggle. The proposal says the years 1979-84 were a period of widespread industrial unrest and rapid organizing gains, particularly in the key sectors of mining, auto and metals, food and commercial services. The proposal says a second major development has been the political role taken by the leading unions in protests against the apartheid system; since the State of Emergency was first imposed in 1985, organized workers have been in the forefront of political strikes and demonstrations, community organizing, and coalition building. The proposal says In February 1988, the apartheid government responded to COSATU's role by barring the federation from all political activity; at the same time, the government completely banned the UDF and 16 other anti-apartheid organizations. The proposal says this summer, the government passed a draconian anti-labor bill which repealed most of the legal rights won by unions in the past ten years, particularly eroding the legal right to strike. The proposal says more than 8,000 shop stewards and elected officials have been detained and imprisoned under the State of Emergency decrees since 1985. The proposal says recognizing the urgency and significance of the labor struggle in South Africa, the LCAA has sought to build an active core of direct support among unionists in the New York area, and to encourage the formation of similar groups nationwide. The proposal says in regard to South Africa, progressive unionists seek to advance AFL-CIO policies which directly oppose apartheid, such as the international boycott against Shell Oil; they seek to change policies which are ineffective or negative; iin fact, much progress has been made on these issues, signaled by the AFL-CIO's forceful support in 1988 for passage of the Comprehensive Sanctions Bill. The proposal says public campaigns include Justice for Mayekiso, Shell Boycott, Comprehensive Sanctions, City Purchasing, Action Alert Network, and Visits and Exchanges. The proposal says the LCAA has been the lead organization among a growing network of anti-apartheid labor committees across the country. The proposal says we work closely with the newly formed Illinois Labor Network Against Apartheid in Chicago and with the Philadelphia LCAA; both distribute our newsletter and collaborate on tours by South African unionists; we are also in contact with labor committees that are in various stages of formation in Detroit, Cleveland, the Bay Area, Boston, Connecticut, Washington DC, Seattle and Arizona. The proposal discusses international worker solidarity, COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions), migrant labor status, employers, the right to strike, shop-floor organization, collective leadership, NACTU (National Council of Trade Unions), the United Democratic Front (UDF), the National Education Crisis Committee (NECC), national stay-aways, May Day, Soweto Day, union activists, government repression, the AFL-CIO Department of International Affairs (DIA), the Cold War, bilateral relationships with south African labor representatives, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the Chemical Workers Industrial Union (CWIU), the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union of South Africa (ACTWUSA), Moses Mayekiso, Shell Oil/Royal Dutch Petroleum, Mobil Oil, boycott activities, City Comptroller Harrison Goldin, the Shell shareholder campaign, December 10, Human Rights Day, Local Law 19, Ruth Messinger, Chevron, Texaco, labor rights practices, disinvestment, union education, coalition building, the United Nation's Center Against Apartheid, the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), the New York Labor/Religious Coalition, the New York Anti-Apartheid Coordinating Council, the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), Stanley Hill. AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), Vicki Williams, the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU), Kate Pfordresher, CWA (Communication Workers of America), UAW (United Auto Workers), the Sullivan Principles, corporate disinvestment, and The Africa Fund.
