Communist Web Monday 29th May 2000 9.30pm gmt Oakland event honors area activists By Herb Kaye and Marilyn Bechtel OAKLAND, Calif. - In a festive, colorful celebration of May Day and Cinco de Mayo, a wide array of groups joined the People's Weekly World earlier this month at a holiday event honoring unions and community groups engaged in struggles for workers' rights, for ending racism and discrimination, and for greater educational and cultural opportunities for working class youth. In the audience for the May 13 program at Mosswood Park Recreation Center were many area young people who had earlier participated in a labor-led march in San Francisco for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Judy Goff, executive secretary-treasurer of the Alameda County Central Labor Council, pointed proudly to the labor council's leading role in initiating a resolution calling for the AFL-CIO to take a strong position in support of the rights of immigrant workers to join unions without fear of deportation or other forms of retaliation. "That resolution," she said, "was later adopted by the state and national AFL-CIO and represented a big step forward for all working people." Clarence Thomas, chair of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union's East Bay Legislative Council, emphasized to the many young people present the benefits of belonging to a strong, democratic union like the ILWU. "Our union is not just concerned with getting benefits for our members," said Thomas, who heads the union's Port Commission. The union also works to guarantee good jobs and the needed job training for young people and to stop pollution generated in the community by the port's employers. Thomas stressed the ILWU's strong tradition of coming to the defense of workers and communities victimized by the global corporate giants, at home and around the world. Antonio Abarca and Greg Smith of Service Employees International Union Local 1877 called on the audience to support the sharp struggle now being waged by... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/oakland/oakland.html
