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Guns or Butter? March April 2003 In January, SEIU International President Andy Stern wrote a letter to President Bush SEIU members, like other Americans, have a wide range of opinions about important policy issues, but we all care about human life and about our country. It is the working people of America and our children whose lives will be on the line if our government cannot resolve conflicts without war. In that spirit, we want to express our concerns and outline our principles: First, war involves enormous risks to our families and our communities and must be the last option, not the first. Many SEIU members serve in the Reserves, and many have relatives in the Armed Forces whose lives would be at stake in an expanded war in the Middle East. Additionally, any attack on Iraq runs the risk of sparking a new cycle of violence and provoking new acts of terrorism here at home, as well as distracting our government from combating terrorists abroad. A war also will drain away billions of our tax dollars at a time when our economy, our health care system, our schools, and vital state and local services desperately need to be strengthened. Second, the goal of our foreign policy must be to promote a safer and more just world—promoting peaceful, multilateral solutions for disputes. The U.S. should not take unilateral action unless our country or its close allies are under attack or face a clear, imminent threat. If we proclaim the unilateral right to attack and invade countries that have not attacked us, what is to stop others around the world form doing the same, creating a spiral of war that has no limits? Third, U.S. foreign policy must give high priority to improving the lives of people around the world. In the labor movement, we have known for generations that when there is no justice there is no peace. Americans must work with other industrialized nations to fulfill our obligation to help developing countries reduce hunger, homelessness, and preventable disease. Our country should promote democracy, education, and opportunity; negotiate new trade agreements that raise living standards and environmental protection in all nations; and focus on finding a just peace in the Middle East. Fourth, the rights and freedoms our government says it is fighting for abroad must be protected here at home. It is unacceptable to tell American workers in the Homeland Security Department or Justice Department or who screen baggage in airports that they are not entitled to the right to form a union that they have enjoyed for forty years. One of America’s greatest strengths is our basic civil liberties—including the right to free speech, to privacy, and to due process. Today, hard-working, taxpaying immigrants are being targeted, held without rights, and forced to live in fear in a country they love. It is in moments of crisis like these that we test our commitment to our fundamental constitutional freedoms. Our government’s current policies do not live up to these four tests. We urge you not to invade Iraq in violation of these principles and ask you to work with the Congress and the United Nations to set a course that will provide lasting security for all. That is the best way to honor those who died on September 11, who serve in our armed forces, and who work hard every day to make America work by providing the services our communities depend upon.
Sincerely, Andrew L. Stern, International President on behalf of the SEIU International Executive Board
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