[Name of Union] Resolution to Support Call for Strike/

Day of Action on March 8th for International Women’s Day

Whereas International Women’s Day on March 8th has its origins in the U.S. Labor Movement, as a part of the organizing efforts of women garment workers in New York marching and protesting against inhumane working conditions and low wages at the end of the 19th century, and was adopted as an international day of working women struggle in 1910; and

Whereas since last year there has been a renewed effort to reclaim that date as a national day of mobilization of working class women who perform vital paid and unpaid labor that sustains our economy; and

Whereas this year there was a national call published in The Guardian on January 27th, 2018 to organize on International Women’s Day a national day of action, comprising a one-hour strike or disruption of “business as usual” in as many workplaces as possible and mass evening convergences; and

Whereas the call signed by key leaders of the Women’s Liberation Movement proposes to all workers to “strike for labor rights, equal rights for all immigrants, equal pay and a living wage, because sexual violence in the workplace is allowed to fester when we lack these means of collective defence,” proposing to organize “a day of mobilization of black and brown women, cis and bi, lesbian and trans women workers, of the poor and the low waged, of unpaid caregivers, of sex workers and migrants”[1]; and

Whereas the Bay Area International Women Strike Committee has made a special call to the Labor Movement to join in and participate in the action: “We call on local unions, both elected officials and rank and file workers, as well as labor councils to actively engage with this re-emerging independent, non-corporate and grassroots women’s movement, for we believe our unions and working class women have been and should continue at the center of this struggle.”; and

Whereas we have seen for at least the last decade a renewed attack against women’s reproductive rights with numerous restrictions passed on abortion, a continued pay gap between men and women in the workplace and an endemic culture of sexual harassment in the workplace against which women are finally rebelling (#metoo); and

Whereas we recognize the importance of the Labor Movement as a whole to actively fight for women’s rights, for women constitute more than half of the working class and the mission of labor is to combat exploitation and all forms of oppression to achieve workers’ emancipation; and

Therefore let it be resolved that our union local [Fill the name here] endorses the call for action on March 8th, and will discuss in the workplaces how to organize a day of education, agitation and action for women’s rights, equal pay and against sexual harassment, violence and deportations; and

Let it be further resolved that [Name of our local union] endorses the evening rally in [fill either S.F. or Oakland] from 4:30pm to 6pm, and will advertise it to the membership and organize a contingent.

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