Public Employee Press

Local 2627 says U.S. should end the war in Afghanistan

The Executive Board of Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627 voted unanimously Dec. 7 to call for an immediate end to the war in Afghanistan.

"This war is taking food out of our mouths and wasting the money we need to protect our jobs and public services that meet human needs," said Local 2627 President Robert Ajaye.

Ajaye is a Vietnam combat veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps. in 1967 and 1968. "In Afghanistan, after almost 10 years of war, there is no definite ending in sight," he said. "Our soldiers are suffering and almost 1,500 have died already. We are killing civilians - the 'collateral damage' might have reached a million by now. We need to bring our troops home."

In pressing for U.S. withdrawal, Local 2627 joins Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549, whose Delegates and Political Action Committee voted on June 7 and 8, 2010, to urge the government to get out of Afghanistan and to redirect the war spending to domestic needs.

"All of our locals have people who are serving there - members who have left their jobs and their families and are being devastated," Ajaye said. "My message to other union locals is to get behind the movement to bring our troops home."

The Executive Board of DC 37's 1.6 million-member national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is expected to vote on an anti-war resolution at its March meeting.

"Politicians and TV commentators are blaming public-sector workers for the country's economic woes," said Local 2627 First Vice President Gary Goff, who submitted the resolution. "Trade unionists need to talk about the elephant in the room - the immoral, endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that are costing hundreds of billions of dollars that should be used to rebuild our own country."

The complete text of the Local 2627 antiwar resolution is at www.Local2627.org/war.PHP.