Fight Back News Service is circulating the following letter of solidarity from the Salvadoran Labor Front, a federation made up of 27 trade unions, to striking members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. We urge other unions in the United States and internationally to offer similar support.

El Salvador

18 October 2005

Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association – AMFA

Presente

Brothers and sisters, compañeros and compañeras:

In the name of the Frente Sindical Salvadoreño (Salvadoran Labor Front) receive solidarity and fraternal greetings to the members of AMFA that are on strike against the anti-union policies of Northwest Airlines.

The Salvadoran Labor Front is a federation of 27 unions that have made the decision to struggle together against the policies of transnational capital. Currently, we are struggling for a livable wage and dignified work for Salvadoran women and men. We are working against the privatization of public services, against the high cost of living and against the neoliberal policies that each day create more poverty and a greater concentration of wealth.

We understand that the members of AMFA have been on strike since the 19 of August and that you are confronting one of the most recalcitrant corporations in the U.S. Northwest is trying to negate the rights and victories that unions have won through decades of hard work. A defeat for the mechanics will open the door for the destruction of other unions in the airline industry, as well as unions in other industries.

Your struggle is important not only for yourselves, but it is significant for the entire labor movement in the U.S. and around the world. Northwest wants to outsource the work of the mechanics to other countries, including El Salvador. El Salvador is a country where there are ongoing violations of human and labor rights. It’s clear that if Northwest does not respect the unions that already exist at the company, they will not permit the unionization of their international locations and they will not respect international labor laws.

On this occasion, the members of the FSS would like to express our steadfast solidarity with you. Only through working class solidarity can we stop the strikebreaking and other attempts to dismantle unions. Only through this solidarity can we build a worldwide labor movement. Your struggle is our struggle. We anxiously await word on what we can do to help you, within the context of our modest resources.

Long live the Northwest workers!

Long live the labor movement!

Long live international solidarity!

[Signed by the general secretaries of the member unions of the FSS ]

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