Please send letters condemning the recent attack on the CUT's office!

Our three member delegation from the UE has just returned from the World Social Forum meetings in Porto Alegre, Brazil. While we could (and will) write more at length about the many wonderful and interesting things which occurred there, we are contacting you now to inform you of an extremely disturbing event which transpired while we were there - an attack by ten uniformed men on the offices of the CUT, Brazil's largest and most progressive trade union federation.

At about two in the morning on February 2nd the night security officer at the CUT building in Sao Paulo was ordered to open the door by men dressed in civil police uniforms. He was then locked in a room while a truck without license plates was driven into the CUT's parking area. The men, armed with machine guns and other weapons, stole thirty computers, a safe and numerous documents from the building which houses the CUT's national headquarters, the Sao Paulo office as well as offices of many other federations affiliated with the CUT.

The robbery is the latest in a series of crimes affecting the CUT, including the murder of dozens of CUT trade unionists. For example, Aldanir dos Santos, a member of the CUT's national executive committee was brutally murdered last December. Other recent assassinations have included high ranking elected leaders of the CUT's close ally, the Workers' Party (PT): Sen. Toninho, mayor of Campinas, and Celso Daniel, Mayor of Santo André and Lula's campaign manager. None of these cases has yet been solved. (Luis Inacio Lula da Silva who is known simply as Lula is running for president once again in elections which are scheduled for October of this year. As you may know, as president of the metalworkers union from the industrial area around Sao Paulo, he was a leader of the strikes in the late 80's which involved over 3 million workers and marked the re-birth of the trade union movement. Along with other trade unionists he went on to found the Workers Party (PT), which now governs various cities and states and has elected dozens of representatives to the Brazilian Congress).

Although six of the computers have been recovered and some arrests have occurred, the CUT does not view this as a simple case of robbery, stating that it has "the characteristics of an act which has been planned and directed. It is hardly a coincidence that this has occurred during the World Social Forum, of which the CUT is one of the organizing bodies." The CUT also notes that the robbery occurred on the night following the approval of a national strike to protest labor legislation which would undercut rights guaranteed by Brazil's federal labor law.

It was not until we were in Brazil that we finally understood the broader picture, and that this attack has implications that go way beyond the CUT or even Brazil. Our time in Porto Alegre gave us some sense of what it would mean if the PT were successful in winning. We saw the support that both the local and state PT governments provided for the World Social Forum and learned how the people of Porto Alegre determine spending priorities for infrastucture and social programs. It was amazing to feel that the government was actually working for the people rather than against them!

But if you think that this only affects the people of Brazil, think about the implications for our hemisphere if the PT wins the presidency of brazil and the role that Brazil will play in determining whether the FTAA is approved! In our globalized world, what happens in Brazil will affect all of us.

We ask that you show solidarity with the brothers and sisters of the CUT by sending a letter protesting the attack on their office and asking for a rigorous and prompt investigation. It is important that our governments know that we are watching!

In Solidarity,
Carl Rosen, President, UE District 11
Jonathan Kissam, Secretary, UE District 2
Robin Alexander, UE Director of International Labor Affairs

The following letter was sent by UE President John H. Hovis, Jr. Please feel free to use it as a model or draft your own. If you want to use e-mails rather than faxes, the contact information is as follows:

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President: governo@brasil.gov.br
Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State: secretary@state.gov
Juan Somavia, Director-general of the ILO cabinet@ilo.org

If you wish to send us a copy, we will forward it to the CUT.

February 12, 2002

Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President
Federative Republic of Brazil
Via Fax: 011 55 61 411 2222

Dear President Cardoso:

On behalf of the officers and members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) I am writing to express our displeasure at the lack of a satisfactory response to the recent attack on the offices of the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT).

We have been advised that at approximately two o'clock in the morning of February 2, 2002 the offices of the CUT were broken into by ten men dressed in civil police uniform. They reportedly removed thirty computers, a safe and numerous documents from the building which houses the CUT's national headquarters in Sao Paulo, its Sao Paolo office, as well as the offices of other federations affiliated to the CUT.

As I am sure you are aware, this raid is the latest in a series of crimes affecting the CUT, including the murder of dozens of CUT trade unionists. Although we were pleased to learn that some of the computers have been recovered and arrests have occurred, we are concerned that this matter may be dismissed as a simple robbery by local officials.

Whatever the ultimate conclusion, the recent assassinations of trade union leaders, such as Aldanir dos Santos, a member of the CUT's national executive committee who was brutally murdered last December, and Celso Daniel, the Mayor of Santo André who was Lula's campaign manager, certainly convey an ominous message and suggest that a more serious investigation is warranted.

We ask that you take all possible measures to ensure both that a prompt and vigorous investigation is conducted and that future violence directed against leaders of the trade union movement and the Workers Party is halted.

We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
John. H. Hovis, Jr.
General President

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