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I I ~, I~:' Without l1Ie Other March 1995 The Newsletter of the Minnesota Jobs with Peace Campaign I Special 10th Anniversary Edition Sparking a Movement. . . . BUILDING COMMON GROUND I The year 1995 is a special one for Minnesota Jobs with mon table to discuss ways to save jobs. The emphasis was not Peace, marking 10 years of rigorous effort, and many on job retraining or job creation but on pro-active strategies to proud victories, in our campaign to convert the military help companies move into new products. . economy. Minnesota Jobs with Peace worked closely with the Task Ten years ago, the words "economic conversion" were Force and economist Wilbur Maki at that time. Together, we unknown to most Minnesotans. Today, thanks to the end of the produced a report documenting that Minnesota would actually Cold War, Americans of all political persuasions are aware of gain 9,400 jobs if military spending were cut and shifted to I the need to reduce our economy's dependence on military social sectors. spending and find new, more secure ways to create This early work enabled Jobs Jobs. with Peace to develop the kind I Minnesota Jobs with Peace has helped bring this of allies the peace movement issue to the forefront of political debate. needed. In 1989, an historic part- Along the way, we accomplished one of our prima- nership be tween the Inter- ry objectives - building partnerships with labor, social national Brotherhood of Electri- ..ce advocates, low-income people and others who cal Workers Local 2047, and rically had been absent from the peace movement. Jobs with Peace was born. The work began in 1984, when Rep. Karen Clark This campaign - which drew (DFL-Minneapolis) introduced the first economic conversion national attention - was the first to involve shop-floor work- I bill in the Minnesota Legislature. Debate over the measure led ers in developing new, non-military product ideas for their to new understanding about the number of Minnesota busi- company. A committee of union members and supporters pro- nesses and employees whose fate was tied to the Department posed 12 specific, marketable products to save jobs at Unisys' I of Defense. defense plant in Saint Paul. Today, Unisys is researching two Those were the heydays of military spending, and many product ideas proposed by the committee. It is unclear what the political leaders doubted the need for a conversion bill. But the recent sale of Unisys' defense division will mean in this I next few years proved what Rep. Clark and other promoters of process. the bill had been saying - that mil- Today, the influence of Jobs with Peace can be found in itary spending is historically unsta- Minnesota Jobs many arenas: ble, and Minnesota should not tie with Peace has . The National Economic Conversion Activists Alliance I its economic future to the Pentagon helped bring has been formed to strengthen the call for economic conver- gravy train. sion in Washington, D.C. and develop a new legislative agen- In the mean time, Rep. Clark the issue of da. Claudette Munson, a Unisys production worker, IBEW and others founded Minnesota Jobs economic union activist and Minnesota Jobs with Peace board member, I with Peace. Local activists devel- conversion to serves on the founding Alliance board. oped ties with the National Jobs . A new statewide Defense Conversion Task Force, coor- with Peace Campaign, which was the forefront of dinated by Minnesota Technology, Inc., is developing strate- . leading voter referendum cam- public debate gies to help defense-dependent businesses and workers shift paigns in 86 cities. The campaigns into new lines of work. The Task Force resulted from legisla- called upon Washington to cut military spending and use the tion by Rep. Karen Clark and work by Minnesota Jobs with money to address urgent social needs. Peace. It replaces the original group convened by Dayton. . Minnesota activists believed that such initiatives would . Minnesota Alliance for Progressive Action (MAPA) con- not get very far unless the public - and politicians - could be tinues to build on Jobs with Peace's initial success in develop- convinced that military spending could be cut without eco- ing coalitions. MAPA was founded in 1989 as an outgrowth of I .ic hardship. With the help of Mark Dayton, then director Jobs with Peace's work with unions, social justice, and civil he Department of Energy and Economic Development, the rights groups. Today, MAPA is at the forefront of many social Minnesota Task Force on Economic Conversion was formed. justice struggles in the Legislature, including historic efforts For the first time, union representatives, business people, for campaign finance reform, tax fairness and human rights. I policy makers and peace activists came together around a com- continued on page 2