UE Political Action Updates

On February 22nd, the National Labor Network for Ceasefire held its first public event, a webinar with UAW president Shawn Fain and NEA president Becky Pringle. Shawn Fain was the first panelist to speak and took the question head on of why an international conflict should concern US workers. “Our fight is a fight for all of humanity, whether it is a contract campaign or an issue like this.”

UE is one of seven national unions which announced the formation of the National Labor Network for Ceasefire (NLNC) today, along with over two hundred local unions. The aim of the network is to “end the death and devastation” in the Middle East, and to expand support for the ceasefire among unions nationally.

“This is the biggest expression for peace by the labor movement in a full generation,” UE General President Carl Rosen told a press conference in February, as Chicago-area labor leaders successfully pressed their city council to pass a resolution in support of a ceasefire.

In the month since UE and UFCW Local 3000 initiated a labor call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, it has been signed by unions across the country, including the Chicago Teachers Union, UAW Regions 6 and 9A, SEIU-United Service Workers West (USWW), IBEW Local 520, and more. In calling for a ceasefire, U.S. unions are joining unions around the world, many of whom have also issued statements and taken action demanding an end to the violence.

UE today joined over 200 other labor, consumer, health, human rights, faith, and other organizations in a letter to President Biden urging him to fulfill his stated position against Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and eliminate ISDS terms in existing free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties. ISDS is embedded in numerous trade and investment agreements and has created a global governance regime that prioritizes corporate rights over those of governments, people, and the planet.