On October 31, the UE National Officers published an op-ed in In These Times on Palestine and Gaza. They explain why, even beyond the prospects of a ceasefire, UE is calling for an end to US military aid to Israel — and why other unions should be working towards the same thing.
On Tuesday afternoon, delegates unanimously endorsed a resolution, “End the Genocide in Palestine,” which demands that the U.S. government immediately cease all military aid to Israel, and instead pressure Israel to end its genocide against the Palestinian people. The resolution also reaffirms UE’s support for the worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which UE first endorsed in 2015.
During UE’s 78th convention, rank-and-file delegates passed the resolution “For Jobs, Peace, and a Pro-Worker Foreign Policy.” It calls on the union at all levels to inform and engage members about the need to change U.S. foreign policy to promote diplomacy, democracy, and workers’ rights. It further directs members to promote involvement in labor-based efforts to effectively create that change. Over the past year, Local 667 and Local 1186 have both put that resolution into action.
The recent announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza is an initial, but tenuous, step towards a just and lasting peace in Palestine. Far more is needed, and it is imperative to keep pressure on the U.S. government to ensure that the ceasefire is made permanent, that reconstruction of Gaza is adequately funded, and that the Israeli government end its occupation of the West Bank and its threats and military aggression against other countries in the region.
“It’s good that there’s a cease-fire, but it took way too long to get there, and that is largely the fault of U.S. government policy,” UE general president Carl Rosen tells In These Times. Pointing to the continuation of settler violence and Israeli military attacks in the West Bank in the days since the Gaza cease-fire began, along with Israel’s “bellicose approach” to neighboring countries like Syria and Lebanon, Rosen says, “there’s a lot of work to do to bring peace to that area and U.S. labor continues to have an interest in making sure that happens.”
The National Labor Network for Ceasefire, made up of unions representing over half of all U.S. union members, is calling on local unions and individuals to join UE, UAW, and other national unions in demanding that the President and Congress end lethal military aid to the Israeli government, in order to secure an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate considered three “joint resolutions of disapproval,” proposed by long-time UE ally Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), which would have blocked U.S. sales of offensive weaponry to the Israeli military. The resolutions, in Sanders’ words, “are aimed at offensive weapons that have been used to devastating effect against civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. They would not affect any of the systems Israel uses to defend itself from incoming attacks.”
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 no other country is it more true that we, the workers, have a direct say in the plight of Palestinians,” declared Janvi Madhani of UE Local 197-Teachers and Researchers United at a press conference yesterday in the nation’s capital. “Our hard-earned tax dollars go directly towards the bombs being dropped in Gaza but not towards healthcare, housing, or education at home.”
Madhani was representing UE at a press conference, Unions for Ceasefire Now, organized by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO).
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.