On March 6, members of UE Local 667 joined BDS Pittsburgh and the Howmet Accountability Project at a rally outside of Howmet’s corporate headquarters on the city’s North Shore. The union and community members were demanding that the company, which produces specialty titanium parts, cancel its contract with Lockheed-Martin, the aerospace company which makes the F-35 fighter jets used by the Israeli military in Gaza and both the U.S. and Israel in their current illegal war on Iran.
Local 667 President Fritz Geist, left, with Local 667 member Jackson O'Connell-Barlow at the rally.
Local 667 President Fritz Geist spoke at the rally, and gave an update about Local 667’s “Co-ops Against Genocide” campaign to get their employer, the East End Food Co-op, to remove Israeli products from its shelves. “We are campaigning for a store-wide boycott of Israeli-sourced products at the Co-op until and unless Israel 1) immediately ends all wars and 2) ends its occupation of any foreign land in adherence with international law,” Geist told the rally-goers.
The campaign collected over 500 signatures from co-op member-owners, calling for a binding member referendum vote on the boycott. The signatures were submitted at the annual board meeting in November 2025. Since then, hundreds of member-owners have participated in board meetings and an email campaign expressing their outrage over the store carrying Israeli products and asking that the store adhere to their mission of democratic member-control and advancing an ethical food infrastructure. The board agreed to hold an advisory (non-binding) member-owner vote on the question, but Local 667 and member-owners are continuing to push for a binding referendum.
“We encourage member-owners and shoppers to commit to a personal boycott of Israeli products currently sold in the store while we continue to pressure the board to do the right thing and walk away from supporting genocide,” Geist said at the rally. “Together, through these seemingly small acts, we can apply collective pressure to stop the genocide in Palestine.”