Category Archives: BDS

U.S. Labor Must Stand With Palestine! (Updated Endorsers)


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U.S. Labor Must Stand With Palestine!
Labor for Palestine, Nakba Day, May 15, 2021

As workers, labor, and anti-apartheid activists, we join millions around the world to unequivocally condemn Israel’s genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people: mass evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of Jerusalem, storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque, waves of state-sponsored violence throughout the West Bank and the ’48 areas (stolen from Palestine in 1948), and merciless bombardment of Gaza that has already killed and wounded hundreds of people, many of them children.

Recent reports by B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch only belatedly acknowledge what Palestinians have always said: this is not an “Arab-Israeli conflict,” an “Israel-Hamas war,” “communal clashes,” or a “civil war,” but rather another chapter in more than a century of Zionist settler-colonialism — as symbolized by Israel’s very establishment through the uprooting and ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba (“Our Catastrophe”), whose 73rd anniversary is today, May 15, 2021.

These crimes are only possible because of $3.8 billion a year (or $10+ million *per day*) in bipartisan US military aid that gives Israel the guns, bullets, tanks, ships, jet fighters, missiles, helicopters, white phosphorus and other weapons to kill and maim the Palestinian people.

This is the same system of racist state violence that — with direct Israeli support — brutalizes BIPOC and working class people in the United States and around the world. With Israel’s knee on their neck, Palestinians can’t breathe since 1948, and we unconditionally stand with their resistance in all parts of Palestine, just as they have stood with our struggles for Black and Brown Lives, Standing Rock, migrant rights, and beyond. 

We urge workers and labor bodies in the US to join the growing mass protests against apartheid Israel, and to support the Day of Action in Solidarity with the Palestinian Uprising and General Strike: Tuesday, May 18. We uplift the Italian dockworkers who refused to ship weapons to Israel on April 14, thereby answering the urgent May 13 appeal for international solidarity, signed by Palestinian trade unions, to support the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS).

BDS is inspired by the worldwide divestment campaign that helped topple apartheid South Africa, and reflects decades of Palestinian boycott and mobilization against Israeli colonization. It requires not only an end to the 1967 Israeli occupation, but an end to Israeli occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return. 

On this 73rd anniversary of Nakba Day, as Palestinians courageously resist brutal Israeli attack, we urge the labor movement to respect the BDS picket line by:

• Endorsing BDS, along with UAW 2865, the Connecticut AFL-CIO, the United Electrical Workers, IWW, and other US labor bodies, and with labor organizations around the world, who have already done so.

• Ending, once and for all, US labor officialdom’s long and shameful complicity in Zionism by divesting labor bodies from Israel Bonds, and severing all ties with Israel’s racist labor federation, the Histadrut, and its US mouthpiece, the Jewish Labor Committee.

• Mobilizing our collective power at the workplace, as demonstrated by dockers in South Africa, India, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, Italy, the ILWU on the West Coast of the United States who have refused to handle Israeli cargo, and AROC’s Block the Boat campaign against an upcoming Zim Lines arrival at the Oakland Port.

AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL: 
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE!
________________________________

On behalf of Labor for Palestine
(organizational affiliations listed for identification only)

Suzanne Adely, Al-Awda-NY; Arab Workers Resource Center; Food Chain Workers Alliance (staff); President-Elect, National Lawyers Guild; 

Monadel Herzallah, Arab American Union Members Council

Ruth Jennison, Department Rep., Massachusetts Society of Professors, MTA, NEA; Co-Chair, Labor Standing Committee Pioneer Valley DSA

Lara Kiswani, Executive Director, Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)

Michael Letwin, Former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325; Organizing Collective, USACBI: US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel; DSA Palestine Solidarity Working Group

Clarence Thomas, Co-Chair, Million Worker March; Executive Board, ILWU Local 10 (retired)

Endorsements (as of May 23, 2021)

Organizations
Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO
AFSCME 3800 – UMN Clerical Workers Union
ALAA/UAW Local 2325, Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem Union, Family Defense Practice Unit
DSA AfroSocialist & Socialists of Color Caucus
DSA Palestine Solidarity Working Group
Black Attorneys of Legal Aid (BALA) Caucus, ALAA/UAW 2325
Attorneys of Color of Legal Aid (ACLA) Caucus, ALAA/UAW 2325
LGBTQ+ Caucus, ALAA/UAW 2325
CUNY Adjunct Project
Labor Against Racist Terror
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
CAIR-NJ
Central Jersey DSA
NYC DSA Labor Branch

Individuals (list in formation; organizational affiliations listed for identification only)

  1. Daniel Ashworth, ALAA/UAW 2325
  2. Ellyn Kessler, ALAA/UAW 2325
  3. David Klein, California Faculty Association (CFA)
  4. Steve Brier, PSC-CUNY, AFT Local 2334; School of Labor & Urban Studies, CUNY
  5. Susan Morris, Former Executive Board Member, ALAA/UAW 2325 (Retired)
  6. Lisa Edwards, ALAA/UAW 2325
  7. Jamila Hammami, Steward, Co-Organizer for Labor & External Relations, CUNY Graduate Center PhD Social Welfare Program, PSC-CUNY
  8. Ryan Kelly, National Writers Union
  9. Nora Carroll, ALAA/UAW 2325
  10. Lauren Restivo, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  11. Michael Shannon, ALAA/UAW 2325
  12. David Sole, Past President, UAW 2334 (Retired)
  13. Erin Tomlinson, ALAA/UAW 2325
  14. John King, UAW-ACT 7902
  15. Dennis Gallie, UAW 249 (Retired)
  16. Goetz Wolff, Board Member, UC-AFT 1474 (UCLA); LA County AFL-CIO
  17. Ed Kinchley, Delegate, SF Committee on Political Education (COPE), SEIU 1021; Delegate, SF Labor Council
  18. Win Heimer, A&R, AFT 4200R
  19. Azalia Torres, Former Executive Board Member, ALAA/UAW 2325 (Retired)
  20. Eli Nadeau, SENS UAW 7902
  21. Susan Stout, Unifor 2002 (Retired)
  22. David Walsh, NALC 214; Delegate, SF Labor Council
  23. Dan Kaplan, Executive Secretary (retired), AFT 1493
  24. Dave King, Co-Chair, Climate Jobs PDX
  25. Lauren S. King, Climate Jobs PDX; Portland Jobs with Justice
  26. David Clennon, Convention Delegate, Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA
  27. Judith Ackerman, AFT and 1199SEIU
  28. Amy Muldoon, CWA 1106
  29. Val Sanfilippo, Retired Steward, SEIU 221
  30. Francis Cook, UFT, AFT Local 2; MORE Caucus (Movement of Rank and File Educators in the UFT)
  31. Hayat Bearat, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  32. Milad Momeni, CLSWU
  33. David Laibman, PSC-CUNY (retiree chapter)
  34. Mike Gimbel, AFSCME 375, Retired Executive Board member
  35. Elizabeth-Ann Tierney, Alternate Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  36. Ayami Hatanaka, ALAA/UAW 2325
  37. David McKeown, IBEW Local 6 (retired)
  38. Greg Giorgio, Delegate and Secretary, IWW Upstate NY Regional
  39. Carol Elaine Gay, President, NJ State Industrial Union Council; CWA retiree
  40. Alexander Hu, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  41. David Letwin, Executive Board Member, Rutgers AAUP-AFT Local 6324
  42. Alexandra Smith, ALAA/UAW 2325
  43. Aaron Goodwin, UAW 2865
  44. Diana Dooley, IBEW Local 6
  45. Gabriel Camacho, Political Director, UFCW Local 1445; LCLAA member at large
  46. Ron Jacobs, Steward, AFSCME 1343
  47. Naomi Sharlin, UFT, AFT Local 2
  48. Nicole Camera, UFT, AFT Local 2; MORE Caucus (Movement of Rank and File Educators in the UFT)
  49. Mark D. Stansbery, Board Member and Chair of Organizing and Mobilization, CWA 4502; Ohio AFL-CIO and Central Ohio Labor Council
  50. Jane Rubio, UFT, AFT Local 2
  51. Joan Hwang, Organizer, Workers Assembly Against Racism
  52. Rebekah McAlister UFT, AFT Local 2
  53. Jennifer Kovacs, ALAA/UAW 2325
  54. Hollis Higgins, NALC Branch 442 (retired)
  55. Leah Martin, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  56. Danielle Bullock, UFT, AFT Local 2; MORE Caucus (Movement of Rank and File Educators in the UFT)
  57. Brian Lewis, Steward and Delegate, AFSCME DC37, Local 375; DC37 Progressives; NYC-DSA Labor Branch
  58. Malcolm Sacks, UFT, AFT Local 2; MORE Caucus (Movement of Rank and File Educators in the UFT)
  59. Aisha Lewis-McCoy, Alternate Representative, LGBTQ Caucus, ALAA/UAW 2325
  60. Sara Catalinotto, Retired Delegate, UFT, AFT Local 2; Labor Against Racist Terror
  61. Susan Moir, Massachusetts Teachers Association (retired)
  62. Leah Margulies, ALAA/UAW 2325
  63. Monica Shah, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  64. Andrea Alajbegovic, LSSA/UAW 2320
  65. Lucy Herschel, Delegate, 1199SEIU, UHWE
  66. Calypso Taylor, ALAA/UAW 2325
  67. Alex Jallot, Delegate, Pace High School, UFT, AFT Local 2
  68. Yessenia Mendez, LSSA/UAW 2320
  69. Ian Spiridigliozzi, ALAA/UAW 2325
  70. Hoda Mitwally, Delegate, LSSA/UAW 2320
  71. Royce Adams, International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1291; CBTU/APRI
  72. Josh Komarovsky, LSSA/UAW 2320
  73. Will Chaney, GEO/UAW 2322 UMASS-Amherst
  74. Robert F. Williams, GEO/UAW 2322 MSCA Westfield State University
  75. Erik Mears, UFT/AFT Local 2
  76. Cherrene Horazuk, President, AFSCME 3800 – UMN Clerical Workers Union
  77. Annie Zirin, CTU/AFT Local 1
  78. Meaghan Whyte, Delegate, LSSA/UAW 2320
  79. Hector Agredano, Pasadena City College Faculty Association
  80. David McNally, Texas State Employees Union/CWA Local 6186
  81. Jessie Muldoon, Site Rep., Portland Education Association
  82. Brenda Stokely, Social Service Employees Union local 371 DC 37 AFSCME, AFL-CIO; Million Workers Movement NE Region co-organizer
  83. Camila Valle, UAW 2110
  84. Alejandro Coriat, NOLSW 2320; Legal Workers’ Rank and File
  85. Vish Soroushian, NOLSW/UAW 2320
  86. Hector Agredano, Pasadena City College Faculty Association
  87. Ramzi Babouder-Matta, Steward, CWA 1180; Labor Against Racism and War
  88. Sarah Soliman, Worker Advocate, Worker Justice Wisconsin
  89. Elly Wong, Steward, NPEU (IPFTE Local 70)
  90. Naib Mian, Unit Council, Bargaining Committee, New Yorker Union, News Guild NY Local 31003, CWA
  91. Lucas Koerner, Harvard Graduate Students Union – UAW 5118
  92. Martha Grevatt, Retired Executive Board Member, UAW 869
  93. Dianne Mathiowetz, UAW 10 (retired); Producer and Host, The Labor Forum, WRFG 89.3FM
  94. Stephen Terry, ALAA/UAW 2325 (retired)
  95. Gabriella Ferrara, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  96. Patricia Lavelle, ALAA/UAW 2325
  97. Spencer Eliot Smith, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  98. Meghna Philip, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  99. Kevin Duffy-Greaves, LSSA/UAW 2320
  100. Amanda Lipari, Civil Vice President, ALAA/UAW 2325
  101. Lindsay Cowen, Delegate, LSSA/UAW 2320
  102. Karen Sullivan, PSC-CUNY
  103. Mimi Rosenberg, ALAA/UAW 2325; Producer and Host, WBAI radio, 99.5 FM’s labor program Building Bridges
  104. Benjamin Bisaro, ALAA/UAW 2325
  105. Andrew Smith, Shop Steward, AFSCME, DC 37, Local 1503
  106. Shayan Mirzahaidar, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  107. Basir Mchawi, PSC-CUNY/AFT
  108. Emily Woo Yamasaki, LSSA/UAW 2320
  109. Susan Williams, MD, Former Delegate, Doctors Council, SEIU Local 10MD (retired)
  110. Hoang Gia Phan, Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP-UMass Amherst)
  111. Michael Novick, former steward and member, house of reps, former member of Human Rights Committee, United Teachers Los Angeles (joint NEA-CTA/AFT-CFT)
  112. Robin Strauss, PSC-CUNY/AFT
  113. Maria Amor, UAW 2320
  114. Estee Ward, Make the Road New York – NOLSW/UAW 2320
  115. Noha Arafa, ALAA/UAW 2325
  116. Terry Fitzgibbons, Building Rep., NJEA/Education Association of Passaic
  117. Sherry J. Wolf, CWA 1032
  118. Damon Fillman, Steward, CWA 1032; Rutgers AAUP-AFT
  119. Alan Maass, CWA 1032
  120. BJ Walker, CWA Local 1032
  121. Lauren Tomkinson, CWA Local 7799
  122. Alexandra Haridopolos, Delegate, UFT/AFT Local 2
  123. Marty Goodman, Former TWU Local 100 Executive Board (1997-2006)(retired)
  124. Caryn Schreiber, ALAA/UAW 2325
  125. Emma Goodman, Vice President, ALAA/UAW 2325
  126. Ray Siqueiros, AFT Local 8002
  127. Stephane Barile, Site Rep., New Haven Teachers Association, CTA
  128. Nora Christiani, ALAA/UAW 2325
  129. Gregory Butterfield, NOLSW/UAW 2320
  130. Kathleen Shannon, Staff Organizer, Rutgers AAUP-AFT Local 6323; CWA local 1032
  131. Marie E. Kelly, At Large Member, National Nurses United
  132. Katherine Fitzer, ALAA/UAW 2325
  133. Pooja Patel, ALAA/UAW 2325
  134. Daniella Korotzer, ALAA/UAW 2325
  135. Angelica Barrios, 1199SEIU (Forensic Social Worker)
  136. Lauren Katzman, ALAA/UAW 2325
  137. Gloria Banasco, ALAA/UAW 2325
  138. Maureen Stutzman, ALAA/UAW 2325
  139. Omar Alam Rana, Alternate Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  140. Monica Bustos, 1199SEIU
  141. Matt Caldwell, ALAA/UAW 2325
  142. Michael Gibbons, Representative, LGBTQ+ Caucus, ALAA/UAW 2325
  143. Mirna Haidar, ALAA/UAW 2325
  144. Kip Bastedo, ALAA/UAW 2325
  145. Jonathan McCoy, ALAA/UAW 2325
  146. Joe Piette, NALC Branch 157
  147. Naila Siddiqui, Vice President, ALAA/UAW2325
  148. Hannah Deegan, ALAA/UAW 2325
  149. Mallory Harwood, ALAA/UAW 2325
  150. Titus Mathai, ALAA/UAW 2325
  151. Michael Pate, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  152. Rebecca Kurti, 1199/SEIU
  153. Kar Nowakowski, ALAA/UAW 2325
  154. Keith Malonis, 1199/SEIU
  155. Katharine Kuhl, ALAA/UAW 2325
  156. Angie Rodriguez, 1199/SEIU
  157. Mik Kinkead, ALAA/UAW 2325
  158. Sophie Cohen, ALAA/UAW 2325
  159. Neil Friedman, PSC-CUNY Retired Chapter
  160. Jordan Manalastas, ALAA/UAW 2325
  161. Leon Pulsinelle, NJEA
  162. Brianda Guzman, 1199/SEIU
  163. Larry Hales, 1199/SEIU
  164. Aissatou Barry, Delegate, ALAA/UAW 2325
  165. Benjamin Jarvis, Cincinnati Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1520
  166. Elena Landriscina, ALAA/UAW 2325
  167. Susan Kingsland, 1199/SEIU
  168. Alex Washington, ALAA/UAW 2325
  169. Grover Francis, ALAA/UAW 2325
  170. Taylor James, Former Executive Board Member, ALAA/UAW 2325
  171. Haley Pessin, Interim Delegate, 1199/SEIU; Legal Workers Rank and File
  172. Tarini Arogyaswamy, ALAA/UAW 2325
  173. Ferdinand Cesarano, 1199/SEIU
  174. Lori Masco, ALAA/UAW 2325
  175. Patrick Matutina, ALAA/UAW 2325
  176. Kathleen Wahl, ALAA/UAW 2325
  177. Hilary Dowling, ALAA/UAW 2325
  178. Raissa Carpenter, ALAA/UAW 2325
  179. Khouloud Ballout, 1199/SEIU
  180. Laurie Dick, ALAA/UAW 2325
  181. Samantha Plummer, UAW 4100; Central Brooklyn DSA
  182. Hannah Hussey, ALAA/UAW 2325
  183. Stephanie Hedgecoke, Recording Secretary, CWA 14156
  184. Bill Riggin, ALAA/UAW 2325
  185. Ivan Pantoja, Former Executive Board Member, ALAA/UAW 2325
  186. Marlen S. Bodden, ALAA/UAW 2325
  187. Candace Graff, ALAA/UAW 2325
  188. Jeff Schuhrke, Representative, UIC United Faculty, AFT Local 6456
  189. Norman Koerner, Alliance of Charter School Employees, AFT
  190. Whitney Powers, Steering Committee Member, CWA 7799
  191. Alex Wolf-Root, President, CWA 7799
  192. Bri Dobson, CWA 7799
  193. Hypatia Ostojic, Systemwide Chair, Peace and Justice Committee, UPTE CWA 9119
  194. Patrick Langhenry, ALAA/UAW 2325
  195. James Lauderdale, Lead Senior Civil Service Advocate (retired), SEIU Local 721
  196. Amanda Achin, Classified Staff Union, Massachusetts Teachers Association; Boston DSA Labor Working Group
  197. Darrin Hoop, Building Rep., Seattle Education Association; National Educators United
  198. Richard Blum, ALAA/UAW 2325
  199. Catherine Khella, Organizing Committee, NYC DSA Labor Branch
  200. David Guerrero, Delegate, 1199SEIU
  201. Asa Mendelsohn, UC-AFT 3299
  202. Helen Scott, Department Rep., United Academics: AAUP/AFT Local 3203; VT AFL-CIO State Labor Council
  203. Nancy Welch, UVM United Academics AAUP/AFT, Local 3203; Upper Valley Democratic Socialists of America
  204. Liz Medina, Executive Director, Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO; UAW 2322
  205. Ron Jacobs, President, AFSCME 1343
  206. Heidi Fox, Vermont State Employees Association
  207. John Davy, Vermont State Employees Association
  208. Shannon Dufour-Martinez, AFSCME 1674
  209. Kit Andrews, Vermont State Employees Association
  210. Stephanie Higgins, union staff, GEO-UAW 2322
  211. Stanley Heller, AFT 1547, retired; Middle East Crisis Committee (Connecticut)
  212. Susan Klein, Unite HERE Local 34, Yale Unions Retirees Association
  213. Frank Panzarella, Former President, IAM Local 1990; New Haven Energy Task Force / Fight the Hike
  214. Martha London, Professional Staff Union/Massachusetts Teachers Association (Retired)
  215. Dylan Kupsh, UAW 2865; NSJP, UCSB SJP, UCLA Grad SJP
  216. Marsha Love, United Association of Labor Educators

CONTACT: info@laborforpalestine.net
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