UAW 2865 BDS caucus requests support from faculty on BDS resolution (USACBI)
Please support an important campaign for a BDS resolution in UAW 2865, the union of teaching assistants, tutors and readers on UC campuses.
Dear USACBI endorsers:
We write to you to ask for support for the upcoming vote on a BDS resolution in UAW 2865, the union of teaching assistants, tutors and readers across the nine UC campuses. If this vote passes, UAW 2865 will become the first labor union in the U.S. to support BDS so this is truly a historic campaign.
As some of you may have heard, over the summer, the union’s Joint Council voted on a resolution to join the BDS movement. Supporters of the movement within UAW have emphasized that it is their duty as a labor union to extend solidarity to Palestinian counterparts in their struggle for liberation and equality.
The union will be holding a membership vote on the resolution on December 4, 2014, calling on members to vote on a ballot that asks a) the UAW international to divest from companies complicit in the occupation; b) The University of California to do the same; and c) the US government to end military aid to Israel until it complies with international law. Additionally, it asks members to join the academic boycott as individuals by refusing to take part in any research, conferences, and events that are funded or otherwise sponsored by Israeli universities.
We ask all faculty to endorse the union’s BDS resolution by signing the faculty letter of endorsement online: http://uaw2865facultyletterofsupport.wordpress.com.
Also, please consider reaching out to graduate students at UC campuses to ensure that they are aware of the vote date, information and are committing to vote!
Lastly, please like the campaign’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/UAW-2865-Vote-Yes-on-BDS/359940817509010?hc_location=timeline
Below are additional documents including the ballot draft and the original Joint Council Letter supporting Palestine and BDS.
We also invite you to consider sharing these documents with graduate student and faculty unions on your campuses, if you are not in the UC [not US], and discuss the possibility of organizing in support of similar resolutions across the U.S.
Letters of Support:
Students for Justice in Palestine- West Support for UAW: http://www.scribd.com/doc/246181392/SJP-West-Support-Letter-for-UAW-2865
Letter from Jewish Officers and Members: http://www.uaw2865.org/?p=12197
Feminist and Queer UC Student Workers for Justice in Palestine: http://feministqueerforpalestine.wordpress.com/
Additional Documents:
Joint Council Statement Supporting Palestine and BDS: July, 29, 2014: http://www.uaw2865.org/?p=12137
Ballot Language for December 4th Vote: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0UAxDWg0QtUZGJkdzZ1WGlRQy1EbGNMbmpyd3dxd1hhQnhj/view
FAQ Sheets:
BDS: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4qLGWPPC3fIa3paY25jckItQlE/edit
Academic Boycott: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4qLGWPPC3fIZEZWWWR0eTdraDA/edit
Labor Movement: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4qLGWPPC3fITG82SEtwdFJKVmc/edit
