Original online here. Insta post here.
Honor the Palestinian Trade Union Picket Line by Rescinding the Undemocratic UAW Endorsement of Genocide Joe Biden
UAW Labor for Palestine, January 31, 2024
On October 16, 2023, Palestinian trade unions issued an urgent call to End all Complicity and Stop Arming Israel. At the CAP Conference on January 24, 2024, the UAW International Executive Board—without membership engagement or approval—crossed that picket line by endorsing Joe Biden, whose administration arms, funds, and facilitates the relentless Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people in Gaza and throughout historic Palestine that has already killed more than 30,000 people, including thousands of children, in just over 114 days.
During Biden’s remarks at the CAP conference, members of UAW Labor for Palestine bravely disrupted and uplifted the UAW IEB’s own call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire, only to be shouted down by “USA” and “UAW” chants as well as assaulted, and dragged out of the conference by Secret Service. Such treatment of UAW rank-and-file is not only thuggish and anti-worker, but in direct violation of the UAW’s December 1 call for ceasefire in Gaza and UAW President Shawn Fain’s claims to uphold justice in and beyond the workplace.
To stop violating the UAW ceasefire statement and the Palestinian trade union picket line, we demand that UAW leadership:
- Rescind its endorsement of Joe Biden’s re-election until he calls for a permanent ceasefire and stops sending weapons to Israel, and, in the interim, commit to withholding any union resources or time (e.g., sending out mailers for re-election or hosting any campaign events) for his campaign.
- Endorse and allocate our dues and V-CAP contributions only to those candidates who publicly call for a permanent ceasefire and vote against any weapons for Israel.
- Support UAW members in refusing to provide weapons, research, and technology to Israel.
- Support the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) by ending all UAW complicity with Israel.
About UAW Labor for Palestine: UAW Labor for Palestine—formally a working group created through the UAW Region 9A Rank-and-File Assembly—is a collective of rank-and-file members organizing across the UAW to demand an immediate end to Israel’s apartheid regime, occupation, and ongoing genocide in Palestine, to embrace the recent urgent call from Palestinian trade unions to stop arming Israel, and to act upon the UAW Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) sign-on letter by advancing Palestine solidarity priorities. We organize at the individual, shop, local, and regional levels, and we work towards ending the International UAW’s complicity in Israeli apartheid and oppression of the Palestinian people.
