Feb. 10, 2024
Yvonne Wheeler, President
Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
2130 James M. Wood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90006
Dear Miss Yvonne Wheeler and Members of the Executive Board,
We are writing to urgently request that the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Central Labor Council representing the largest county in the United States, heed the call of workers at home and abroad.
Israel’s crimes are only possible because of more than $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, through shared surveillance technology and police exchange programs, brutalizes BIPOC and working class people in the United States and around the world.
We are calling upon the Los Angeles County Labor Federation to issue a statement demanding an immediate end to the genocide, and further reaffirm the call on labor bodies to respect previous Palestinian trade union appeals for solidarity by adopting this statement, and/or the model resolution to divest from Israel Bonds, and respect the Palestinian picket line for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), which calls not only for 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-Palestinians inside 1948 Palestine, and implementation of the right of Palestinian refugees to return.
We thank you for your attention on this matter and look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
The Members of Los Angeles Labor for Palestine and over 200 rank and file members, staff, and elected leaders of the following labor unions:
AFSCME 2712, AFT 1388, AFT 1521, California Classified School Employees Association, California Faculty Association, California Faculty Association-LA, Caltech Grads and Postdocs United, CGPU-UAW, CIR, CIR SEIU, CWA, GSWOC UAW, GSWOC USC, IAM, IATSE, IATSE local 600, IATSE 839 animation guild, IATSE – Local 44, IATSE 111, IATSE 700, IATSE 705, IATSE 800, IATSE 892, IATSE 729, IATSE 839, IATSE 871, IATSE B-192, UAW 4123, Santa Monica Municipal Employees Association, SAG-AFTRA, SEIU 2015, SEIU 721, SEIU-UHW, SEIU USWW, Teamsters, UAW 2865, UAW 5810, UAW 4123, UAW 872, UMAW, Unite Here Local 11, UTLA, WGA, WGAE, WGAW, WIA
