To: The UAW International Executive Board
From: UAW Labor for Palestine and allies who support the cause for a free Palestine through Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
In this historic moment, UAW Labor for Palestine and our allies call on members of the UAW International Executive Board (IEB) to embrace the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement as voiced by the most recent call to action from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions-Gaza (PGFTU-Gaza) and the mushrooming Gaza Solidarity Encampments on colleges and universities across the United States.
Specifically, we call on the IEB vote to respect the Palestinian trade union picket line by:
- Divesting our union and employers from Israel Bonds and from the military, extractive, and technological industries connected with the Israeli occupation and U.S. imperialism;
- Terminating UAW’s ties with the Histadrut, Israel’s racist labor federation, and its U.S. mouthpiece, the Jewish Labor Committee;
- Demanding that the United States government immediately halt all aid and military support to Israel, including the supply of weapons produced in UAW shops; and
- Protecting UAW members who engage in pro-Palestine speech and advocacy—particularly Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab workers—from doxxing, surveillance, and repression within and beyond the workplace. The defense of UAW 2325 against Congress and UAW 2710 members who have been disciplined for their advocacy, is critical at this moment, but countless workers have been facing these issues broadly around our locals.
UAWL4P urges the IEB to take these concrete actions and more in order to materialize the ceasefire call President Fain made over four months and tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza ago. The IEB must recognize that the power to end complicity lies in the hands of our union’s rank-and-file members and work to realize that power with urgency, including through the upcoming IEB divestment vote. To support the IEB’s alignment with the will of its rank and file members, we draw your attention to this list of BDS resolutions passed by UAW locals and other bodies across the country dating back to at least 2014.
As union members and allies who have been advocating, researching, and working tirelessly for solidarity with Palestine over the past seven months – some of us for years and decades – we believe in a UAW that stands with the people of Palestine, workers around the world, and people of conscience everywhere by voting to divest the UAW from occupation and genocide as outlined above.
In Solidarity for a Free Palestine from the river to the sea!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
April 29, 2024
