May 06, 2024
As a Union with over twenty-thousand members in various industries across the United States, with several thousand of those being food service workers in the country’s university system, from Washington DC, to Virginia, to Indiana, to Louisiana, across the land in places our members are, and in places our members aren’t, we see the actions on campuses, the tenacity of the students and we understand the necessity of freedom of speech, using our voices against injustice, and the role of collective action to better ourselves and our communities.
UNITE HERE Local 23 members work on these campuses, interact with the students and faculty every day, and as such are involved on these campuses, as much as anyone else. Therefore, we believe it is essential that the rights of students and workers to demonstrate and assemble, to speak out as they see fit, should not be infringed upon, by arrests, intimidation, disciplinary action, or state violence. We oppose the suspension, banning and retaliation of students, as much as we would oppose the unfair discipline and firings of our members by an employer.
We oppose the militarization of police forces on campuses, the use of tear gas, and all forms of violence against the students and activists in the encampments who are expressing their First Amendment rights.
We stand steadfast in solidarity and amplify the message of the students seeking to end the genocide in Gaza, and the call for divestment from Israeli war industries, and for that money to instead be better used for the benefit of students, staff, workers, and communities, in which these universities operate.
