Original online here. IG and Twitter posts.
Sign On Letter:
UAW Labor for Palestine Calls on IEB to Demand Removal of Federal Monitor and to Divest From Israel Bonds
July 29, 2024
Following widespread corruption within the highest levels of the previous UAW administration, on May 12, 2021, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan appointed a Federal Monitor, Neil Barofsky, to oversee the union. However, with close ties to Zionist organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, Barofsky has abused his position by pressuring UAW President Shawn Fain and the UAW International Executive Board (IEB) for taking a position against the ongoing genocide committed by Israel against Palestinians.
Furthermore, rightwing presidential candidate Donald Trump is adding fuel to these attacks, issuing condemnations of Shawn Fain and calling for him to be fired as UAW President. This is part of a broader pro-Zionist campaign to smear and silence opposition to Israeli genocide and bust unions, as reflected in recent attacks on UAW 2325 (see below), UAW 4811 at the University of California, and elsewhere.
We cannot and will not stand for these attacks, but we must go further. UAW Labor for Palestine calls on the UAW IEB to immediately:
- Demand the removal of the Federal Monitor Neil Barofsky for his abuse of power; and
- Divest immediately and completely from $400,000 or more in Israel Bonds, which are used to support Israel’s genocidal war crimes, illegal settlement expansion, and the entire settler colonial project, and also commit to no future Israel Bond purchases. UAW Labor for Palestine is one of many Labor for Palestine National Network member groups calling on their unions to divest from Israel Bonds.
In issuing this call, we look to the groundbreaking history of UAW rank-and-file Palestine solidarity, including statements issued by the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in 1969 and wildcat strikes against the UAW leadership’s support for Israel in 1973. Today, UAW 2325 has similarly persevered in support of Palestine, despite Zionist lawfare and a congressional subpoena. Rather than cave to the pressure, UAW 2325 resisted the subpoena and defended the union’s democratic right to oppose the genocide that has already murdered at least 186,000 people in Gaza. Critically, the local also doubled down on its pro-Palestine organizing, weaving this solidarity into a recent contract victory at the Bronx Defenders. UAW 2325 offers a powerful example of how members’ refusal to comply with Zionist pressure to back away from Palestine solidarity actually strengthens workers’ bargaining position across a range of issues.
This is an appeal to workers everywhere to advance Palestine solidarity efforts in our unions and across the labor movement and the whole working class. Now is the time to defend our unions by deepening our solidarity, not recoiling in fear. UAW leadership must therefore call for the removal of Neil Barofsky and immediately and fully divest from Israel Bonds.
We invite you, UAW members and locals, to sign onto this open letter and continue organizing in support of a free Palestine from the river to the sea!
Until Liberation and Return,
UAW Locals and Members
Community Organizations
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