NEWS RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024
IN HISTORIC VOTE, DC37 LOCAL 3005 MEMBERS STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE BY VOTING TO DIVEST PENSION FUNDS FROM ISRAEL’S ONGOING GENOCIDE
On Monday, September 16, Local 3005 members voted overwhelmingly to support NYCERS divestment from Israeli bonds and holdings in industries that fund and profit from the ongoing genocide in Palestine. This vote makes Local 3005 the first DC37 Local to vote in support of NYCERS divestment from Israel.
In a special meeting, 92% of attendees voted in favor of the resolution, which calls for the local to post a statement on its website supporting divestment, and for the local’s president to send a letter to the NYCERS board expressing the local’s support of this move. The meeting was scheduled after members successfully petitioned the president to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the topic of divestment.
With over 120 members in attendance – more than three times the usual number of attendees at a typical general member meeting – this was clearly an issue of immense importance. Despite significant resistance from leadership, members successfully fought for their constitutional right to a democratic vote on the motion.
Local 3005 represents workers in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. As public health workers, Local 3005 members are outraged at the public health catastrophe and moral scandal perpetrated by Israel in Gaza. The mass murder of tens of thousands of civilians, flattening of every hospital, destruction of water sanitation facilities, deliberate creation of famine, and the resurgence of polio should be unacceptable to any public health professional.
Rank and file Local 3005 members are proud to stand in solidarity with Palestinian labor unions calling to stop funding Israel’s ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine. This would align with the NYCERS board’s long history of ethical divestment decisions, including from securities in apartheid South Africa, Russia, private prisons, and fossil fuels.
Local 3005 members call on other DC37 locals to pass similar motions and make it clear that city workers will not let our pensions fund genocide.
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