FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 5, 2024
PRESS INQUIRIES: UAWLABOR4PALESTINE@GMAIL.COM
On Heels of Election, UAW Members Launch “UAW Divest Now!” Campaign Targeting Voter Dissatisfaction with Genocide
Rank-and-file caucus UAW Labor for Palestine demands UAW divest up to a million dollars from Israel Bonds, in line with the union’s groundbreaking support for a ceasefire and arms embargo.
11PM ET, NOVEMBER 5, 2024—Hundreds of UAW members affiliated with the national coalition UAW Labor for Palestine officially launched a new campaign, “UAW Divest Now!,” as polls closed in the 2024 Presidential election Tuesday evening.
The campaign is mobilizing UAW members who are dissatisfied with both Presidential candidates’ support for US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza and calls on the UAW International Executive Board (IEB) to vote to immediately divest its holdings – between $400,000 to $1 million – in Israel Bonds now that the Presidential polls have closed.
“When either Presidential candidate will continue arming and funding a genocide, the IEB vote to divest matters where it feels like my ballot did not,” states Trip Eggert, a member of UAW Local 2325 who spoke with President Shawn Fain about his support for divestment.
UAW still invests in Israel Bonds despite being the first major union to support a ceasefire in Palestine. Israel Bonds directly funds genocide and the construction of illegal settlements in Palestine. The UAW Divest Now! campaign calls on the UAW International Executive Board to honor UAW’s stated values and anti-apartheid history by voting to divest immediately, and in any case, no later than November 12, one week from election day.
If the IEB votes to divest, it will make UAW the first major US institution to divest from financial holdings in Israeli genocide.
“We have union siblings here with loved ones in Palestine and Lebanon. Our dues contribute to their slaughter. How can we turn away?” asks Dawnya Ferdinansen, an auto manufacturing worker with UAW Local 14 in Toledo, Ohio.
Speaking at Black Lake Lodge, UAW’s conference center, on October 7, President Shawn Fain informed UAW Labor for Palestine members that he will support divestment when the IEB calls it for a vote.
The UAW Divest Now! campaign has reached out to hundreds of UAW members who are calling their IEB representatives to demand immediate divestment. Upcoming actions will roll out throughout the week.
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