UAW Members Rally Outside UAW Board Meeting in Detroit, Demand Union Leaders Divest from Israeli Genocide
WHO: UAW Labor for Palestine & Engineers Against Apartheid
WHAT: Rally outside UAW headquarters to demand UAW divest from Israel
WHERE: UAW Solidarity House, 8000 East Jefferson, Detroit, Michigan 48214
WHEN: Tuesday, November 12, 8AM EST
CONTACT: engineersagainstapartheid@gmail.com
NOVEMBER 12, 2024 — On Tuesday, November 12 at 8am EST UAW members affiliated with UAW Labor for Palestine and Engineers Against Apartheid will rally outside a meeting of UAW leadership in Detroit, demanding UAW leaders put their money where their mouth is by divesting up to $1 million from genocide.
The UAW International Executive Board (IEB) will meet at the UAW headquarters office from Nov. 12–14. Members are calling on the UAW International Executive Board to honor UAW’s stated values and anti-apartheid history by voting to divest from Israel no later than November 12, the first day of the IEB meeting.
Last week, hundreds of UAW members affiliated with the national coalition UAW Labor for Palestine launched a new campaign to demand that their union respect the Palestinian trade union picket line by immediately divesting from Israel Bonds. A majority of rank-and-file union members from across the country support divestment, including manufacturing workers, academic, legal and research workers, and others.
UAW invests between $400,000 to $1 million in Israel Bonds, which directly fund Israel’s genocide, and the construction of illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. Since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the Israeli military has killed at least 43,000 Palestinians — a severe undercount, as experts estimate the death toll is likely already higher than 186,000 Palestinians.
If UAW leaders vote to divest from Israel in alignment with the values of rank-and-file members, it will make UAW the first major US institution to divest from financial holdings in Israeli genocide. Following in the footsteps of the 1973 Arab workers’ strike for Palestine, workers in Michigan are demanding that UAW divest all bonds from Israel.
