As Israel’s Savage Gaza War Continues, U.S. Labor Movement Must Stand in Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Excerpt of speech with Sultana Hossain, recording secretary Amazon labor union, co-chair New York Labor for Palestine, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus
November 20, 2024
Although debate on Israel’s ongoing brutal war in Gaza and expansion of the conflict to Lebanon was mostly absent in the U.S. presidential election campaign, peace and Palestine solidarity activists continue to demand an end to the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, where more than 43,000 have been killed. In light of repeated violations of international and U.S. law, hundreds of advocacy groups are calling for Congress to immediately suspend future U.S. arms transfers to Israel.
After Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. election, activists nationwide are gathering to discuss strategies to effectively influence U.S. Middle East Policy. On Nov. 16, the Connecticut Palestine Solidarity Coalition held a regional conference in Hartford called Breaking Chains, Building Bridges, attended by some 200 activists. Ten panels included such topics as campus repression, prison abolition, Connecticut’s links with the war economy and building Palestine solidarity in the labor movement.
The plenary session featured five speakers leading state and national struggles, including Sultana Hossain, recording secretary with the Amazon Labor Union, and co-chair of New York Labor for Palestine, part of a national formation. In this excerpt of her talk, she addressed the need for working people to be in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, and gave specific examples of how that is happening around the country.
SULTANA HOSSAIN: I’m here to basically talk about a critical aspect of this fight, our collective responsibility as members of the international working class, as organized workers in the labor movement to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The labor movement has always been a cornerstone of resistance to oppression. And in the fight for Palestinian liberation, our role is as essential as ever.
So Labor for Palestine was founded in 2004 by union activists and members of the Palestinian community. And it was established to reclaim the legacy of working class solidarity with Palestine in the U.S. This legacy is rooted in historic actions like the ground-breaking statements of the League of Revolutionary Black workers in 1969. And the bold wildcat strikes against the UAW leadership’s support for Israel in 1973. So history shows us that labor has always played a pivotal role in liberation struggles and it’s a force for justice and change.
From the fight against apartheid in South Africa to the global anti-colonial movements of the 20th century, workers have used their collective power to disrupt oppressive systems, refusing to allow our labor to fund injustice. These historic actions, they remind us of the tremendous power of organizing. Solidarity is an action word, and as rank and file trade unionists, we’re uniquely positioned to act. Our power lies in our ability to disrupt systems of exploitation at their core, to shut down production, to interrupt supply chains and to withhold our labor when it is being used to perpetuate injustice.
This means taking concrete steps, including demanding an immediate end to the siege in Gaza and halting all U.S. military aid to Israel — following the example of Block the Boat, ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union), West Coast dockworkers and workers worldwide who refused to build, transport and support weapons for Israel.
This also means respecting the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, BDS, severing ties with Israel’s Labor Federation, the history and its U.S. Mouthpiece, the Jewish Labor Committee. This includes divesting from Israel bonds and industries profiting from Zionist settler colonialism and occupation.
And across the world, unions and organized workers have already taken meaningful steps just to name a few examples. In New York, education and city workers have called for divestment of their retirement savings and pensions from contributing to Israeli occupation and genocide. SEIU 1021 passed a divestment resolution and won. CIR (Committee of Interns and Residents), which is a residence physicians’ union, passed a resolution to refuse to endorse genocidal candidates at their national convention. And, Google Tech workers organized occupations of offices across the country in New York and California in an escalation of the No Tech for Apartheid campaign. And over 50 workers were fired in retaliation. And I think they knew the risks involved, but they were ready to put it all on the line.
And that’s what we need to do. And these actions really demonstrate the immense power we have when we align our labor with principles of justice and liberation.
I’m gonna talk a little bit about my own union. We’ve taken stands to hold Amazon accountable as a war profiteer. In December, 2023, my caucus, the ALU Democratic Reform Caucus passed our Palestine resolution, which was later adopted by my union. And later in the same month, my caucus organized a work stoppage and several dozen warehouse workers at JFK in Staten Island walked out in solidarity with the Palestinian Liberation Movement.
For more information, visit Labor for Palestine at laborforpalestine.net; Amazon Labor Union at amazonlaborunion.
