Whereas, SEIU Local 1021 has a history of solidarity in the international labor movement; and
Whereas, Union power is built on the idea of mutual aid and concrete tangible solidarity; and
Whereas, Unions have played a vital role in emancipatory movements around the world, including the fight against apartheid in South Africa, the Civil Rights Movement, the Farmworkers’ Movement, Immigrant Rights and Black Lives Matter; and
Whereas, SEIU Local 1021 members’ tax dollars, without choice, fund the Israeli war machine, military occupation and system of apartheid; and
Whereas, The United States provided a record 17.9 billion dollars in aid to Israel from Oct. 2023 to Oct of 2024.This number is a partial estimate. Unlike the United States military support for Ukraine, details of weapons sent to Israel have been vague. In addition, the US spent an additional 5 billion dollars on stepped-up US military operations in the region, over the same period. Since 1959, the US has given Israel 251 billion dollars in inflation adjusted dollars; and
Whereas, In January, the United States cut off financial support to The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and;
Whereas, International trade union solidarity is particularly important when governments are not listening to working-class people and when governments are complicit in war crimes, ultimately standing on the wrong side of history; and
Whereas, The genocide of Palestinians, military occupation by Israel, Israel’s system of apartheid and current war on Gaza and the West Bank, hit working families the hardest. Palestinians are experiencing mass unemployment due to the complete infrastructure destruction by the Israeli Occupation Forces, canceling the work permits of Palestinians and the destruction of Palestinian places of work.
In the West Bank and Occupied Territories,Palestinian men are rounded up by the thousands in countless and continuous raids,then held for months, or years under “administrative detention,” often without being charged or given a hearing. To support their families, Palestinian women are filling the jobs of the men who have been detained or killed, becoming the breadwinners, but they are being paid at lesser wages.
Palestinians live under a pre-existing system of apartheid Labor where workers are paid less than their Israeli counterparts in the same industry, must purchase work permits, and must travel for many hours to commute a few miles due to being forced to utilize separate roads than Israeli citizens, while traveling through armed checkpoints; and
Whereas, Palestine has a long history of trade unions, going back to the 1930’s. By the 1980’s every major sector of the economy had trade unions; and
Whereas, The Palestine New Federation of Trade Unions (PNFTU) is one of the newer and more progressive Trade Union Federations in Palestine. In 2006, the first union of agricultural workers was established and by 2013 the confederation for a number of trade unions was established as The Palestine New Federation of Trade Unions (PNFTU): General Union for Agriculture and Food Industries, General Union of Public Services and Free Business, General Union of Construction Workers, General Union of Textile Workers, Union of Tourism, Union of Civil and Community Organizations, Union of Secretariat and Management Business, Union of Transports and Mechanics, Union of Finance, and Union of Fishing; and
Whereas, Before the genocide,the PNFTU was able to organize workers, strike, conduct legal work for workers’ rights, negotiate better wages and working conditions with employers, but now, the PNFTU is struggling with layoffs, mass unemployment and a meager or non-existent safety net; and
Whereas, Palestinians are now banned from working outside the occupied Palestinian territories. Palestinian businesses have closed due to the Israeli stranglehold on materials and supplies; and
Whereas, the recently announced Ceasefire provides an opportunity to rebuild lives, communities, employment and the Palestinian Labor Movement. Mutual aid and support is predicated on solidarity, not charity.
Therefore be it resolved, SEIU Local 1021 will assist the Palestinian Labor Movement get back on its feet, rebuild its capacity to fight for workers, win dignity and respect, upend gender inequality and provide an income that can sustain working families in Palestine, by contributing $7,500 to the PNFTU, to financially assist our union siblings’ work, including:
- Build an online and print communication system to communicate with their scattered membership
- Update and modernize the PNFTU website
- Create a center for international solidarity work
- Fund training programs for Palestinian Women Workers
- Strengthen union power with the autonomy of the PNFTU to spend funds; and
Be it further resolved, SEIU Local 1021 Executive Board will invite representatives from the PNFTU to report on the work they are doing in Palestine; and
Be it further resolved, SEIU Local 1021 will work towards offering a sibling union relationship to the PNFTU and publish this resolution of international solidarity of workers on the SEIU Local 1021 website.
