CUNY FSJP Stands with the Delegate Assembly’s Divestment Resolution
We at CUNY Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) commend the recent passing of the PSC and NYCERS Israeli Investments Divestment Resolution at the January 2025 Delegate Assembly. The preamble to the resolution observes that PSC investments include bonds implicated in the Israeli government, that the city retirement system TRSNYC as well as NYCERS both include direct investments of over $100 million in Israeli companies and government bonds. It also notes that there is precedent for institutional divestment from countries engaged in human rights violations. The resolution therefore resolves that the PSC must send an official letter (which it must also post on its website) to the TRS board expressing support for full divestment from Israel, and that the PSC must divest our own funds from investments that include portfolio stocks and bonds with Israeli companies within a year. The resolution also calls for a committee that will look into further avenues for divestment.
The passing of this resolution is a major victory for the pro-Palestine labor movement in the US that will hopefully pave the way for similar resolutions in other unions in the near future. Our group, CUNY FSJP, is comprised of over a hundred active PSC members who are eager to get more involved in a proudly pro-Palestine union that takes such principled stances against genocide. In the past, we have been disappointed at the “both sides” rhetoric and lack of enthusiasm for social justice issues expressed by union leadership. As a result, even those of us who are unionists by nature have sometimes found it hard to keep engaging with the union–especially when leadership privileges the voices of anti-union Zionists over those of us who fight for justice. After the contentious and unsuccessful vote around BDS in May 2024, we spoke with many members who threatened to leave the union due to its complicity in US-backed human rights violations. We fully expect that both this vote and our follow-through on the resolution will result in a new wave of member participation from those who previously felt disillusioned and upset.
The PSC Delegate Assembly is comprised of representatives from each chapter who, collectively through such resolutions as this one, determine union policy. We at FSJP call on PSC leadership to act on the demands of the resolution which was democratically voted on by the principal governing body of the Professional Staff Congress. We ourselves resolve both to assist with its implementation and to organize for more members and active member participation within the PSC. The PSC has always identified as a social justice union; that has made us stronger. Embracing Palestine solidarity, rather than trying to run away from it, will continue this legacy and strengthen us for the fights to come. We fully understand that such an embrace will not always be easy for the union generally and the EC and chapter chairs specifically, and we are prepared to do what we can to help ease the burden that often comes from doing what is right.
Feb. 10, 2025
