CWA Rank and File Petition in Solidarity with Palestine and Against Political Repression
CWA VP of Public Healthcare Education Workers Margaret Cook, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr., and CWA VP of District 1 Dennis G. Trainor
Letter language last updated: March 15, 2025
We, the undersigned CWA members around the country, are writing in the hopes that you will use your platform to call for the release of Mahmoud Khalil and Leqaa Kordia, as well as the reinstatement of all Columbia students recently expelled, suspended, fired, or stripped of their degrees as a result of their solidarity with Palestine.
Specifically we ask that you:
- Sign onto the open letter signed by dozens of other labor leaders in support of Khalil.
- Issue a separate formal statement demanding:
- Khalil and Kordia’s release and the permanent halting of deportation proceedings against them
- The full reinstatement and restoration of degrees for impacted Columbia students and workers, including UAW 2710 President Grant Miner
- That universities defend freedom of political expression and the right of students and staff to organize–while also protecting staff and students from immigration enforcement.
As you know, Khalil–a Palestinian student leader at Columbia and a former member of UAW 2710–was abducted in his apartment by Department of Homeland Security agents earlier this week, despite holding a Green Card and not being charged with any crime. He is currently imprisoned awaiting deportation proceedings.
Khalil is a political prisoner, and his imprisonment reminds us that the U.S. war machine will continue to attack anyone it deems to be a threat—which is why it is so important that labor unions like ours stand up against political repression and state violence.
Even as people around the country rose up in support of Khalil and in solidarity with Palestine, ICE reportedly kidnapped a second Palestinian living inside the U.S., Leqaa Kordia, for Kordia’s alleged participation in the Columbia student protests. The abductions of Kordia and Khalil come as Trump ramps up attacks on immigrants, the Palestine solidarity movement, and in particular Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim activists. Their detention comes after 15 months of an accelerated U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine, and amid ongoing global repression of organizing in solidarity with Palestinian liberation. This is a direct attack on the freedom of speech and political action that we hold so dear as union members.
The same week that Khalil and Kordia were taken by immigration forces, Columbia sanctioned 22 students with suspensions, expulsions, and degree revocations for their own alleged activism. Among them: the president of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC), UAW Local 2710, Grant Miner—the day before the union’s first bargaining session with the university for a new contract. Columbia administration subsequently cancelled that bargaining session hours before it was set to begin, and as SWC rallied for Palestine and in support of those facing attacks in the U.S.
Coupling textbook union busting with broader tactics of political repression, Columbia’s actions this month are yet another reminder that as workers, our movement here is inseparable from the struggles of people around the world fighting for liberation, land, and dignity. The same billionaires who keep our wages down profit off of occupation and genocide abroad. Recognizing this, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions-Gaza (PGFTU-Gaza) and other Palestinian labor bodies, such as the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate (PJS), have called on international unions to stand with Palestine, and to refuse to cross the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) picket line.
As a collective of CWA members, including many members employed by universities like Columbia, we ask that as our elected leaders, you hear the voice of the rank and file. We hope you will raise your voices to demand justice for Khalil and Kordia and all those facing political repression and state violence, and that you do everything in your power to protect freedom of expression.
Finally, while we hold our right to political action and speech sacred, we want to be clear that our ability to organize is significant not as an abstract principle, but because it is our duty to disrupt the forces of empire occupying Palestine, terrorizing communities around the world, and destroying our planet. As you consider supporting Khalil and Kordia, we sincerely hope that you will also hear our ongoing and primary call to ensure CWA stands in unwavering solidarity with Palestine–now and until liberation.
Signed,
Evan Mcelheny, CWA 9009
Marylou White, CWA 7901
Rachel Nass, CWA 1032, Steward
Thomas Ham, CWA 9588, EVP
Chris Mills Rodrigo, TNG-CWA Local 32035, Steward
Katie Coombs, CWA 1032
Bennett Stewart CWA 1032
Farah Khimji, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Diego Grossmann, TNG-CWA 32035
Kevin Quirolo, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Sarah Wilson, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Zyad Hammad, CWA 1109, Steward
Ankur Singh, CWA 1032
Amanda Ragnauth, CWA 1032
Alex Ahmed, CWA 7250, Steward
Emma Jackson, CWA 9009
Andreina Granado, CWA 1032
Tom Sullivan, CWA 1032, Steward
Aastha Uprety, TNG-CWA 31003
Daniel Verinder, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Martina Manicastri, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Nancy Li, CWA 1032
Elizabeth Allen, WBNG-CWA 32305
Liliana Gutmann-McKenzie, CWA 1032
William Burstein, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Andrea Cardenas, CWA 1032
Sunny Malhotra TNG-CWA 31003
Katie Levitt, CWA 1032
Virginia Rodino, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Jannah Pante, CWA 1032
Kieran F. Knutson, President CWA 7250
Alex Bush, CWA 1032
Ira – TNG-CWA 31003
Alli Sayre, CWA 7901
Summer Kim, CWA 1180
Aurora Muñoz, CWA 1180
Maya Edery, CWA 1032
Karen Cardona, CWA 1032
Ben Gellman, CWA 1032
Sarah Mayela Ramírez, CWA 1032, Steward
Eric Peterson, CWA 1032
Zaynab Ergasheva, CWA 1032
Lizard Flud, CWA 7901
Jeff Morrissey, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Joel Reinstein, CWA 1032
Anubhuti Kumar CWA 1180
Nina Ippolito, CWA 1180
Annie Della Fera, CWA 1032, Steward
Daniela Perez, CWA 1180
MaryKate Murphy, CWA 1032
Micky Jordan, CWA 1180
Zach Weinstein, CWA 1032, Steward
Yolanda C. Whitted – Futrell, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Erica Henry, CWA 1032
Hannah Lawrence, CWA 1032, Steward
Alyssa Lieberman, CWA 1032
Nicole Kligerman, CWA 1180
Andrew Porter, CWA Local 1032
Jonathan Capriel, TNG-CWA Local 31003, Steward
Elizabeth Milos, CWA Local 9119
Katherine De Chant, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Sherry Wolf, CWA Local 1032
Noa Rosinplotz, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Hanna Homestead, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Shana Salzberg, CWA Local 1180
Amanda Baldiga, CWA Local 1032
Gab Kallas, CWA Local 9415
Evelyn Quintana, CWA Local 9415
Halle Leganza, CWA Local 9415
John Harris, CWA Local 3265, LEB Rep – GA
Rory Renzy, CWA Local 3265
Shane Burley, CWA Local 7901
Krystal Kwong, CWA Local 9415
Skye O’Toole, TNG-CWA Local 37074
Stephen Rosa, CWA Local 9009
Tom Hansberger, TNG-CWA Local 32035, Steward
Mike Davis, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Casey Purser, UCW- Local 3821
Omaria Pratt, CWA Local 9415
Gavi Reiter, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Natalie Duleba, TNG-CWA Local 38061
Anita Nuechterlein , CWA Local 9119
Rosemarie Mezrioui , CWA Local 1000, Retiree
Maxwell Bamsey, CWA Local 9119
Ross May, CWA Local 1000
Heather Pincock, CWA Local 3265
Diego Grossmann, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Allen Jackson, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Ivanna Tavarez, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Omar Ocampo, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Steve Zrltzer, TNG-CWA Local 39521
David Hyde, CWA Local 3821
Cecilia Saenz Becerra , CWA Local 9415
Yuki Davis, CWA Local 9415, Steward
Julie Carmine La Corte, CWA Local 1000
Martina Meijer, MORE-UFT
Jamie McCandless, CWA Local 3265
Nish Suvarnakar, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Janette Corcelius, OPEIU local 12
Nadia Taha, CWA Local 1000
Andrew Carillo, TNG-CWA Local 37074, Vice President
Diana Ramirez, CWA Local 9415, Steward
Jessica Throop, CWA Local 1000
Janet Favela Sonneman, CWA Local 9415, Steward
Nicole Power, CWA Local 9009
C Andrews, CWA Local 9119
Maleek Smiley, CWA Local 1000
Cheyne Anderson, CWA Local 6009, Former Member
Lily Leach, CWA Local 1000
Joseph Nunez, CWA Local 9119
Amanda McIllmurray, CWA Local 1032
Sal Tamarkin, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Richard Trammell, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Anastasia Sanger, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Lincoln Bohn, CWA Local 9119
Amanda Bailey, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Taina Teravainen, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Greg Bosley, CWA Local 6186, Steward
Sam Bickley, CWA Local 6186
sara gore, CWA Local 6186
Fred Naybors, CWA Local 6186
Paz Mendez hodes, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Gian Smith, CWA Local 9119
Jacqueline VanLiew, CWA Local 1000
Raven Garuda, CWA Local 6186
Anja Bircher, CWA Local 9119
Veronica Moreno, TNG-CWA Local 32035
Eli Maher-Ortiz, CWA Local 9119
Christopher Kim, TNG-CWA Local 31003, Steward
Alex Lim-Chua Wee, TNG-CWA Local 31003, Steward
Anna Starecheski, TNG-CWA Local 31003, Steward
A. Colby, TNG-CWA Local 31003
Sandra Roldan, TNG-CWA Local 31003, Steward
Omara Gerardo , CWA Local 1032
Dominic Deamond, CWA Local 1032
Alex Rothfelder, CWA Local 1032
Miguel Guevara, CWA Local 1032
Genean Wrisley, CWA Local 1032
Elizabeth Reid, CWA Local 1032
Rae Greb, CWA Local 1032, Steward
Hector Jimenez Cardenas, CWA Local 1032
Zane Dundon, CWA Local 1032
holly thompson, CWA Local 1032
