DIVESTMENT PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Micaela Suminski, President, ACT-UAW Local 7902, president@actuaw.org
Thursday, June 18, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UAW DELEGATES APPROVE HISTORIC DIVESTMENT FROM ISRAEL BONDS
Detroit, Michigan, June 18, 2026: At the 39th Constitutional Convention of the United Auto Workers (UAW), delegates have voted for full divestment from Israel bonds by adding language in Article 7, Section 2 that states: “No UAW funds shall be invested in Israel bonds.”
ACT-UAW Local 7902 brought the proposed amendment to the convention, using language adapted from the Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) caucus. The amendment passed with strong support from delegates across diverse industrial sectors and regions.
Speaking from the convention floor, ACT-UAW Local 7902 delegate Raha Rafii invoked the legacy of the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., who had been honored by President Shawn Fain with a posthumous UAW Social Justice Award on the previous day of the Convention. Rafii reminded delegates, “Reverend Jackson taught us that all struggles are intertwined. Divesting means refusing to fund campaigns against Palestinian workers: the hospital, emergency health, agricultural, and sanitation workers whose daily survival and work is nothing short of heroic. Solidarity is not selective!”
These words reflected the remarks UAW President Shawn Fain made in his keynote State of the Union Address earlier in the convention, where he reminded delegates, “what we decide today will define generations to come. It is our obligation to lead in this moment. We have to rise to the occasion. This is our generation’s defining moment.”
This truly is a defining moment for international worker solidarity, and one that has been a long time coming. In November, 1973, a caucus of thousands of Arab American UAW workers went on strike at Chrysler’s Dodge Main Plant to protest the use of their union dues to purchase $300,000 in Israel bonds. They picketed side by side with Black revolutionaries from the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. They were unable to win their demands at the time, but their legacy was not forgotten. Nearly fifty-three years later, in a time of escalating Israeli war crimes and genocide against the Palestinian people, UAW workers in 2026 have won the divestment long sought by our union elders.
ACT-UAW 7902 is proud of the historic victory we and our union siblings have achieved together, a major step toward total divestment from apartheid and genocide. This would not have been possible without the continued solidarity between workers from all walks of life who share in the vision of a more just, peaceful, and productive future for all working people.
