This assertion initially appeared on the UAW Labor for Palestine website.
UAW Labor for Palestine has realized that the International Executive Board of the United Auto Workers just lately voted down a movement to divest from Israel Bonds, with solely three IEB members voting in favor.
We are outraged on the failure of our IEB members, whose election many people actively supported, to withdraw our dues cash from Israel Bonds and from firms that do enterprise with Israel — i.e. to divest from genocide. This pathetic lack of motion comes regardless of Arab-led autoworker wildcat strikes in 1973 that protested the UAW’s buy of Israel Bonds, repeated UAW Labor for Palestine calls for that the UAW divest, and the management’s personal name for a ceasefire in Gaza.
It is especially egregious at a time when college students throughout the nation are courageously establishing Palestine Solidarity Encampments to demand their universities divest. Our union simply made sturdy statements towards the repression meted out to college students and school, together with many UAW members. But that very same union management can not discover sufficient spine to honor the Palestinian commerce union picket line by pulling its personal investments within the Israeli apartheid state!
Reportedly, the rationale a lot of the 14 IEB members — together with UAW President Shawn Fain — both voted no or abstained was that it might price the UAW $500,000 to maneuver its investments out of a fund that features round $400,000 to $700,000 price of Israel bonds. These bonds are bought to fund Israel’s warfare machine, which has slaughtered a minimum of 35,000 Palestinians, numerous them youngsters, since October 7.
The monetary argument doesn’t maintain water. The UAW has dedicated $40 million to arrange unorganized auto staff. We applaud this dedication and hail the victory at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee. However, we discover it unacceptable {that a} union with $40 million to fund organizing can not half with half one million {dollars} to finish its complicity with genocide.
We name on the IEB to reverse its shameful lack of motion instantly, and we reiterate our calls for that UAW management respect the Palestinian commerce union picket line by instantly:
Divesting our union and employers from Israel Bonds and from the navy, extractive, and technological industries related with the Israeli occupation and U.S. imperialism;
Terminating UAW’s ties with the Histadrut, Israel’s racist labor federation, and its U.S. mouthpiece, the Jewish Labor Committee;
Demanding that the United States authorities instantly halt all support and navy assist to Israel, together with the availability of weapons produced in UAW retailers; and
Protecting UAW members who have interaction in pro-Palestine speech and advocacy—notably Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab staff—from doxxing, surveillance, and repression inside and past the office. The protection of UAW 2325 towards Congress and UAW 2710 members who’ve been disciplined for his or her advocacy, is crucial at this second, however numerous staff have been dealing with these points broadly round our locals.
UAWL4P urges the IEB to take these concrete actions and extra so as to materialize the ceasefire name President Fain revamped 4 months and tens of hundreds of deaths in Gaza in the past. The IEB should acknowledge that the ability to finish complicity lies within the arms of our union’s rank-and-file members and work to appreciate that energy with urgency. To assist the IEB’s alignment with the desire of rank-and-file members, we draw your consideration to this record of BDS resolutions handed by UAW locals and different our bodies throughout the nation courting again to a minimum of 2014, and to a new decision reiterating its prior calls for for UAW divestment, adopted by ALAA-UAW 2325 on May 7, 2024.
As union members and allies who’ve been advocating, researching, and dealing tirelessly for solidarity with Palestine over the previous seven months—a few of us for years and a long time—we consider in a UAW that stands with the individuals of Palestine, staff all over the world, and other people of conscience all over the place by instantly voting to divest the UAW from occupation and genocide as outlined above.
In Solidarity for a Free Palestine from the river to the ocean!
An Injury to One is an Injury to All!