A coalition of unions representing nearly half of all union members in the United States sent a letter this week urging President Joe Biden to halt all US military aid to Israel. The letter, sent ahead of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the US today, urges Biden to stop arming Israel “as part of the work to secure an immediate and permanent cease-fire in the war in Gaza.”
Seven unions signed onto the missive: the Association of Flight Attendants–Communications Workers of America (AFA-CWA), the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), the National Education Association (NEA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Auto Workers (UAW), and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE). Taken together, the signatories comprise some six million workers.
“Our unions are hearing the cries of humanity as this vicious war continues,” said APWU president Mark Dimondstein in a press release. “Working people and our unions are horrified that our tax dollars are financing this ongoing tragedy. We need a ceasefire now, and the best way to secure that is to shut off US military aid to Israel.”
Dimondstein was the first leader within the AFL-CIO to begin pushing unions to endorse a cease-fire. He raised the issue at an October 16 meeting of the AFL-CIO executive council, urging the body to demand a cease-fire. According to the New York Times’s reporting, he found no support among his colleagues — the AFL-CIO has previously quashed efforts to back such a call at the local level. But to have criticism of Israel raised at length in such a meeting was itself unprecedented.
This week’s letter to Biden is a product of relationships built through the National Labor Network for Ceasefire, a coalition of unions that formed around a statement, initially sponsored by UE and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: Alex N. Press
