Attacks on UAW and Other Unions Seek to Curb Union Power, not “Anti-Semitism”

From the United Electrical Workers:

August 11, 2024

Pittsburgh

Statement of the UE officers

In the face of rising working-class militancy, anti-union forces have launched various legal attacks on the labor movement, using the false claim that union involvement in protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza is somehow “anti-Semitic.” Most prominently, the federal monitor charged with rooting out corruption in the United Auto Workers has engaged in wildly inappropriate behavior, in a clear attempt to use his immense legal power over the union to shut down their criticism of Israel. The National Right to Work Committee and union-busting law firms like Jones Day have also launched a series of legal cases, including some against UE locals, aimed at undermining union shop and exclusive representation.

On December 13, a little under two weeks after the UAW released a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the court-appointed monitor overseeing the union, Neil Barofsky, made a phone call to UAW President Shawn Fain, urging him to reconsider the union’s position. In February, Barofsky sent a letter to the UAW executive board reiterating his criticism of the union’s position, and also brought it up in a virtual meeting with the executive board on February 19.

Barofsky was appointed in 2021 as part of a consent decree between the union and the federal government, stemming from rampant corruption under previous UAW leadership. In his role, Barofsky has extensive power to oversee all aspects of the union’s operation, including the power to impose discipline on UAW officers and members. The current leadership of the union was elected to reform the union; they have democratized the UAW and led important and militant fights, and have in fact worked closely with the monitor to root out corruption.

The consent decree which gives Barofsky authority over the union charges him with “remov[ing] fraud, corruption, illegal behavior, dishonesty, and unethical practices” from the union. Nothing in this mandate is applicable to the union’s position calling for a ceasefire, a position voted on by an executive board elected through a democratic process overseen by Barofsky himself.

After the union refused to change its position, and sent Barofsky a letter raising concerns that he was acting outside of his jurisdiction, Barofsky opened a new investigation into the union and demanded that the union turn over more than one hundred thousand documents, including communications that could potentially expose the union’s internal plans for taking on corporations

The attacks on labor over positions on Israeli policy towards Palestinians are not limited to the UAW, however. In July, a lawsuit against the Professional Staff Congress, the union representing faculty and professional staff of the City University of New York, was appealed to the Supreme Court. The National Right to Work Committee, which is providing legal counsel in the case, seeks to further weaken public-sector unions by asking the Supreme Court to eliminate the principle of exclusive representation. If exclusive representation is eliminated, then employers will be free to reward non-members with higher wages and other perks. This would further undermine public-sector unions, which are already suffering under the effects of the 2018 Janus decision outlawing union shop in the public sector. Two UE locals have also been the target of legal actions making false claims of anti-Semitism to attempt to undermine the union shop in the private sector, instigated by the National Right to Work Committee and the notorious union-busting law firm Jones Day.

These lawsuits, like the UAW monitor’s attack on that union, are justified by personal differences of opinion with positions taken by the union’s democratically-elected leadership, or in some cases by the membership as a whole. However, in a democracy, differences should be resolved, not by lawsuits, but by persuasion. UE has never taken action against a member for holding an opinion which differs from the union’s policy. Indeed, the preamble to our constitution directs us to unite all workers regardless not only of “craft, age, sex, nationality, race, [and] creed,” but also of “political beliefs,” and we encourage robust discussion of the union’s policies through our democratic structures.

It is ironic that several of these legal assaults alleging that criticisms of Israel’s military actions constitute “anti-Semitism” are being supported by the National Right to Work Committee, an organization whose history is steeped in actual prejudice against Jewish people. Vance Muse, the lobbyist who was central to the passage of so-called “right-to-work” laws throughout the country in the 1940s, was both a rabid anti-Semite and a committed white supremacist. His organization, the Christian American Association, sought to portray CIO unions like UE and UAW as agents of “Jewish Marxism” — precisely because our organizations united workers regardless of race, creed, and political beliefs.

It is not an accident that these attacks are specifically targeting unions which are growing, leading militant struggles, and daring to take independent positions on U.S. foreign policy. In this and in many other ways, they resemble the attacks on the progressive wing of the labor movement in the 1940s and 1950s when the unions which were growing, leading militant struggles, and taking independent positions on U.S. foreign policy were tarred as “communist-dominated” and subjected to government persecution — all of which only aided the corporations. The attacks on so-called “anti-Semitism” are nothing more than a new McCarthyism.

Just as we have always rejected any attempts by the government, corporations or special interests to dictate UE policy, we forcefully condemn the attempts by the federal monitor to influence the policies of the UAW, and to retaliate against them for taking a courageous and just stand for peace. We urge the court which appointed Barofsky to replace him with a monitor who will not exceed his authority.

More broadly, we condemn the cynical misuse of claims of anti-Semitism to attack union security and exclusive representation. We call upon the rest of the labor movement to close ranks against these attacks on exclusive representation, on the union shop, and on the right of unions to democratically take policy positions independent of the government or any political party.

Carl Rosen
General President

Andrew Dinkelaker
Secretary-Treasurer

Mark Meinster
Director of Organization

Workers in Palestine

Earlier today I participated in an international call on the situation in Palestine and Israel that was sponsored by the National Labor Network for a Ceasefire and that was facilitated by Mark Dimondstein, President of the American Postal Workers Union. At this point the number of union and union locals and allied labor organizations that have signed on to the Network's call is quite large and the Network's ability to meet and work with Palestinian trade unionists by Zoom is significant.

Today's call featured presentations by several Palestinian trade union leaders. From my point of view, the most important presentations came from a leader of a transport union and a leader of the Palestinian journalists union. 

During the call mention was made of the Workers in Palestine effort, an international project that is developing a base among unions and union members here in North America. The National Labor Network has the following objectives:

* An immediate ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
* Restoration of basic human rights.
* Immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas.
* Unimpeded full access for humanitarian aid.

* Our president calling for a permanent ceasefire.

Workers in Palestine supports a call from many trade unions and trade unionists in Palestine that includes the following statement:

We are calling on trade unions in relevant industries:

* To refuse to build weapons destined for Israel.
* To refuse to transport weapons to Israel.
* To pass motions in their trade union to this effect.
* To take action against complicit companies involved in implementing Israel’s brutal and illegal siege, especially if they have contracts with your institution.
* Pressure governments to stop all military trade with Israel, and in the case of the US, funding to it.

We make this call as we see attempts to ban and silence all forms of solidarity with the Palestinian people. We ask you to speak out and take action in the face of injustice as trade unions have done historically. We make this call in the belief that the struggle for Palestinian justice and liberation is not only a regionally and globally determined struggle. It is a lever for the liberation of all dispossessed and exploited people of the world.

There is a spectrum of opinion and activism here. No one should feel that the two efforts are in conflict with one another, but everyone should feel some urgency about doing something to prevent the genocide taking place in Gaza and working to prevent a war that could go nuclear. This is a labor issue, as President Dimondstein points out.

Here is a helpful video from Workers in Palestine:

  e ceasefire in Gaza between Is

Please donate to the UAW Local 4811 Strike Fund

UAW Local 4811 is updating their website with useful information about the strike and the employer's attempts to block the union's progress. Our blog has also carried many articles about the strike movement: see here and here. Our key point today is that the union is in special need of our collective solidarity as the California university system's attempts to block the spread of the strike movement cause new problems for the striking workers. Still, this strike is making new labor history. 

Unions Stand in Solidarity with Campus Protesters, Demand Their Rights to Protest and Free Speech Be Respected

For more information contact:

Jonathan Kissam, UE Communications Director
(802) 343 1745 | jkissam@ueunion.org

MAY 20, 2024

Unions representing over one million workers released a statement today in support of campus protesters at colleges and universities across the country.

The unions are members of the National Labor Network for Ceasefire (NLNC), which has been outspoken for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, restoration of basic human rights, immediate release of the hostages, unimpeded full access for humanitarian aid, and our president calling for a permanent ceasefire.

The six national and four local unions, some of whom represent faculty, student, and other campus workers, are stepping forward because they recognize the risk of suppressing free speech — employers have been trying to suppress workers demanding their rights for centuries. When some campuses began enlisting police to beat and arrest protesters to silence them, the already unacceptable crackdowns across the country went too far.

Union members have been attacked by the police on some campuses for exercising their rights to free speech, assembly, and protest. Labor unions across the country must defend these rights as the same rights that sustain our democracy and provide a voice for workers,” says Carl Rosen, General President of the United Electrical Workers Union (UE).

Here is the full statement:

Unions Stand in Solidarity with Campus Protesters, Demand Their Rights to Protest and Free Speech Be Respected

Our unions, representing over one million union members, stand in solidarity with those students, faculty and other academic workers across the United States who have faced a repressive and violent crackdown of their protests of the war in Gaza. We demand that campus administrators cease their campaign of threats, suspensions and expulsions against peaceful protestors and cease using law enforcement agencies to disrupt and attack them.

Our unions are all members of the National Labor Network for Ceasefire, united by our shared call for a ceasefire in Gaza, the safe return of hostages, and safe passage for urgently needed humanitarian aid to those displaced, starved and injured by Israel’s campaign in Gaza. We see our demands broadly reflected in the campus protests.

Moreover, as trade unionists, we can never support efforts to repress, intimidate or deploy state-sanctioned violence against those exercising their democratic rights of free speech and who protest, strike, or demand justice.

The repressive response of certain university administrators and local police to these protests is also a labor rights issue. Faculty, student workers, and other campus workers – many of whom belong to our unions – are among those who have been arrested and forcibly removed from the protests or suspended from their work. University staff have been ordered to clear protests led by students, their fellow workers and union members. Academic freedom, free speech, the right to assemble, and the right to protest are fundamental rights and they must be respected on campuses and across the country.

The time for peace is now. We stand in solidarity with the protesters.

American Postal Workers Union (APWU)
Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA)
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT)
National Nurses United (NNU)
United Auto Workers (UAW)
United Electrical Workers Union (UE)
Chicago Teachers Union Local 1 (CTU-1)
SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania (SEIUHCPA)
1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East (1199SEIU)
United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 3000 (UFCW 3000)

"If, by then, you decide to move against the students, you’ll have to go through the workers first."

Sister Laura Walton, President of the Ontario Fedeeration of Labour, knows how to talk to employers:  

May 25, 2024

VIA EMAIL: president@utoronto.ca
Meric Gertler
Office of the President
University of Toronto
27 King’s College Circle, Room 206
Toronto, ON M5S 1A1

Dear President Gertler,

I am writing in my capacity as the President of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), which represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario.

As the voice of Ontario’s labour movement, the OFL unequivocally supports the right of students to engage in peaceful protest on campus, as they call for a ceasefire and divestment from companies that are complicit in war and occupation.

I was therefore disappointed to hear about your ultimatum to the student encampment at the University of Toronto: clear out by Monday at 8:00 a.m. or be in violation of a trespass notice. As trade unionists, we know what good-faith bargaining looks like. You should, too. In most instances at the bargaining table, our members and your representatives have successfully negotiated numerous collective agreements, without resorting to strikes or lockouts.

The same approach should apply here. Negotiations must continue in good faith, and without threats of police intervention. The recent successful conclusions to the encampments at Ontario Tech University and at McMaster University, for example, shows what’s possible.

By contrast, when administrators choose repression, it rightfully provokes a response well beyond the students. On Monday, thousands of academic workers at the University of California went on strike to protest their employer’s use of violence to clear the encampments.

Universities should be where we learn to debate and disagree with each other–without the fear of violence. For Canada’s largest university to decide unilaterally when the debate should end, and when police repression should begin, is a betrayal of the values we claim to uphold. Indeed, your own Statement of Institutional Purpose describes these values clearly: Within the unique university context, the most crucial of all human rights are the rights of freedom of speech, academic freedom, and freedom of research. And we affirm that these rights are meaningless unless they entail the right to raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself.

This is a mandate to support the students, not repress them. In this spirit, I urge you to reverse course immediately, and choose negotiations and discussion over ultimatums and repression. As a gesture of encouragement, I am calling on all trade unions and allies to join a solidarity rally on Monday at 8:00 a.m. at the student encampment at the University of Toronto. If, by then, you decide to move against the students, you’ll have to go through the workers first.

Sincerely,
LAURA WALTON
President

National Writers Union Statement on the Attacks on Rafah

The National Writers Union is devastated by the recent Israeli airstrikes on Rafah, where more than 1.2 million people are currently sheltering. We are outraged at the dozens of Palestinians who were burned to death by U.S.-made bombs in tent encampments that were designated “safe zones.” These actions violate the International Court of Justice’s recent order that Israel end its military operations in Rafah, following the court’s January ruling that Israel is plausibly committing genocide in Gaza. Since the attack on October 7, 2023, that left nearly 1,200 dead, Israel has killed over 35,000 Palestinians and over 100 of our fellow media workers, most in targeted killings.

The mass murder of journalists and media workers is especially troubling and is an attempt to conceal what is happening in Gaza. Foreign journalists have been barred from entering Gaza except those embedded with the Israeli Occupation Forces. Palestinian journalists are the only ones reporting on the ground—and paying the ultimate price. On May 5, 2024, Israeli authorities raided Al Jazeera’s office in Jerusalem after the government ordered a shutdown of the station’s local operations. On May 21, 2024, Israeli officials seized broadcasting equipment from the Associated Press and cut its live feed of Gaza (the equipment has been returned).

Earlier this month, we published Red Lines, a report detailing retaliation against media workers for speaking critically about Israel’s war on Gaza. In it, we called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all political prisoners, a halt to U.S. military funding for Israel, and guaranteed access and protection for journalists in the region. We reiterate these demands in light of the attacks on Rafah and renew our commitment to acting in solidarity with our sibling union, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and with the global labor movement following the urgent call from Palestinian trade unions.

May we continue to find hope and strength in one another.

Workers at the University of California represented by UAW Local 4811 are striking & need our support

The following is a loose recap from several sources of the rolling strike movement underway in the University of California university system and led by UAW Local 4811:

Academic workers led by UAW 4811 are going on an unprecedented strike to protect their rights to free speech, protest, and collective action. Members voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a ULP strike over the violation of basic workplace rights like safety. The University of California system allowed counter-protestors to assault peaceful demonstrations and called riot cops on its students and workers. In the coming days, campus by campus, these workers will be standing up and walking out.

The union has stated their case with these words:

On the night of May 1-May 2, LAPD police in riot gear arrested more than 200 peaceful student protesters and academic workers exercising their legal right to demonstrate against the death, destruction and human suffering directed at the people of Gaza. Many of those arrested had spent the previous night seeking medical care or hospitalization after being physically attacked and maced by a group of anti-Palestinian counter-protesters . Though UCLA and LAPD were on notice of the attacks, they deliberately failed to respond.

An explanation of the Unfair Labor Practice charges that are being filed are here.

The strength of this movement lies in its ability to build solidarity between labor and social movements, deepen union organizing, defend and build upon social justice principles, and find new ways to protect workers who want to stand for social justice even when our rights are under attack. Some of the workers who are active in the strike movement were on strike in 2022 and come to the current strike with strike and organizing experience. This strike movement is being built in part in solidarity with Palestnian trade unionists. Other unions are respecting the picket lines and strike participation is increasing as the strike takes hold. The dangers here are that this is a spontaneous movement and that we need to keep focused on demands for a ceasefire in Palestine and not let this moment become primarily about the right to protest peacefully here in the United States. The main weaknesses here are that UAW Local 4811 is going into this fight without enough solidarity from others, that this is largely uncharted territory, and that the local needs more rank-and-file involvement in order to back up the threat of rolling strikes. And the same people who will attack an encampment might well attack picket lines.

Aside from the positives and negatives mentioned here, the strike movement that Local 4811 is leading depends on deep internal organizing that union activists have been engaging in for several years. That means that the union's leading activists are building structures that can respond to the current crises and other ones that will evolve in time, but it also means that what is happening in California with Local 4811 cannot be easily copied. If you want a local union that can take on big fights, you have to work towards that and doing that can take years. Mass strike movements hit a wall when the rest of us aren't also in motion.   

An article in Labor Notes written by Caitlyn Clark under date of May 14 gives us some helpful context for what is going on:

As campus protests—and violent police repression—continue to roll across the country, some unions are getting involved.

More than 2,700 protesters have been arrested on 64 college campuses since the initial arrests at Columbia University in New York on April 18. Encampments have appeared at 184 campuses worldwide. The protesting students are calling for full disclosure of their universities’ finances and divestment from all financial ties to weapons manufacturers and Israel’s war on Gaza.

Unionized academic workers are demanding decision-making power over their work and what it’s used for. For instance, academic workers in the astronomy department of the University of California Santa Cruz have organized to refuse to apply for or accept funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, weapons manufacturers, and military contractors.

In an open letter published by the magazine Science for the People in January, they wrote, “UC has received $295 million in research funding from the Department of Defense in FY 2022 alone… Technology that astronomers have developed for science is being misused to surveil and target people both within and outside the U.S.”

For others, the police assaults on protestors and university administrators’ attacks on campus free speech have become issues of contract violations and workplace safety. Auto Workers (UAW) Local 4811, representing 48,000 academic workers across the University of California system, filed unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against their employer over violent police attacks on the UCLA student encampment.

“UCLA unilaterally changed its workplace free speech policies without providing notice or bargaining,” Local 4811 said in a statement. “In so doing it violated its policy of content neutrality toward speech by favoring those engaged in anti-Palestine speech over those engaged in pro-Palestine speech.”

The local will hold a strike authorization vote over the ULP May 13-15. The vote could lead to thousands of academic workers striking for free speech and in solidarity with the student movement for Palestine. READ MORE HERE.

This video from Humboldt Freelance Reporting also gives some needed context:

The university system has seemed to be unwilling to meet with the union and resolve the issues at hand. The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) has asked the University of California to meet with the union to work through what is motivating the filing of the Unfair Labor Practice charges, but UC instead asked the Board for an injunction against the strike. PERB has denied the injunction. This denial is going to help grow the strike movement. 

Rafael Jaime, the President of Local 4811, has been quoted in the media as saying, “It’s unfortunate that UC has not made progress toward remedying the unfair labor practices they have committed. Rather than put their energies into resolution, UC is attempting to halt the strike through legal procedures. Academic workers are united in our demand that UC address these serious ULPs, beginning with amnesty for our colleagues who are facing criminal or disciplinary proceedings because they spoke out against injustice.”

Common and popular ways to support the strike movement are:

1. Donate to the UAW 4811 Hardship Fund at UAW 4811 Hardship Fund,

2. Pass a Support Resolution – The Democratic Socialists of America have a template here at “Solidarity with 4811” to help you do this. Please feel good about crafting resolutions in your own words, and please send them to Loal 4811.

3. Show up at the picket lines, listen to the strikers, and provide what is needed if you can.

UPDATED REPORT FROM THE PALESTINE GENERAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS (PGFTU) ON CONDITIONS OF PALESTINIAN WORKERS IN GAZA AND THE WEST BANK

UPDATED REPORT FROM THE PALESTINE GENERAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS (PGFTU) ON CONDITIONS OF PALESTINIAN WORKERS IN GAZA AND THE WEST BANK (as of May 1, 2024 - translated from Arabic)

This report is based on the cases that the General Federation of Trade Unions of Palestine was able to monitor -- those prevented from working, those targeted, persecuted, and detained, and those murdered at their workplaces or while in transit to or from work.

Since the start of the aggression against Gaza on October 7, 2024, Palestinian workers have received no income because they have been prevented from working.

In the Israeli labor market, there are 235,000 Palestinian workers, some of whom have started selling their furniture to feed their families. Their monthly losses are estimated at more than 1.35 billion shekels ($362,737,091), which has paralyzed the economy in the West Bank, resulting from the dismissal of more than 100,000 workers from their jobs inside Israel. Most of them were employed in agriculture and construction.

One hundred thirteen workers lost their lives in 2023, simply traveling to and performing their jobs as workers.

Palestinian Workers inside Israel in 2023:

79 died going to/from or while performing their jobs, 12 of whom were from Gaza
2 targeted by settlers
2 killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces
3, including Majed Ahmed Zaqoul and Mansour Nabhan and Rash Agha from Gaza, as a result of torture during interrogation in the occupation prisons after they were detained while they were at their workplaces.

Palestinian Workers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2023:

27 killed from the West Bank, among whom -
1 from the West Bank, targeted by settlers while he was picking olives on October 28, 2023;
1 a taxi driver was targeted by the occupation forces in Hebron governorate on November 13, 2023;
1 targeted by the occupation forces at the Beit Einoun junction in Hebron while working as a distributor of parcels on December 23, 2023;
5 while trying to reach their workplaces
10 died while performing their jobs since the beginning of 2024, including:

- Abd al-Rahim Abd al-Karim Amer from Qalqilya was killed on April 14,2024. At the same time, he and his son were detained In the occupation detention center Hadarim for more than two months under the pretext of working without a permit.

- Fayez Ahmed Awadalla Shahin, from Gaza, was martyred on April15, 2024 in the Nuweima shelter in Jericho as a result of the oppression he was subjected to due to his family's difficult situation in Gaza.

- Hassan Rabhi Khalil Mansiya from Dhahiriya, south of Hebron, was intercepted by the occupation forces, chased, arrested, assaulted, and then thrown off a building while he was returning from work inside the West Bank. (April 29, 2024)

Confirmed arrests of workers:

The General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions confirms that the number of Gaza workers in the Israeli labor market was approximately 19,000, whose permits have been revoked since the beginning of the events on October 7, 2023.

PGFTU monitored approximately 10,000 workers from Gaza at their workplaces, of whom 5,838 were provided with all their needs related to housing, food, and clothing by PGFTU.

80 workers were detained of 1,488 whose homes are in Gaza while returning from their jobs in the West Bank. The occupation forces arrested about 4,000 workers at their worksites in Israel; 3,200 of them were released and returned to the Gaza Strip. 800 remain detained.

PGFTU was able to monitor the total number of workers of 5,100 arrested since October 7th from the West Bank and Gaza, whether released or not, who work in the Israeli labor market.

For example:

* The arrest of three workers from Gaza in the town of Aqraba, southeast of Nablus, at dawn on Saturday, December 2, 2023;
* The arrest of 67 workers from Gaza in the town of Faroun, south of Tulkarm, at dawn on Thursday, December 7, 2023;
* 15 workers from Gaza were arrested in the municipality of Bidya as the occupation forces stormed the PGFTU headquarters and ransacked its contents on Sunday morning, January 14, 2024;
* The Israeli police arrested on Tuesday, 16/1/2024, at least 50 Palestinian workers from Hebron who have been stuck at their workplaces since the events of October 7, 2023;
* 40 Gazan laborers were arrested in their residences in Qalqilya governorate at dawn on Wednesday, 2024/1/17;
* Occupation forces arrested dozens of Gazan workers in the occupied territories from their workplaces in Barta'a, northwest of Jenin, at dawn on Saturday, February 17, 2024 ;
* The occupation forces arrested 50 Gazan workers from inside the shelter center in Nablus at dawn on Monday, February 26, 2024;
* 30 Gazan laborers were arrested after raiding the apartment building where they live in the town of Barta'a, south of Jenin, at dawn on Tuesday, February 27, 2024;
* 65 were arrested and transferred from their workplaces in raids that took place in the occupied city of Jaffa on Friday, March 15, 2024;
* 10 Palestinian workers from the West Bank were arrested in Ashkelon on Mar;

- The occupation forces killed 10 workers while entering Jerusalem from the Al-Zaim checkpoint, despite their having paid for their entry permits on April 14, 2024;
- Occupation forces arrested several workers while they were working inside a synagogue in the Mea Shearim neighborhood in Jerusalem on April 16, 2024;
- The occupation forces arrested 10 workers from Hebron inside a construction workshop in Caesarea, in the occupied territories south of Haifa, under the pretext of working without a permit April 17, 2024;
- Several West Bank workers were arrested inside an apartment in Tel Aviv on Saturday, April 27, 2024;
- Arrests of 2,000 workers from Gaza who were released from the Kerem Shalom crossing in November 2023.

Note: During the war, the occupation authority followed a policy of arresting and interrogating workers and then releasing them or keeping them under detention.

Note: These workers live in harsh detention conditions due to the physical abuse, torture, and starvation practiced against them during interrogation by the Israeli police in Abu Kabir and Anatot detention centers in the occupied territories.

There were 5,838 workers from Gaza working in towns and villages across the West Bank, of whom 1,488 were returned to Gaza.

Note: According to a report by Hebrew Channel 12, the Shin Bet security service of the occupation government confirmed that there were not any charges against the Palestinian workers, and after interrogating about 3,000 workers from Gaza who held permits to work in Israel, it turned out that they had nothing to do with any event since and before the events of October 7, which confirms the arrogance of the occupation and its force in continuing to abuse workers in all ways to deprive them of their livelihood.

We in the General Federation of Palestinian Trade Unions demand the following:

- Cease the persecution of workers in all places where they are located in the occupied territories and the West Bank;
- Allow workers to return safely to their homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and protect them while going there;
- The immediate and urgent release of all detained workers from the West Bank and Gaza;
- Pressure the Israeli government to compensate Palestinian workers working in the Israeli labor market who have been out of work for more than seven months.

SEIU RESOLUTION CALLING FOR CEASEFIRE, HUMANITARIAN AID, AND AN END TO THE OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

Proposed Resolution to the SEIU IU Convention - Resolution #201

SEIU RESOLUTION CALLING FOR CEASEFIRE, HUMANITARIAN AID, AND AN END TO THE OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE

Proposal to 2024 SEIU International Convention - Submitted by SEIU 1021

WHEREAS, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) represents over 2 million members united by the belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide — and dedicated to improving the lives of workers and their families and creating a more just and humane society. SEIU members save lives, care for the sick, help seniors and people with disabilities live independently, educate children, and keep our communities clean, safe, and healthy; and

WHEREAS, through our collective voice, we achieve justice, empowerment, and respect in every workplace. It’s our social responsibility to foster inclusive and just conditions for our members and all of those we serve, and we undoubtedly extend that standard across the globe in shared humanity; and

WHEREAS, we take seriously the plea of “Never Again” and honor the lessons of the Holocaust by fighting anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and ethno-nationalism everywhere; and

WHEREAS, we mourn the tragic loss of all Palestinian and Israeli civilian lives lost before and after the attacks of October 7th, including the decades-long military occupation, forced displacement, and oppression endured by Palestinians since 1948; and

WHEREAS, the relentless Israeli military attack on Gaza and the West Bank, in a disproportionate response, has already led to over thirty-eight thousand Palestinian civilian deaths, more than one third of which are children (1); and

WHEREAS, Israel is violating international law by committing human rights violations and war crimes, including collective punishment, acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Specifically, these crimes include but are not limited to the following:

● Forcing over two million Palestinians (2) to leave their homes with nowhere safe to flee or find shelter

● Collectively punishing the Palestinian people through the destruction of Gazan civilian infrastructure including hospitals, schools, libraries, places of worship, and agriculture

● Denying water, food, electricity, fuel and medical aid, leading to the indiscriminate death of thousands of Palestinian civilians (3)

● Targeting of journalists, medical workers, and cultural workers

● Transferring Israeli civilians into territory it illegally occupies (the West Bank) via Jewish-only

settlements (4)

● Restricting freedom of movement for Palestinians (5)

● Arbitrary arrests and administrative detention against Palestinian civilians including children; and

WHEREAS, since World War II, Israel has been the largest overall recipient of US foreign military aid, receiving over $150 billion since 1946, and Biden’s proposed $14.3 billion in additional aid for Israel will take funding from the essential jobs we perform and services we provide as public sector employees; and

WHEREAS, Palestinian trade unions call for workers around the world to stand in solidarity to “end all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes” and to “pass motions in their trade union to this effect”; 

(1) Over thirty-eight thousand Palestinian civilian deaths, more than one third of which are children

Statistics on the Israeli Genocide in the Gaza Strip (07 October - 23 February 2024), Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, 23 Feb. 2024,

https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6176/Statistics-on-the-Israeli-attack-on-the-Gaza-Strip-%2807-October ------ 23-February-2024%29.

(2) Forcing over two million Palestinians to leave their homes

Statistics on the Israeli Genocide in the Gaza Strip (07 October - 23 February 2024), Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, 23 Feb. 2024,

https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6176/Statistics-on-the-Israeli-attack-on-the-Gaza-Strip-%2807-October---23-February-2024%29.

(3) Indiscriminate death of thousands of Palestinian civilians

"Civilians in Gaza Must Not Be Collectively Punished." United Nations, United Nations, https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15473.doc.htm.

(4)Transferring Israeli civilians into territory it illegally occupies (the West Bank) via Jewish-only settlements "ICC: Palestine is Newest member."

Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org/news/2015/04/01/icc-palestine-newest-member.

(5) Restricting freedom of movement for Palestinians

"Israel: 50 Years of Occupation Abuses." Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, www.hrw.org/news/2017/06/04/israel-50-years-occupation-abuses.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, SEIU calls for, and on elected officials to call for:

● An immediate and permanent ceasefire

● The restoration of food, clean water, fuel and electricity to Gaza

● The safe passage of substantial humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people

● The release of all hostages, including Palestinians being held in Israel jails without charge or trial

● Opposing all existing and any future military aid to Israel

● The withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlers illegally occupying Gaza and the West Bank

● An end to the occupation of Palestine and the apartheid policies of the Israeli state allowing for equal

rights and self-determination of all Palestinians; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that, given our history of standing up for the rights of the oppressed and working classes around the world, we encourage members and community to learn about the region, to better understand the historical context, so together we build empathy and compassion to deepen our humanity and strengthen our fight for justice; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, We will defend members’ and staff’s rights to freedom of expression, including support for Palestinian liberation, and protect them from workplace discrimination and retaliation. We advocate for the dignity and safety of members and all people, so that no one is discriminated against because of their identity, ethnicity, religious affiliation, or allyship, in the fight for human rights, equity, and justice; and

FINALLY, BE IT RESOLVED, that we shall call on other national and international unions and labor federations to adopt and disseminate similar resolutions, understanding that our collective struggle for justice as working people is the pathway to peace.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Anti-Semitism

Hostility towards and discrimination against Jewish people.

("Anti-Semitism." Oxford Reference, Oxford Reference, www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095417471.)

Apartheid

The implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights.

("Wex." Legal Information Institute, Legal Information Institute, www.law.cornell.edu/wex/apartheid.)

Ceasefire

An agreement that regulates the cessation of all military activity for a given length of time in a given area. It may be declared unilaterally, or it may be negotiated between parties to a conflict.

("The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law." Medecins Sans Frontieres, Medecins Sans Frontieres,

https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/cease-fire/.)

Collective Punishment

The term refers not only to criminal punishment, but also to other types of sanctions, harassment or administrative action taken against a group in retaliation for an act committed by an individual/s who are considered to form part of the group. Such punishment therefore targets persons who bear no responsibility for having committed the conduct in question. Historically used as a deterrence tool by occupying powers to prevent attacks from resistance movements, collective punishments for acts committed by individuals during an armed conflict are prohibited by International Humanitarian Law against prisoners of war or other protected persons.

International humanitarian law prohibits collective punishment of prisoners of war or other protected persons for acts committed by individuals during an armed conflict.

The imposition of collective punishment is a war crime.

("How Does Law Protect in War?" International Committee of the Red Cross, International Committee of the Red Cross,

https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/collective-punishments.)

Ethnic Cleansing

Rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area. A purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.

The coercive practices used to remove the civilian population can include: murder, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, extrajudicial executions, rape and sexual assaults, severe physical injury to civilians, confinement of civilian population in ghetto areas, forcible removal, displacement and deportation of civilian population, deliberate military attacks or threats of attacks on civilians and civilian areas, use of civilians as human shields, destruction of property, robbery of personal property, attacks on hospitals, medical personnel, and locations with the Red Cross/Red Crescent emblem, among others.

("Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect." United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/ethnic-cleansing.shtml.)

Ethno-nationalism

The belief, theory, or doctrine that shared ancestry is the principal element of a cohesive national identity, and that a government should protect and promote the culture, language, and religion of one group, considered the primary or prestigious people of a nation, over other cultures, languages, or religions that may share that space in a multicultural society.

("Ethnonationalism." Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/ethnonationalism.)

Genocide

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;

2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

("Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect." United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml.)

Islamophobia

Is hatred or fear of the Islamic religion and those who practice it.

("Islamophobia." Oxford Reference, Oxford Reference, www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100012452.)

Occupation

Article 42 of the 1907 Hague Regulations (HR) states that a "territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised."

("Occupation and international humanitarian law: questions and answers." International Committee of the Red Cross, International Committee of the Red Cross, 8 Apr. 2004, www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/misc/634kfc.htm.)

Oppression

Unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power

("Dictionary." Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/oppression.)

Self-Determination

The process by which a group of people, usually possessing a certain degree of national consciousness, form their own state and choose their own government.

("History and Society." Britannica, Britannica, www.britannica.com/topic/self-determination.)

Some Thoughts On The Labor Movement & The Campus Protests

Student- and youth-led protests supporting a ceasefire in Gaza are sweeping across the United States and the world. In some countries, mass protests supporting a ceasefire and pro-Palestinian demands are being organized by coalitions that are led in part by unions and by popular social movements. This work is being done from many corners of world labor and from many perspectives.

Popular media in the United States often either ignores the protests being held here or so misstates the facts on the ground concerning these protests that media watchers and readers might come away with the mistaken impression that the campus protests are, by their nature and intent, anti-Semitic, violent, and led by people who are not students and who have ulterior motives. I want to encourage readers of this blog to explore counter-narratives concerning the campus protests. You might want to start here and here in order to begin examining counter-narratives concerning the protests. 

I believe that three aspects of these protest movements in the United States are not being sufficiently explored in either our popular or alterntive media and that these points should be of special interest to the labor movement. We should start by acknowledging that most unions in the United States have been strong supporters of Israel since its founding in 1948 and that this support has come with little discussion or debate and that some within labor who have opposed this course have lost their jobs and have found it difficult to find other employment or have faced other forms of censorship. For a broad view on this matter, see this article that appeared in Labor Notes and this article as well.

There is no principle at stake here that says that we cannot or should not take positions on events that are occuring elsewhere in the world and that may not be of immediate concern to the immediate welfare of all union members. Rather, the principle has been that the mainstream labor movement in the U.S. has tended to fall safely in step with U.S. foreign policy goals and has often enlisted in the ideological battle for winning those goals through AIFLD and the ACILS. (There have been notable exception to this principle.) Most union members will not be  familiar with AIFLD and ASCILS and are not aware that their unions are engaged in international affairs.  

In our current moment, on the other hand, we see many unions cautiously breaking with our past and adopting calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. Some perspective on this change in affairs can be found here, here, and here. The February 8 statement by AFL-CIO condemning "the attacks by Hamas on October 7th" and calling for "a negotiated cease-fire in Gaza—including the immediate ingrelease of all hostages and provision of desperately needed shelter, food, medicine and other humanitarian assistance to Gazans" and reaffirming AFL-CIO "support of a two-state solution for long-term peace and security” marked a historic turning point for labor.

This brings me to the first aspect of our present moment that I want to comment on. The campus protests are indeed initiated and led by students, but these protests are increasingly involving university faculty and staff, and to the extent that unionized faculty and staff are involved these protests become union issues. This is particularly underscored when faculty and staff are attacked by the police and counter-protestors, are threatened with firing, or are fired. See this recent post, this recent post, and this recent post that have appeared on this blog for some idea of what this looks like. My points here are that unions that represent workers who are being victimized have a duty of fair representation in many of these cases, whether the unions involved support a ceasefire or not, and that unions such as the United Auto Workers and the United Electrical Workers (UE) have especially large union locals with members that have been facing repression on campuses. UAW President Shawn Fein has been especially forthright in defense of UAW members who are engaging in protests. This post from the UAW tells a story in its own right.   

 

Mainstream media is not telling the story of the campus protests from a labor or working-class perspective. There are wild cards in play here. The media's emphasis has been on whether or not President Biden's reelection is at risk because of these protests and what is taken to be his "pro-Israel" stance and what is generally perceived as being subtle shifts in that stance. The popular line is that Biden is alienating young voters by not supporting a ceasefire and by supporting Israel but also stands to lose at least some Jewish support for his shifts in policy. The other wild card here, at least for the labor movement, is whether or not union support for a ceasefire and for union members who are victimized for protesting will lead to union growth on campuses or not. The UAW, the UE, and some CWA local unions that are engaging in supporting calls for a ceasefire and for defending their members who are attacked look good to large numbers of young people and to many campus workers right now. This feels a bit like the days of the Occupy movement and the early days of the Black Lives Matter movement in some ways. Both of those movements showed the labor movement that we have lots to learn or relearn and they have helped push us in positive directions.

The primary movements for social change in the late 1960s and early 1970s won limited gains or lost in part because they were easily characterized as being youth movements and then isolated. In our current moment, however, there is an opportunity to build solidarity between young people and campus workers and their unions. Union members, as much as anyone else, need to fully understand the demands being raised in the protests.

Photo from Hussein Malla / AP/ People's World. See this article for an analysis of 

what is at issue in the campus protests. 

Another aspect of the moment that we're in has to do with what Labor has to teach the pro-ceasefire movement and the protesters and activists. We understand the discipline needed in striking and winning while other social movements may not, or these movements may see things differently than we do. Striking is not only about getting your sign, marching in a circle for a few hours, and picking up strike pay. The recent Portland Association of Teachers strike (see here and here) reminds us that strikes are also about forming transformative new relationships, pitching in to help coworkers cover childcare and rent and car payments, and winning public support. Most of go into strikes knowing that we have to define what a victory is and with the patience that gives us the strength to fight for what we didn't win when we return to work. Doing this right takes discipline and experience. We can teach this to others if we stop to take a breath and use our critical thinking skills to analyze what has and has not worked for us in the past.

In line with this, we need to carefully study and adopt/adapt passive resistance and the intricate psychology of confrontational non-violence. Our labor history is full of useful examples of us using non-violent civil disobedence, and it would be hypocritical and wrong-headed for us to criticize others for following our example. Here is a great labor video to help us start understanding this:

One of the many remarkable features of the strike shown in the video above was that the strikers and their families and closest supporters stayed on message despite police brutality, hostile courts and other violence. The company was the primary target and the goal was a strong union contract and the union remained on message throughout the strike. This won strong public support and support from many prominent progressive people who would not have otherwise engaged with coal miners in Appalachia. I know this because I was there. 
 

My last point here builds on something that the labor movement knows and carries in our DNA but that we do not often acknowldge. We know from union organizing that we do not begin an organizing campaign with puttng forward maximum demands. We find core issues that unite most people and we become the living voice of those demands and we win over people who are neutral or sitting on the fence by listening to them and creating safe space with them and including what they want in our demands if that's possible. It's a slow and steady step-by-step process that can suddenly accelerate. In some sense, then, we organize on the basis of loving our co-workers more than we do on hating our bosses.

The movements for a ceasefire and for the liberation of Palestine do their best work when then start with demands for a ceasefire and peace and use those to split their opposition and win over or neutralize some who oppose them. By doing this they put the fence-sitters in the positon of having to choose between what is human and good and what is pro-war and pro-genocide. So long as the movements have been doing that they have been winning against all odds and are building a pro-peace majority before the November elections. 

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO. Other opinions from union members in our region on this subject are welcome and will be appreciated.     

CWA Local 7065 Defends The Right To Protest & Models Solidarity

 

The McCarthyist Attack on Gaza Protests Threatens Free Thought for All

Ari Paul, the author of the following post, is the editor of the Clarion which is the newspaper of 30,000+ academic and staff workers at the Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York. This post is taken from Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. Responses from union members are welcome. This post does not reflect the opinions of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.

With the encouragement of the state, universities from coast to coast are taking draconian steps to silence debate about US-backed violence in the Middle East.

The Columbia University community looked on in shock as cops in riot gear arrested at least 100 pro-Palestine protesters who had set up an encampment in the center of campus (New York Post, 4/18/24). The university’s president, Nemat Shafik, had just the day before testified before a Republican-dominated congressional committee ostensibly concerned with campus “antisemitism”—a label that has come to be misapplied to any criticism of Israel, though the critics so smeared are often themselves Jewish.

A sense of delight has filled the city’s opinion pages. The New York Post editorial board (4/18/24) hailed both the clampdown on protests and Congress’s push to ensure that such drastic action against free speech was taken: “We’re glad to see Shafik stand up…. Congress deserves some credit for putting educrats’ feet to the fire on this issue.” The paper added, “Academia has been handling anti-Israel demonstrations with kid gloves.” In other words, universities have been allowing too many people to think and speak critically about an important issue of the day.

In “At Columbia, the Grown-Ups in the Room Take a Stand,” New York Times columnist Pamela Paul (4/18/24) hailed the eviction, saying of the encampment that for the “passer-by, the fury and self-righteous sentiment on display was chilling,” and that for supporters of Israel, “it must be unimaginably painful.” In other words, conservative pundits have decided that campus safe spaces where speech is banned to protect the feelings of listeners are good, depending on the issue. Would Paul (no relation!) favor bans on pro-Taiwan or pro-Armenia demonstrations because they could offend Chinese and Turkish students?

And for Michael Oren, a prominent Israeli politico, Columbia students hadn’t suffered enough. He said of Columbia in a Wall Street Journal op-ed (4/19/24):

Missing was an admission of the university’s failure to enforce the measures it had enacted to protect its Jewish community. [Shafik] didn’t address how, under the banner of free speech, Columbia became inhospitable to Jews. She didn’t acknowledge how incendiary demonstrations such as the encampment were the product of the university’s inaction.

Shafik had assured her congressional interrogators that Columbia had already suspended 15 students for speaking out for Palestinian human rights, suspended two student groups—Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 11/10/23)—and had even terminated an instructor (New York Times, 4/17/24).

The hearing was bizarre, to say the least; a Georgia Republican asked the president if she wanted her campus to be “cursed by God” (New York Times, 4/18/24). (“Definitely not,” was her response.)

The former World Bank economist had clearly been shaken after seeing how congressional McCarthyism ousted two other female Ivy League presidents (FAIR.org, 12/12/23; Al Jazeera, 1/2/24).

‘Protected from having to hear’

“What happened at those hearings yesterday should be of grave concern to everybody, regardless of their feelings on Palestine, regardless of their politics,” Barnard College women’s studies professor Rebecca Jordan-Young told Democracy Now! (4/18/24). “What happened yesterday was a demonstration of the growing and intensifying attack on liberal education writ large.”

Her colleague, historian Nara Milanich, said in the same interview:

This is not about antisemitism so much as attacking areas of inquiry and teaching, whether it’s about voting rights or vaccine safety or climate change — right?—arenas of inquiry that are uncomfortable or inconvenient or controversial for certain groups. And so, this is essentially what we’re seeing, antisemitism being weaponized in a broad attack on the university.

Jewish faculty at Columbia spoke out against the callous misuse of antisemitism to silence students, but those in power aren’t listening (Columbia Spectator, 4/10/24).

Shafik justified authorizing the mass arrests, which many said hadn’t been seen on campus since the anti-Vietnam War protests of 1968. “The individuals who established the encampment violated a long list of rules and policies,” she said (BBC, 4/18/24). “Through direct conversations and in writing, the university provided multiple notices of these violations.”

One policy suggested by the university’s “antisemitism task force,” according to a university trustee who also testified (New York Times, 4/18/24): “If you are going to chant, it should only be in a certain place, so that people who don’t want to hear it are protected from having to hear it.”

Cross-country rollback

Meanwhile, the University of Southern California canceled the planned graduation speech by valedictorian Asna Tabassum—a Muslim woman who had spoken out for Palestine (Reuters, 4/18/24). The university cited unnamed “security risks”; The Hill (4/16/24) noted that “she had links to pro-Palestinian sites on her social media.” Andrew T. Guzman, the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement that cancelation was “consistent with the fundamental legal obligation—including the expectations of federal regulators—that universities act to protect students and keep our campus community safe” (USC Annenberg Media, 4/15/24).

This is happening as academic freedom is being rolled back across the country. Republicans in Indiana recently passed a law to allow a politically appointed board to deny or even revoke university professors’ tenure if the board feels their classes lack “intellectual diversity”—at the same time that it threatens them if they seem “likely” to “subject students to political or ideological views and opinions” deemed unrelated to their courses (Inside Higher Ed, 2/21/24).

Benjamin Balthaser, associate professor of English at Indiana University South Bend, told FAIR in regard to the congressional hearing:

There is no other definition of bigotry or racism that equates criticism of a state, even withering, hostile criticism, with an entire ethnic or religious group, especially a state engaging in ongoing, documented war crimes and crimes against humanity. Added to this absurdity is the fact that many of the accused are not only Jewish, but have strong ties to their Jewish communities. To make such an equation assumes a collective or group homogeneity which is itself a form of essentialism, even racism itself: People are not reducible to the crimes of their state, let alone a state thousands of miles away to which most Jews are not citizens.

Of course, witch hunts against leftists in US society are often motivated by antisemitism. Balthaser again:

The far right has long deployed antisemitism as a weapon of censorship and repression, associating Jewishness with Communism and subversion during the First and Second Red Scares. Not only did earlier forms of McCarthyism overwhelmingly target Jews (Jews were two-thirds of the “defendants” called before HUAC in 1952, despite being less than 2% of the US population), it did so while cynically pretending to protect Jews from Communism. Something very similar is occurring now: Mobilizing a racist trope of Jewish adherence to Israel, far-right politicians are using accusations of antisemitism to both silence criticism of Israel and, in doing so, promote their antisemitic ideas of Jewishness in the world.

Silencing for ‘free speech’

These universities are not simply clamping down on free speech because the administrators dislike this particular speech, or out of fear that pro-Palestine demonstrations or vocal faculty members could scare donors from writing big checks. This is a result of state actors—congressional Republicans, in particular—who are using their committee power and sycophants in the media to demand more firings, more suspensions, more censorship.

I have written for years (FAIR.org, 10/23/20, 11/17/21, 3/25/22), as have many others, that Republican complaints about “cancel culture” on campus suppressing free speech are exaggerated. One of the biggest hypocrisies is that so-called free-speech conservatives claim that campus activists are silencing conservatives, but have little to say about blatant censorship and political firings when it comes to Palestine.

This isn’t a mere moral inconsistency. This is the anti-woke agenda at work: When criticism of the right is deemed to be the major threat to free speech, it’s a short step to enlisting the state to “protect” free speech by silencing the critics—in this case, dissenters against US support for Israeli militarism.

But this isn’t just about Palestine; crackdowns against pro-Palestine protests are part of a broader war against discourse and thought. The right has already paved the way for assaults on educational freedom with bans aimed at Critical Race Theory adopted in 29 states.

If the state can now stifle and punish speech against the murder of civilians in Gaza, what’s next? With another congressional committee investigating so-called infiltration by China’s Communist Party, will Chinese political scholars be targeted next (Reuters, 2/28/24)? With state laws against environmental protests proliferating (Sierra, 9/17/23), will there be a new McCarthyism against climate scientists? (Author Will Potter raised the alarm about a “green scare” more than a decade ago—People’s World, 9/26/11; CounterSpin, 2/1/13.)

Universities and the press are supposed to be places where we can freely discuss the issues of the day, even if that means having to hear opinions that might be hard for some to digest. Without those arenas for free thought, our First Amendment rights mean very little. If anyone who claims to be a free speech absolutist isn’t citing a government-led war against free speech and assembly on campuses as their No. 1 concern in the United States right now, they’re a fraud.

An urgent appeal from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions to union members in the USA

The opinions expressed in this post belong to their authors and to their organizations and do not speak for the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO. 

Humanitarian Aid for Gaza Educators and Students

https://www.gofundme.com/f/humanitarian-aid-for-gaza-educators-and-students

The impact of the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas has caused loss of human life in both Israel and Gaza and has left education communities and the whole world in shock. The National Education Association (NEA) extends its unwavering support to all students and educators in the region, and we are committed to advocating for a peaceful resolution, the protection of schools, universities, and educational personnel, and the prioritization of education in relief efforts.

NEA is working with Education International (EI) and EI affiliates in the West Bank to help provide support to meet the most urgent needs of educators and students in Gaza. This includes the distribution of food and blankets, as well as books and toys for children.

While EI affiliates primarily operate in the West Bank where their members actively engage in advocating for the rights and well-being of educators, they have forged connections with teachers in Gaza. These EI affiliates are collecting and will distribute resources.

All donations will benefit Education International’s Solidarity Fund for Gaza.


Cecilia Evans
Chief Financial Officer
NEA Member Benefits

Text from the NEA GoFundMe page and photo from Education International. This post does not reflect the opinions of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.