Landmark UAW International Ruling Rejects Local BDS Resolution

Excellent news from the civil rights activists at Informed Grads 

Landmark UAW International Ruling Rejects Local BDS Resolution 

In a landmark decision yesterday, United Auto Workers (UAW) International Union granted an appeal filed by a member of the University of California student group Informed Grads, thereby striking down a Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolution adopted by UAW Local 2865 last year. UAW 2865 represents graduate student workers at all of the University of California campuses. UAW International, the body that oversees all UAW locals in the United States, set national precedent by denying the local organization the right to adopt such a divisive and alienating measure. 

Over the past year, certain members of UAW 2865 championed a one-sided, counterproductive BDS referendum that limits academic freedom and promotes discrimination based on national origin. Rather than focusing on the needs of the student workers they were elected to represent, these activists promoted an effort that seeks to undermine peaceful dialogue and coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. 

“All workers represented by UAW International can now rest assured that their union will not support BDS tactics or endorse an extreme political agenda that is discriminatory, alienating, and stifles academic freedom,” said Informed Grads member Karra Greenberg, who testified at the appeal hearing. “The anti-Semitism and active promotion of hate that ran rampant throughout this BDS campaign cannot and must not be tolerated. We applaud UAW International for taking a firm position against BDS and discrimination based on religion or national origin.”

 “We are very pleased by United Auto Workers (UAW) International Union’s forceful rejection of BDS, which sets a powerful precedent for other labor unions and national organizations” said Scott Edelman, a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the international law firm that represented Informed Grads in its appeal. “This result was due to a real team effort between our firm and Informed Grads, and I want to pay tribute to my colleagues Jesse Gabriel, Lauren Eber, Neta Levanon and Will Brien for their dedication and hard work.” 

From the International UAW:

"...it is our unanimous belief that the notion of BDS, credibly, espouses discrimination and vilification against Israelis and UAW members who are of Jewish lineage. From this perspective, we find that the BDS Resolution is systematic in its decrying orations about Israel and its stated atrocities against Palestinians. Conversely, as emphasized earlier, the local union’s critique of any other ethnicity or victimizer outside of the Israeli and /or Jewish population is not present in its arguments. Thus, the local union’s platform is apparent in its unfavorable stance against the state of Israel, Israelis and , invariably, Jewish union members.”

For more information on the International UAW's repeal of  BDS , see
BDS resolution overturned by UC grad students’ national union: It discriminates against Jews

UAW, San Jose State foundation reject BDS measures

United Auto Workers International Overturns Local Union’s BDS Vote

California Teamsters Issue scathing letter in opposition to BDS

In a letter directed to the executive Board of UAW Local 2865, the California Teamsters have reiterated their opposition to BDS, stating unequivocally that they  “cannot conceive of an action more hostile to the interests of [Teamsters] members and more antithetical to the most basic principles of the union movement”

The letter is reproduced in its entirety at the website of Informed Grads, a group organized in opposition to the Dec. 4th  BDS resolution at the University of California

Dear [Michelle] Glowa and Members of the Executive Board,

It has come to our attention that the Executive Board of UAW Local 2865 has endorsed the “Global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction Movement” against companies that do business in Israel. In addition, we understand you have also endorsed the so-called “Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.” We further understand that you are putting the matter to a vote of your bargaining unit members on December 6 [sic], 2014.

Teamsters Joint Council 7 and 42 is comprised of our members in California, Nevada, Hawaii, and the Pacific. This includes Local 2010 that represents 14,000 employees throughout the University of California system.

As you are no doubt aware, the companies that are targeted by the BDS movement include numerous employers that are represented by organized labor, including many thousands who are represented by the Teamsters. Indeed, some of the companies you wish your union to boycott and divest from are represented by the United Auto Workers. In the case of the Teamsters, we represent tens of thousands of employees at the following companies that are listed as targets of the BDS campaign:
Boeing
Cemex
General Dynamics
General Electric
ITT
Lockheed-Martin
Northrup-Grumman
Whatever your motives, we cannot conceive of an action more hostile to the interests of our members and more antithetical to the most basic principles of the union movement than for a union to call for actions which are intended to do harm to the economic security of other union members. We would find it difficult to ask our members to support your union in a labor dispute with the University of California so long as you are engaged in activities that are fundamentally hostile to their interests.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, we can only assume that you took your actions without consideration of the potential harm to hard working union members across California and the United States. We ask you to look at that issue now. Unlike the members of your union, who are graduate students and therefore union members for a short period of time, our members are working in jobs that must support them for a lifetime and it is our job to protect them for all of their working lives.
We would strongly request that you reconsider your actions.

UC-wide BDS vote on Dec 4, the effort to oppose it, and how you can help

Please forward widely to all UC Grad students, parents of grad students.

 

UC-wide BDS vote on Dec 4, the effort to oppose it, and how you can help:

by Jonathan Kummerfeld 

From Informed Grads, a UC-wide student group

Graduate students across the state will be voting next Thursday, Dec 4, on whether their union should join the BDS movement. If passed, it would make them the first labor union in the US to join, and make the political activities of the BDS movement a part of their standard activist platform (alongside issues like reducing class sizes and fighting discrimination on campus). Since announcing the vote, some of the things union leaders have done are:

• Encouraged TAs to advocate BDS politics in the classes they teach
• Participated in and endorsed the Block the Boat protests in Oakland
• Spent several thousand from member dues on bringing BDS leaders to speak on campus in support
• Rejected a proposal to endorse Jewish self-determination (in July they made a statement that included support for Palestinian self-determination)

Informed Grads (informedgrads.org) is a student group that has organized to fight the proposal. Since the vote is state-wide and any graduate student, including law, medical and MBA students, can vote, we have a real chance of defeating the proposal, but only if we can get the word out (most grads don't even know it's happening). This is where we would appreciate all the help we can get. You can help right now by:

• Telling grads you know that this is happening and they should go vote
• Asking undergrads and grads to help put up posters and leave flyers around campus (even a single hour can make a big difference), they should get in touch at informedgrads@gmail.com
• Tell friends and family and ask them to spread the word
• Like the Informed Grads facebook page, facebook.com/informedgrads and encourage others to do so too

There will also be an event on campus on Monday, Dec 1st:

 

Prof. Russell Berman on "Scholars against Scholarship: The Boycott as an Infringement of Academic Culture", his contribution to the new book, "The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel"

It is open to all, please encourage grads and undergrads to attend and have them sign up here:

Eventbrite or Facebook