For more information contact:
Jonathan Kissam, UE Communications Director
(802) 343 1745 | jkissam@ueunion.org
UE has joined eight other national unions, including the United Auto Workers and Service Employees International Union, in issuing a statement calling for the release of abducted union members and political organizers who are being swept up in the Trump Administration’s campaign of terror against working people.
The statement declares that “The labor movement holds one value above all others: solidarity. Labor demands an end to the Trump administration’s assaults on immigrant workers, freedom of speech, the right to organize and bargain, and federal government workers, their unions, and the services they provide.”
The unions denounce in particular the detainment of members of SEIU Locals 925 and 509, UAW Local 2710, SMART Local 100, and the Washington State berry-pickers union Familias Unidas por la Justicia. “This administration attacked these members of our communities on their way to work, on their way to worship, on their way home. They locked them up after speaking their minds. And they did that on purpose.”
The unions call on the Trump administration to “immediately release our fellow workers,” on employers, university administrations and elected officials to stand up to Trump’s campaign of terror, and on the labor movement to organize to “stop Trump’s deportation, censorship, and intimidation machine.”
They conclude, “We must not be passive or silent in the face of this authoritarian assault on our rights, the Constitution, and democracy itself. An injury to one is an injury to all!”
The full statement, and a form for unions and individuals to co-sign it, can be found at https://form.jotform.com/250850668516059
