On February 22nd, the National Labor Network for Ceasefire held its first public event, a webinar with UAW president Shawn Fain and NEA president Becky Pringle. Shawn Fain was the first panelist to speak and took the question head on of why an international conflict should concern US workers. “Our fight is a fight for all of humanity, whether it is a contract campaign or an issue like this.”
One of the key enforcement mechanisms of job-killing trade deals is a secretive court system called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) — and there are two actions you can take today to help root this nefarious tool of the bosses out of our trade regime.
UE is one of seven national unions which announced the formation of the National Labor Network for Ceasefire (NLNC) today, along with over two hundred local unions. The aim of the network is to “end the death and devastation” in the Middle East, and to expand support for the ceasefire among unions nationally.
“This is the biggest expression for peace by the labor movement in a full generation,” UE General President Carl Rosen told a press conference in February, as Chicago-area labor leaders successfully pressed their city council to pass a resolution in support of a ceasefire.
“In no other country is it more true that we, the workers, have a direct say in the plight of Palestinians,” declared Janvi Madhani of UE Local 197-Teachers and Researchers United at a press conference yesterday in the nation’s capital. “Our hard-earned tax dollars go directly towards the bombs being dropped in Gaza but not towards healthcare, housing, or education at home.”
Madhani was representing UE at a press conference, Unions for Ceasefire Now, organized by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO).
In the month since UE and UFCW Local 3000 initiated a labor call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, it has been signed by unions across the country, including the Chicago Teachers Union, UAW Regions 6 and 9A, SEIU-United Service Workers West (USWW), IBEW Local 520, and more. In calling for a ceasefire, U.S. unions are joining unions around the world, many of whom have also issued statements and taken action demanding an end to the violence.
State Representative Sara Innamorato, a strong UE ally since she was elected in 2018, won election as Allegheny County Executive last night, making her the most powerful local elected official in Western Pennsylvania. She will be the first woman to hold the post, which oversees a county budget of over $3 billion. Innamorato has pledged to build “a county for all,” with good jobs, strong protections for workers, and housing for all.
UE today joined over 200 other labor, consumer, health, human rights, faith, and other organizations in a letter to President Biden urging him to fulfill his stated position against Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and eliminate ISDS terms in existing free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties. ISDS is embedded in numerous trade and investment agreements and has created a global governance regime that prioritizes corporate rights over those of governments, people, and the planet.
“We, members of the American labor movement, mourn the loss of life in Israel and Palestine. We express our solidarity with all workers and our common desire for peace in Palestine and Israel, and we call on President Joe Biden and Congress to push for an immediate ceasefire and end to the siege of Gaza. We cannot bomb our way to peace. We also condemn any hate crimes against Muslims, Jews, or anyone else.”
UE General President Carl Rosen was one of three witnesses invited to testify to a Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, July 26 about opportunities to clean up pollution in rail yards, reduce carbon emissions, and create jobs by instituting stricter regulations on railroad emissions.
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has introduced a bill that would make striking workers eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food assistance program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In an op-ed published in the Erie Times-News, Fetterman wrote, “The right to strike is fundamental to the right to organize and unionize — but being forced to choose between feeding your family and protecting your labor rights isn't a choice at all.”