UE Statements

In between UE conventions, the elected General Executive Board and national officers issue statements applying UE policy to specific issues of the day. UE policy is set by rank-and-file delegates to our biennial national convention.

UE Condemns Trump’s Tolerance of the White Supremacist Attacks in Charlottesville

August 14, 2017

White supremacists and neo-Nazi organizers emboldened by Trump’s presidency see the Trump era as their time and Trump has done absolutely nothing to discourage them. UE condemns the attack on Charlottesville VA and promises to continue organizing in our workplaces and communities to fight racism, fascism and bigotry.

DON'T MOURN, ORGANIZE: Statement of the UE National Officers on the Election of Donald Trump

November 14, 2016

The election of Donald Trump, while very disturbing, should not come as a complete shock. For the past several decades the political establishment in both parties has advanced a set of policies known as neoliberalism that has made life harder for working people. Neoliberalism includes free trade, deregulation, privatization, and dismantling the social safety net, and it has been pursued aggressively by Republican administrations since Reagan, and Democratic administrations starting with Bill Clinton. This election year brought rebellion in both parties against what Bernie Sanders called “establishment politics and establishment economics.” That rebellion took the form, in the Democratic primaries, of the inclusive progressive populism of Sanders, and on the Republican side, the authoritarian, bigoted populism of Trump.

UE Statement in Solidarity with Standing Rock

September 12, 2016

The UE National Officers today issued the following statement in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux people of North Dakota in their struggle to protect their land and water from the oil industry.

UE joins others in the labor movement in condemning the ongoing violent attacks on the Standing Rock Sioux nation and others who oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline. These attacks by a private security company bring back horrific memories of the notorious Pinkertons, who used clubs, dogs and bullets to break up peaceful worker protests.

UE GEB Opposes Coup in Brazil

June 14, 2016

At its meet at UE's national headquarters in late May, the union's General Executive Board adopted a resolution opposing the ongoing coup against the democratic pro-labor government of Brazil.

DEFEND DEMOCRACY AND THE WORKING PEOPLE OF BRAZIL

Statement of the UE General Executive Board

 

Venezuela’s Democracy is Not a Threat: UE Officers' Statement on U.S. Sanctions Against Venezuela

March 31, 2015

UE OFFICERS' STATEMENT ON VENZUELA

On March 9 President Obama issued an executive order that declared “a national emergency” because, it said, Venezuela is an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” The executive order imposed sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials whom the White House accuses of “undermin(ing) democratic processes or institutions,” “violence or abuse of human rights,” undermining freedom of expression, and/or “public corruption.”

Ferguson Affects Us All: Statement of the UE General Executive Board

September 19, 2014

The UE General Executive Board, in its triannual meeting September 18-19 in Pittsburgh, adopted the following statement on the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri.

Ferguson Affects Us All

UE activists are joining members of labor, civil rights, religious and community groups around the country in expressing outrage over what transpired in Missouri. Members of Local 150, UE's statewide organization in North Carolina, have participated in prayer vigils, protests and public discussions. UE members have been active in other states as well.

The Crisis in Gaza: Statement of the UE General Officers

July 29, 2014

Delegates to UE’s 73rd National Convention in August 2013 reaffirmed UE’s longstanding concern about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and reiterated our union’s view that the U.S. government policy in this conflict has made matters worse. On the basis of our union’s principles and policies, we urgently call for an end to the bloodbath that is now occurring in Gaza.

In the resolution “For Peace, Jobs and a Pro-Worker Foreign Policy,” last year’s UE convention said in part:

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