“Our histories never unfold in isolation. We cannot truly tell what we consider to be our own histories without knowing the other stories.” – Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.
As Dr. Angela Davis reminds us, the movement-building work that we do cannot succeed without an international framework.
In the past 175 days, more than 32,430 Palestinians have been murdered — including more than 13,000 children — more than 74,000 have been injured, and close to 2 million Gazans have been forcibly displaced. The United States government is using taxpayer money to send Israel $4 billion a year in weapons that Israel uses to bomb civilians. Additionally, according to a UN report released on March 19, 2024, Israel’s restriction of humanitarian aid into Gaza has caused starvation-like conditions in 70% of the population and could be considered a war crime. These numbers rise every minute, as this is part of a decades-long Israeli campaign to systemically and permanently remove Palestinians from their homeland.
With no imminent end to this massacre, as members of the US labor movement, it is our duty to call for a ceasefire.
As members of the labor movement and the staff of the largest union in Southern California, it is our responsibility to use our voices to unambiguously oppose the injustices that Palestinians and oppressed people are facing worldwide. As one of the strongest staff unions and one of the largest within the Service Employees International Union, it has always been part of our core beliefs to stand up for social justice issues. Now it is time to once again rise to the occasion.
A coalition of Palestinian Labor Unions has called on the international labor movement “to speak out and take action in the face of injustice as unions have done historically… 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.”
UUP agrees with these sentiments and stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people, as progressive unions have done historically when confronted with unspeakable injustice.
Our struggle for justice is linked to the Palestinian’s. Many of the same organizations and figures who for decades have tried to undermine the labor movement, and whom we fight against in our daily work, are the same ones funding and supporting the atrocities that are unfolding in Palestine.
It is for these reasons that UUP takes a stance on this ongoing issue and stands in solidarity with Palestine and the people of Gaza, alongside nine million union members across the country in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
We emphasize that our stance against unjust Israeli policies and actions is in no way directed against Jewish people, who are often falsely conflated with the state of Israel as a monolithic group, thereby fueling antisemitism. We stand firmly against any form of hate, including antisemitism or Islamophobia.
In Solidarity
UUP Ad Hoc Committee for Statement on Palestine
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