UAW teachers branch joins boycott of Israel
BY SEAN HIGGINS | DECEMBER 31, 2014 | 5:00 AM
A local branch of the United Auto Workers has become the first U.S. labor organization to join the international movement to boycott Israel, according to liberal groups.
UAW Local 2865, which represents teaching assistants at the University of California, voted to join it on Dec. 4, saying that Israel was engaging in "ongoing human rights violations" against the Palestinians.
A total of 66 percent of the members backed joining the movement, which supporters call "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel." Only 2,168 members participated in the Dec. 4 vote, a small fraction of Local 2865's reported 13,000 members.
The ballot language asked members to support the boycott and to call on both the university and the UAW to join in by "divest[ing] their investments, including pension funds, from Israeli state institutions and international companies complicit in severe and ongoing human rights violations as part of the Israeli oppression of Palestinian people." It also called on UAW and the university not to do business with any such companies and for the federal government to end economic aid to the country.
An explainer document handed out by backers before the vote said Israel used "Apartheid policies," linking it to South Africa's pre-1994 whites-only rule. The document says the push to link Local 2865 to the movement was in reaction to Israel's July bombardment of Gaza, which Israel launched to counter the terrorist threat from Palestinian-controlled territories.
"Even though there certainly have been really horrible acts on both sides, there is something about the way the Israeli government has acted about this all that has been an injustice, especially since they are the far more powerful country," Skylar Covich, a University of California-Santa Barbara graduate student and Local 2865 officer, told the liberal magazine In These Times.
UAW did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Local 2865 could not be reached. The group's website was down and getting a "makeover," according to a statement posted at its web address.
No other U.S. labor groups apparently have joined the boycott movement, which claims 170 groups, according to the Nation. Organized labor leaders, including the UAW leadership, have rejected calls from liberal allies to adopt the boycott. Then-UAW President Ron Gettelfinger co-signed a joint 2007 statement with other prominent labor officials critical of the movement.
A local branch of the United Auto Workers has become the first U.S. labor organization to join the international movement to boycott Israel, according to liberal groups.
UAW Local 2865, which represents teaching assistants at the University of California, voted to join it on Dec. 4, saying that Israel was engaging in "ongoing human rights violations" against the Palestinians.
A total of 66 percent of the members backed joining the movement, which supporters call "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel." Only 2,168 members participated in the Dec. 4 vote, a small fraction of Local 2865's reported 13,000 members.
The ballot language asked members to support the boycott and to call on both the university and the UAW to join in by "divest[ing] their investments, including pension funds, from Israeli state institutions and international companies complicit in severe and ongoing human rights violations as part of the Israeli oppression of Palestinian people." It also called on UAW and the university not to do business with any such companies and for the federal government to end economic aid to the country.
An explainer document handed out by backers before the vote said Israel used "Apartheid policies," linking it to South Africa's pre-1994 whites-only rule. The document says the push to link Local 2865 to the movement was in reaction to Israel's July bombardment of Gaza, which Israel launched to counter the terrorist threat from Palestinian-controlled territories.
"Even though there certainly have been really horrible acts on both sides, there is something about the way the Israeli government has acted about this all that has been an injustice, especially since they are the far more powerful country," Skylar Covich, a University of California-Santa Barbara graduate student and Local 2865 officer, told the liberal magazine In These Times.
UAW did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Local 2865 could not be reached. The group's website was down and getting a "makeover," according to a statement posted at its web address.
No other U.S. labor groups apparently have joined the boycott movement, which claims 170 groups, according to the Nation. Organized labor leaders, including the UAW leadership, have rejected calls from liberal allies to adopt the boycott. Then-UAW President Ron Gettelfinger co-signed a joint 2007 statement with other prominent labor officials critical of the movement.
The statement said, in part: "We note with increasing concern that virtually all of these resolutions
focus solely on objections to actions or policies of the Israeli government, and never on actions or
policies of Palestinian or other Arab governments, parties or movements. We notice with increasing
concern that characterization of the Palestinians as victims and Israel as victimizer is a staple of such
resolutions."
In a November letter to the local, the UAW said its position on the boycott had not changed.
Last year, University of California President Janet Napolitano rejected joining the movement, saying: "An academic boycott goes against the spirit of the University of California, which has long championed open dialogue and collaboration with international scholars."
In a November letter to the local, the UAW said its position on the boycott had not changed.
Last year, University of California President Janet Napolitano rejected joining the movement, saying: "An academic boycott goes against the spirit of the University of California, which has long championed open dialogue and collaboration with international scholars."
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