Since last fall, many rank-and-file union members have been outspoken in their criticism of Israel’s response to the Oct.
7 attacks, in which Hamas-led militants killed more than 1,000 people and took about 250 hostages. The leaders of many national unions have appeared more cautious, at times emphasizing the precipitating role of Hamas.
The leaders, who are generally elected, may reflect the views of most of the 10 percent of U.S. workers who belong to unions. But that percentage has been dwindling for decades. By contrast, the portion of the labor movement that has been growing rapidly in recent years — Starbucks baristas, REI workers, graduate students, medical residents — skews young and to the left, precisely the demographic that cares most about the war in Gaza.“Insofar as the new energy is about those young people — and it mostly is — part of what comes with that is Gaza being a high priority,” said Ruth Milkman, a sociologist who studies labor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Members of teachers’ unions have also parted company with their parent union.
At the American Federation of Teachers convention this summer, when some members sought to amend the resolution on Gaza so it would call for a suspension of U.S. military aid to Israel, the convention’s chair did not allow the motion to go forward.
.Here are the top political news stories for today.
@SovereignDingoDemocrat2yrs2Y
Union leaders have a golden opportunity to grow their unions and also evolve into a modern union framework (eliminating what hurt unions in the past). The power imbalance between workers and corporations is now extreme and workers need to work as a group to maximize their power. Keep your eyes in the ball!
Unions should stay in their lane and fight for worker rights. Period. That’s a huge job. They aren’t experts on foreign affairs and have no reason to veer out of their lane to pretend they are. Successfully organizing is just as important to protecting the middle class as making sure we vote out MAGA up and down the ballot.
@CoatiArielVeteran2yrs2Y
I have been a union member for more than forty years. The primary concern of any union should be the welfare of its members, a secondary concern is workers' rights, nationally and globally. These concern should accomplish social goals.
Foreign policy differences are often far down the list of workers' concerns but are divisive and used by pressures groups who do not value the major concerns of union members. Often enough the pressure groups are in a minority when it comes to choosing union officials.
Unions are built on solidarity and on promoting justice; justice as in balancing the extreme power of billionaire employers with the power in numbers that workers have when they have built solidarity.
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny." These are Martin Luther King's words in his letter from a Birmingham jail.
So it is obvious why union members will take a stand on Gaza and demand their leadership do the same.
@PepperFrankDemocrat2yrs2Y
So, the purpose of some unions' stance against military aid to Israel is to "create enthusiasm with the labor movement"? That's pretty weak when compared to what the goals of trade unions should be! It could also lead to schisms within organized labor. Why can't they just remember why they exist in the first place, which is to protect their workers, instead of engaging in a radical interpretation of US foreign policy?
@FreeTradeDovesDemocrat2yrs2Y
I understand if, as a union, you want to advocate for things that pertain to the job. Like, health care system policies for health care workers. But why on earth should workers dabble in partisanship for issues unrelated to their jobs? If we want stronger unions, this is not the way to go about it, because union members should not be forced to support issues they don’t agree with and aren’t job-related.
@DreadfulIdealisticGreen2yrs2Y
The US has sent $3.8 billion to Israel since the war started.
It is certainly a fair question to ask what benefits we have missed out on by not investing those funds domestically, whether that be infrastructure, education, climate change resilience, energy, or any other project that would normally be considered "too expensive"
Loading the political themes of users that engaged with this discussion
Loading data...
Join in on more popular conversations.
