Aug. 7, 2024

AFSCME Local 3399’s Executive Board has endorsed the following resolution from the nationwide Green 4 Falasteen coalition of AFSCME members and staffers. We call on all AFSCME delegates to vote in favor of this resolution or any similar resolution that is scheduled for a vote next week at the AFSCME International Convention in Los Angeles.

AFSCME Local 3399 raises our voice with fellow unions in Palestine and across the United States and the world to demand an end to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the immediate halting of all U.S. funding to Israel’s extremist government, which has committed numerous war crimes in the murder of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, most of whom are women and children. We further call for the immediate provision of needed humanitarian aid, a permanent ceasefire, and the fair and equal establishment of an independent Palestinian state in compliance with international laws.

AFSCME International Stands Against the Ongoing Genocide of the Palestinian People

Whereas, the AFSCME International Constitution calls for AFSCME International “to work with workers in other lands towards the improvement of the conditions of life and work in all countries, towards the diminution of international tensions and a reduction in the use of armed force to resolve disputes, and towards genuine fraternity of all workers;” and

Whereas, we, the members of AFSCME International, mourn the deaths of Palestinians and Israelis before and after October 7, 2023, including during the decades-long military occupation, forced displacement, and oppression endured by Palestinians since the Nakba in 1948; and we declare our solidarity with all workers and our common desire for peace founded on justice for Palestinians and Israelis along with fellow members of the US Labor Movement; and

Whereas, AFSCME International, as a union consisting largely of public service workers, has a unique history, a unique role, and a unique responsibility to demand a better, more just world from our union's and our nation's leaders; and

Whereas, at the time of this resolution’s writing, over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli assault on Gaza, at least 15,900 of whom are children; with at least 87,400 Palestinians injured and more than 10,000 others buried and presumed dead under the rubble; and the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people displaced and facing forced starvation and disease, according to multiple human rights organizations; and a recent study in the medical journal Lancet found that there will be many more indirect deaths of Palestinians in Gaza from causes such as disease even if the bombing stops now, with the a conservative estimate of those deaths being 186,000; and

Whereas, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, internationally respected scholars of genocide, and multiple human rights organizations have condemned credibly as acts of genocide the Israeli government’s displacement and collective punishment of Palestinian civilians; deliberate destruction of Gazan civilian infrastructure; and denial of food, water, fuel, and medical aid; and

Whereas, Israel is holding some 9,000 Palestinians prisoner, including over 500 children, many of them without charge under administrative detention (a practice described in 2020 by the UN special rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territories as “an anathema in any democratic society that follows the rule of law”) and there have been several credible reports from survivors and Israeli whistleblowers about torture, starvation, and sexual assault committed against Palestinian prisoners from Gaza; and

Whereas, even before October 7 of last year, Palestinians in Gaza faced harsh daily realities as a result of Israel’s occupation and siege, with the unemployment rate in 2023 at over 45%, the poverty rate close to 64%, and 97% of water in the strip contaminated and unfit for human consumption; and

Whereas, Israel's violence against Palestinians extends beyond Gaza and includes the systematic displacement of families from their homes East Jerusalem, and the de facto annexation of greater and greater swaths of land in the West Bank to create settlements that are recognized as illegal under international law; and

Whereas, in 1998 AFSCME’s International Executive Board stated that “the denial of equality and full rights for all has been the root cause of the conflict in Northern Ireland,” and we recognize today that this is also the case in occupied Palestine; and

Whereas, our labor siblings in the Palestinian trade unions have, since their first public statement on October 16, repeatedly called for workers around the world to stand in solidarity to “end all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes,” including “to take action against companies involved in implementing Israel’s brutal and illegal siege” and “to pressure governments to stop all military trade with Israel, and in the case of the US, funding to it” and and to “pass motions in their trade union to this effect”; and

Whereas, since World War II, Israel has received $158 billion of US foreign military aid, making it the largest overall recipient of such aid; and the funneling of these billions of tax dollars from the US working class to the Israeli military has lead to the erosion of essential public services in our communities, the loss of high quality education for all, and to regressive set-backs in access to healthcare, housing, and good paying jobs for historically low-paid Black and Brown workers– the very workers who are often members of AFSCME and whose livelihoods our union is tasked with championing; and

Whereas, AFSCME International has a strong history of standing up against oppression and injustice, both at home and abroad, from the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike to the multiple anti-apartheid resolutions passed by AFSCME International in the 1980s and 1990s, which stated “AFSCME’s absolute opposition to the racist apartheid policies of the government of South Africa” and commented on our union’s ability “to achieve a level of sanctions and other activities that have been effective in applying pressure on the racist regime in South Africa.”

Now, therefore, be it resolved that AFSCME International demands:

● That President Biden (AFSCME’s endorsed presidential candidate), or the acting US President at the time of this resolution’s passage, immediately order the necessary direct intervention and delivery by land of fully adequate amounts of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies to end the forced starvation, illness, and potential death of the 2.3 million Palestinian people currently at risk; and that President Biden or the acting President fully restore US funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA),

● That President Biden, or the acting US President, immediately end all arms sales, military funding, and assistance to Israel,

● That US leaders exert every power of influence available, including sanctions, to pressure Israel to end its illegal settlements, its apartheid system of governance, its systemic violation of Palestinians' human rights, and to recognize Palestinians' right of return and ownership of the lands taken from them during the 1948 Nakba and subsequently, Be it further resolved that AFSCME International:

● Recognizes publicly that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza and condemns in particular the killing of public service workers, such as the munipal employees who were killed on June 21 while striving to restore water access to the public, and who, if they lived in the United States, would likely be represented by AFSCME,

● Commits to transparently disclosing all of AFSCME International’s investments, including its staff pension funds, and to fully divesting all of these from Israeli investments and other entities that benefit from apartheid and ethnic cleansing, and commits to standing behind its members who are demanding the same from their employers and municipalities,

● Publicly declares its commitment to implement measures outlined by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, as was called for by Palestinian trade unions in their statement from October of 2023,

● Pledges that no retaliation against represented workers or AFSCME staff for support of Palestinian liberation will be instituted or tolerated, and that all AFSCME workers will be protected from retaliation at their workplaces for expressing and acting on their commitment, aligned with AFSCME values, to lead the way to a more just and equitable world by calling for an end to Israel's colonial occupation and apartheid system,

● Strongly urges the AFL-CIO and its affiliates to support the liberation and selfdetermination of the Palestinian people, and commit to implement the measures called for by the BDS movement.

Submitted by AFSCME DC47 Local 397 member Matteo Hintz on behalf of the Green 4 Falasteen coalition of AFSCME members and staffers