Seven national unions representing 6 million workers in the United States called on President Joe Biden today to end all military aid to Israel. The news came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal, came to Washington to speak to Congress tomorrow.
It’s an unprecedented demand, coordinated across some of the nation’s biggest unions. The unions that signed the letter are the Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), Postal Workers (APWU), Painters (IUPAT), National Education Association, Service Employees (SEIU), the Auto Workers (UAW), and the Electrical Workers (UE).
Delegates at the APWU’s national convention last week passed a resolution calling on the government to halt all military aid to Israel and “stop using our tax dollars for more war.”
Last fall, Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000 and UE issued a call demanding a ceasefire soon after Israel began its assault on Gaza following the Hamas attack of October 7. That letter garnered the support of 248 unions, labor councils, and labor organizations representing 9 million members, including the UAW, APWU, AFA-CWA, IUPAT, NNU, and NEA among others.
These unions then formed the National Network for a Ceasefire, a loose coalition advocating for peace. The coalition grew even more formidable when SEIU, the nation’s largest private sector union, signed onto the letter to Biden, adding its heft to the call for a ceasefire.
