The Western Mass Area Labor Federation, AFL-CIO (WMALF), voted unanimously at its delegate body Monday, November 13, 2023, to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. As unions across the country are increasingly advocating a ceasefire, the WMALF joined by signing onto a letter titled “The US Labor Movement Calls for Ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.” The letter was initiated by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 3000 and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), and has been signed by a growing list of unions and labor organizations including the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 6, UAW Region 9A, and many others.
In calling for an immediate ceasefire, the WMALF urges the Massachusetts state chapter of the AFL-CIO to recommend to the national AFL-CIO that it endorse this statement. Jeff Jones, president of the WMALF and of UFCW Local 1459 said “We are demanding that the labor movement call upon the US government to join a vast majority of the American people, and a vast majority of the world population in demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.” The WMALF also calls upon Representatives Jim McGovern and Richie Neal to cosponsor H. Res 786: Ceasefire Now, and for Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey to introduce a corresponding resolution in the Senate.
Hoang Phan, a delegate from the MTA who helped to organize the resolution, said, “As American workers, it’s necessary for us to demand that elected officials endorse an immediate ceasefire. In the past month, our taxes have paid for Israel’s military killing over 11,000 Palestinians, with 4,000 of the dead being children.” Rose Bookbinder, of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, said “As a Jewish member of the Western Mass Area Labor Federation and president of the Hampshire Franklin Labor Assembly, I am proud that we have unanimously supported this resolution. It’s imperative that as labor leaders we recognize how war harms works and the most vulnerable among us. Working people must condemn this war and call for a ceasefire now. Never again means never again for anyone.”
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