USACBI urges faculty who support the rights of the Palestinian people to support the upcoming vote on a BDS resolution in UAW 2865, the union of teaching assistants, tutors and readers across the nine University of California campuses. If this vote passes, UAW 2865 will become the first labor union in the U.S. to support BDS so this is truly a historic campaign.

Over the summer, the union”s Joint Council voted on a resolution to join the BDS movement. Supporters of the movement within UAW have emphasized that it is their duty as a labor union to extend solidarity to Palestinian counterparts in their struggle for liberation and equality.The union will be holding a membership vote on the resolution on December 4, 2014, calling on members to vote on a ballot that asks a) the UAW international to divest from companies complicit in the occupation; b) The University of California to do the same; and c) the US government to end military aid to Israel until it complies with international law. Additionally, it asks members to join the academic boycott as individuals by refusing to take part in any research, conferences, and events that are funded or otherwise sponsored by Israeli universities.

We ask all faculty to endorse the union’s BDS resolution by signing the faculty letter of endorsement online:  http://uaw2865facultyletterofsupport.wordpress.com. To sign the statement, please go to http://goo.gl/4Enxn4 or send name and institutional affiliation to palestine.faculty@gmail.com.

Also, please consider reaching out to graduate students at UC campuses to ensure that they are aware of the vote date, information and are committing to vote!

Lastly, please like the campaign’s facebook  page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/UAW-2865-Vote-Yes-on-BDS/359940817509010?hc_location=timeline

Below are additional documents including the ballot draft and the original Joint Council Letter supporting Palestine and BDS. We also invite you to consider sharing these documents with graduate student and faculty unions on your campuses, if you are not in the UC system, and discuss the possibility of organizing in support of similar resolutions across the U.S.

Letters of Support: