Some graduate student workers at the University of California are petitioning against a divestment resolution proposed by union leaders.
On Oct. 18, the joint council of United Auto Workers Local 2865, which represents graduate student workers at the UC, agreed to submit a resolution calling for the UC and UAW International to divest from several companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The measure also asks for the organizations to boycott those companies and for the U.S. government to halt its military aid to Israel. Additionally, it includes a nonbinding clause that workers may sign to boycott Israeli academic institutions.
Alexandra Holmstrom-Smith, chair of the union at UCLA and a graduate student in sociology, said union leadership formed the resolution after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip this summer. More than 2,000 Palestinians and more than 70 Israelis died in the most recent conflict, according to the Associated Press.
Some student workers, however, said they think union leaders are suppressing information that would support arguments against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, known as BDS.
These student workers formed Informed Grads in mid-September, a student group that is calling for the union to vote against the BDS resolution. Jonathan Kummerfeld, a graduate student in computer science at UC Berkeley, said more than 50 student workers across the University are part of the group.
Although Kummerfeld said Hillel, a Jewish student organization, worked with him to find some students who would be inclined to join the group, there is no outside agency influencing Informed Grads.
The UAW 2865 joint council, which consists of officers from UC campuses, passed a resolution in October saying it will give Informed Grads and other groups reasonable opportunities to provide alternative viewpoints.
Alborz Ghandehari, a recording secretary of UAW 2865’s UC San Diego unit, said the union will provide a Web page in which both pro- and anti-resolution supporters can voice their opinions. He added that many members of the union have voiced their support for the resolution.
However, Kummerfeld said the council amended the proposal from its original language, which called for the council to give the group the same publicity opportunities provided to supporters of the BDS movement.
“The union has the ability to reach every single voter on the issue,” said Joshua Saidoff, a graduate student in political science at UCLA. “They used that multiple times, and they have explicitly refused to allow us the same channel (of communication).”
Saidoff said he wants the group to have equal opportunities to reach out to members through mediums provided by the union, such as group email lists.
He also said he thinks it’s troubling to see the joint council vote down a resolution supporting a two-state solution, as well as a resolution that supports the Jewish right to self-determination. The council nearly unanimously struck down those resolutions in October.
Anuja Rose, a recording secretary of the UAW 2865’s UCLA unit, said the other resolutions were irrelevant and distracting from a call against what they perceive as human rights violations in Israel.
“I do think this particular issue of people who don’t have self-determination or human rights is fairly exceptionally unique,” Rose said.
Ghandehari said the union is not involved in developing a political solution, adding that it is only affirming the human rights of Palestinians.
Rose said the union’s leadership has already taken a stance in support of BDS. She said she thinks leaders have a mandate from the union’s members to organize and promote the stance.
“The union is not neutral,” she said. “It would be false and a lie to say we are neutral.”
Kummerfeld and Saidoff said that although they support Palestinians’ rights for self-determination, they think BDS should not be discussed at the union level.
“(The boycott) violates basic commitments to academia,” Saidoff said. “Most people whom I have spoken to have expressed shock that the union would take certain positions.”
The boycott calls for academics to not engage with Israeli institutions, though they may engage with Israeli scholars. However, Kummerfeld said he thinks it’s impossible to boycott Israeli academic institutions without boycotting scholars.
Members of Informed Grads have also been working on drafting a letter to the UAW International to reaffirm its stance. Ron Gettelfinger, a former UAW International president who stepped down from his position in 2010, signed a letter in 2007 in opposition of the boycott of and divestment from Israeli institutions.
UAW International could not be reached for comment.
Gabi Kirk, a campus liaison for Jewish Voice for Peace, a Jewish organization that signed on in support of the UAW’s resolution for BDS, said she thinks labor unions should be involved in the push for divestment. Palestinian trade unions have called for other unions to support the BDS movement, she said.
“Historically, labor movements have been involved in international politics against injustice and oppression,” Kirk said. “The boycott is at the heart of what the union does.”
The vote will be held on Dec. 4 over a one-day period. Rose said voting will be conducted at various locations across UC campuses, including at UCLA.