George Hetling
On January 24, 2024, UAW President Sean Fain announced the UAW’s endorsement of Biden for President at the annual Community Action Program (CAP) conference. This contradicts the UAW International Executive Board’s prior call for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Palestine.
Members of UAW Labor for Palestine disrupted Biden’s speech at the CAP conference, only to be assaulted and dragged out of the event by the Secret Service. In video recorded of the conference, the UAW members chanting “Ceasefire now” were drowned out by chants of “UAW” and “USA.” This endorsement from UAW was made without any discussion or vote from the rank and file.
UAW Labor for Palestine make the following demands of UAW leadership in response to the endorsement:
- Rescind its endorsement of Joe Biden’s re-election until he calls for a permanent ceasefire and stops sending weapons to Israel, and, in the interim, commit to withholding any union resources or time (e.g., sending out mailers for re-election or hosting any campaign events) for his campaign.
- Endorse and allocate our dues and V-CAP contributions only to those candidates who publicly call for a permanent ceasefire and vote against any weapons for Israel.
- Support UAW members in refusing to provide weapons, research, and technology to Israel.
- Support the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) by ending all UAW complicity with Israel.
Fain held back the traditional UAW endorsement of the Democratic presidential candidate with fanfare last year before the “stand up strike” to pressure Biden to give the UAW exclusive access to organize the new and future Federally-funded Electric Vehicle plants. He apparently resolved this spat while ignoring Biden’s unwavering support for the genocide in Gaza, despite his union’s stated ceasefire call.
