ABANDON HARRIS: Model resolution to rescind unions’ endorsements for warmonger Kamala Harris

Workers Strike Back

Model Resolution for Unions

For use during the 2024 Presidential Election

Rescind the union's endorsement of Kamala Harris for President because of her ongoing support for the Israeli state’s genocidal war on Gaza

WHEREAS the Palestinian people of Gaza are facing an unimaginable human catastrophe as the Israeli military, one of the most powerful in the world, conducts a genocidal war on Gaza, imposing a blockade and forced displacement; and 

WHEREAS as of August 24, 2024, the Israeli government’s bloody attacks have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, including 16,500 children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, with at least 93,144 injured and more than 10,000 people across Gaza believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead. The world-leading medical journal The Lancet has reported that the total killed including by disease and starvation could be more than 186,000, nearly 10 percent of the population of Gaza; and

WHEREAS the Israeli state’s occupation of the Palestinian people has been possible only with the full support of the capitalist regimes of the United States and other Western imperialist nations, with the Congressional Research Service reporting more than $114 billion in U.S. military funding for Israel since 1946; and

WHEREAS a growing number of unions in the U.S. and internationally have joined the call for an immediate ceasefire, with seven major unions in the United States, including the UAW, SEIU, the National Education Association, the American Postal Workers Union, and the Association of Flight Attendants all of whom are calling for an end to U.S. military funding for Israel; and

WHEREAS since Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party nominee, an additional  $23 billion have been appropriated for the Israeli military, the largest Israeli military aid package in history; and

WHEREAS Kamala Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day after he received 58 separate standing ovations from the U.S. Congress, and Harris’ campaign has directly confirmed that she does not support an arms embargo on Israel; and

WHEREAS the warmongering policy of Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party, including her commitment at the DNC to “ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” are driving the U.S. towards a wider war in the Middle East, as well as with major world powers including China and Russia; and

WHEREAS leaders in the Arab and Muslim American community, organized in the Abandon Harris campaign, previously called the Abandon Biden campaign, have called on us to oppose the Harris-Walz ticket for its active participation in the brutal violence and bloodshed in Gaza and complicity in genocidal war; and

WHEREAS Muslim Women for Harris-Walz has rescinded their endorsement of Harris following the Democratic Party’s refusal to allow a Palestinian speaker at the Democratic National Convention, saying “We cannot in good conscience continue Muslim Women for Harris-Walz”;

WHEREAS Harris actively participated in the Biden administration’s blocking of the railroad workers strike, the most shameful act of government union busting in decades, and the Democratic National Convention featured billionaires, CEOs, and union busters including DNC Chair and anti-union consultant Minyon Moore and venture capitalist and former American Express CEO Ken Chenault, while refusing to allow a Palestinian speaker; and

WHEREAS labor leaders, such as Shawn Fain, have overwhelmingly endorsed Harris-Walz for president, in direct contradiction to the call for a ceasefire in Gaza and despite the betrayals of workers by the Biden administration; and

WHEREAS union endorsements of Harris have happened with no discussion or vote by the rank-and-file members of their unions, which is gravely damaging to working-class organizing and the antiwar movement; and

WHEREAS working people and our unions should reject both Harris and Trump, both of whom are pro war, anti-worker representatives of billionaires and the bosses; and

WHEREAS the betrayals and broken promises by Biden, Harris, and the Democratic Party, both through their refusal to pass even bare-minimum policies like the $15/hour minimum wage, a public option for healthcare, cancellation of student debt, and codification of Roe v. Wade and their failure to even remotely mention the immensely popular policies that working people need — like a $25/hour minimum wage, universal free healthcare, free public college, and free childcare—have created the space for Trump to falsely claim to represent working people’s interests and have made a second Trump Presidency more likely; and

WHEREAS every vote for Harris or Trump is a vote for genocidal war and the further undermining of the working class and our movements; and

WHEREAS the only way to fight both corporate parties and win what working people need, including an end to U.S. military aid to the Israeli war machine, is for the labor movement to be fully independent of both the warmongering parties, Democrats and Republicans, and for us to begin building a party of our own; and

WHEREAS, our union, [union], recognizing that “An Injury to One is an Injury to All,” stands in solidarity with all Palestinians facing brutal assault and deprivation, with the Palestinian labor movement, and with all working people in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza who have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of war, occupation, and economic exploitation;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that our union, [union], rescinds its endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, and furthermore also reaffirms its strong opposition to a Trump-Vance presidency; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that our union reaffirms its commitment to combat Islamophobia and antisemitism in all of their forms, and furthermore reaffirms its support for both the people of Israel and the Palestinian people to live in peace and security, which can only be achieved through a ceasefire, an end to U.S. military funding to Israel, and an end to the brutal occupation; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that our union commits to working with other unions and with community and worker-led organizations, including the Abandon Harris campaign and Workers Strike Back, to organize a conference next year to begin laying the basis for a new party for working people and the labor movement—a party that can give working people a real alternative to the two parties of capitalism and war.