RESOURCES FOR OUR MEMBERS
To our membership: if you are facing Islamophobia or anti-semitism in your workplace, reach out to your steward and your union representative so that we can support and assist you. That is never right, and in this time of ongoing conflict we are ready to protect our members from all forms of discrimination.
For our Arab, Israeli, Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian members, especially those whose loved ones are facing violence, we want to affirm that you are people first and workers second/third/fourth, so if you need support in taking time off and accessing trauma-informed care, please reach out to your steward. Stewards, please contact the Executive Council if you are in need of guidance or resources.
For our working members at New Blue Interactive, Break Something, and Middle Seat, please re-acquaint yourselves with the “Ideological Disagreements” article in your contracts which gives you explicit protections from being forced to work on something you don’t believe in.
The Campaign Workers Guild (CWG) is anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, anti-apartheid, and anti-colonialism, in all its forms. We believe that no innocent person anywhere should die due to decisions and actions of their governments, and we mourn for all losses of civilian life: Israeli, Palestinian, and others. We believe that the safety of Israelis and Palestinians are not mutually exclusive, but rather, fundamentally must be achieved together. We condemn Hamas’s attack on civilians on October 7th. We condemn Israel’s continued, indiscriminate assault on Gaza. We support calls from Israeli families for a full prisoner-hostage exchange–everyone for everyone. We recognize that these recent escalations are part of a nearly century-old conflict rooted in settler-colonialism that has and is resulting in ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians. We stand and take action in solidarity with unionists from around the globe, and at this moment are following the leadership of Palestinian unionists.
We are a union composed of political workers who labor tirelessly to elect candidates at all levels of government across the United States and workers employed in the larger industry including firms hired to do the communications and marketing for these candidates and elected officials – officials who are making decisions on the global stage to continue US funding of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. In the difficult fights from voluntary recognition to winning a contract, CWG members have learned and lived solidarity in action. This is the time to expand that solidarity to our siblings in Palestine who are being massacred every day by the Israeli government, funded in part by the people who we helped put in office. We will not stand silently while this happens. A ceasefire is urgently needed to immediately de-escalate the ongoing violence.
We call on officials at all levels of government, and particularly those whose staff are represented by CWG, to ensure that U.S. aid no longer funds Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
We reiterate and call on our members to familiarize themselves with our 2021 statement where we first affirmed our support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. You can find a short list of products to boycott here.
In solidarity with Palestinian trade unions, we call on our members to:
Listen directly to Palestinian unionists, “As Israel escalates its military campaign, Palestinian trade unions call on our counterparts internationally and all people of conscience to end all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes - most urgently halting the arms trade with Israel, as well as all funding and military research. The time for action is now - Palestinian lives hang in the balance.”
Of particular relevance to our members: “Pressure the governments to stop all military trade with Israel, and in the case of the US, funding to it.”
Publicly condemn the killing of Palestinian Journalists as well as the biased coverage of the war by major media outlets that is obfuscating Israel’s genocidal acts.
Consistent with the terms of any collective bargaining agreement which you may be working under, take action against (refuse to take part in the actions of) complicit employers, be they candidates, elected officials, firms, or organizations who are involved in implementing Israels’ brutal and illegal siege.
Finally, we call on our members to contact their elected representatives to demand an immediate ceasefire, as well as sign this petition from the labor movement.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
If members want to participate in protests and direct actions, we recommend following and getting involved with these organizations
If members wish to support emergency relief organizations, we recommend the following:
If members want to learn more about the Israel-Palestine conflict we recommend the following resources:
Human rights in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories - Amnesty International
What’s the Israel-Palestine conflict about? A simple guide - Aljazeera
Gaza: Israel’s ‘Open-Air Prison’ at 15 - Human Rights Watch
Five years on from the Great March of Return wounds are still unhealed - Medical Aid for Palestians
The "Nakba' explained - Vox video
Palestine Teach-in - Dig Radio
Israel’s Western Allies Have Done Everything Possible to Criminalize Nonviolent Resistance - Jacobin Magazine
‘The Palestine exception’: why pro-Palestinian voices are suppressed in the US - The Guardian
The publisher Verso has made several e-books on the conflict free to download
The Campaign Workers Guild is an independent national union representing non-management workers on electoral and issue-based campaigns and other political workplaces.