Police unions have no place in the labor movement. To uphold a labor movement that stands for racial justice, we must close the doors to oppressors. We are calling on the AFL-CIO to disaffiliate with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA). The Campaign Workers Guild (CWG) was formed to transform our industry and improve equity and accessibility within the campaign and political advocacy industry, and we unequivocally stand with the Black Lives Matter Movement. There is a disconnect between the functions of police unions and the AFL-CIO’s stated goals to ‘to vanquish oppression, privation and cruelty in all their forms’ and to improve the lives of working families and pursue social equity.
The history of the labor movement shows how the power of organized labor can advance our collective pursuit of justice and liberation for all. But, the labor movement cannot and does not stand for justice when oppressors are protected within it. When police unions use their power to protect murderers and avoid accountability, they violate the fabric and foundational goals of the labor movement.
Further, police unions protect those whose very function serves a racist system used to keep Black people from the social and economic freedoms that the labor movement espouses. Labor coalitions must take the urgent action required to fight oppressive systems, strengthen a just and equitable labor movement, and expel police unions.