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BDS suppression backfires as universities pass resolutions Auto workers union fights internally over Israeli boycott policy
(1 day later)
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union at the University of California has been fighting to uphold a resolution passed to support the BDS movement against Israel. Its struggle has inspired other university unions to pass their own resolutions. The United Auto Workers (UAW) union at University of California at Berkeley is fighting to uphold a resolution passed in support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel after getting heat from within its own ranks.
The UAW Local 2865, which includes some 14,000 students and teaching assistants working for the University of California, passed a resolution to support the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement in 2014, becoming the first major labor union to do so, with 65 percent voting in favor of divestment and 52 percent supporting an academic boycott among the student-workers union of the University of California. UAW Local 2865, which includes some 14,000 student workers and teaching assistants, passed a resolution to support BDS in 2014.
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An anti-BDS arm of the union called Informed Grads appealed the result, with the help of Gibson, Dunn & Crutche, a law firm that has defended Walmart, Amazon and Chevron, Salon reports. The firm has represented Lockheed Martin, Boeing and other corporations that gain from Israel’s defense spending. However, a pro-Israeli Apartheid faction within the union called Informed Grads appealed the result, with the help of Gibson, Dunn, & Crutche, a law firm that has defended Walmart, Amazon, and Chevron, as well as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and other defense companies that do business with the Mideast nation, according to Salon.
While the International Executive Board defended the integrity of the vote, saying it represented the will of the members, it claimed it could interfere with the flow of commerce and pointed to the possibility of discrimination, despite the number of Jewish and Israeli members that supported the resolution and later wrote a letter attesting to the fact.  The International Executive Board defended the integrity of the vote, saying it represented the will of the members, but it also claimed BDS could interfere with the flow of commerce and pointed to the possibility of discrimination, despite the number of Jewish and Israeli members that supported the resolution and later wrote a letter attesting to the fact, according to a brief sent to Shadowproof. 
Following the decision, lawyer Scott Edelman expressed pleasure at the UAW’s “forceful rejection of BDS, which sets a powerful precedent for other labor unions and national organizations.”Following the decision, lawyer Scott Edelman expressed pleasure at the UAW’s “forceful rejection of BDS, which sets a powerful precedent for other labor unions and national organizations.”
UAW Local 2865 appealed the decision, saying the “IEB improperly ignored the UAW constitutional mandate to solidify the labor movement and build solidarities with other unions, such as the Palestinian labor unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers who issued the call for BDS in 2005.” UAW Local 2865 appealed the decision, reports Shadowproof, saying the “IEB improperly ignored the UAW constitutional mandate to solidify the labor movement and build solidarities with other unions, such as the Palestinian labor unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers who issued the call for BDS in 2005.”
The appeal has gone to the UAW Public Review Board who will make a final ruling in the next few months. The UAW Public Review Board will make a final ruling in the next few months, but in the meantime, the nullification has increased support for both the the 2865 and BDS movement among UC Berkeley staff.
The nullification of the resolution has led to increased support for both UAW Local 2865 and the BDS movement among university staff. Jennifer Mogannam, a PhD candidate at UC San Diego and member of the union, told Shadowproof the attacks are “part and parcel of the larger Zionist movement’s suppression and attacking of those fighting for Palestinian self-determination and against Israeli settler colonialism.”
UAW chapters at the University of Washington, Univeristy of Massachusetts Amherst and NYU wrote letters of support for the resolution, and went on to pass their own resolutions in April with Massachusetts securing 95 percent of the vote and NYU’s chapter taking 67 percent. A recent BDS victory that saw security firm G4S announce it would end its contracts in Israel has caused Florida country club members to partake in their own boycott.
Both groups cited the nullification as a motivating factor for their own votes. The country club members are threatening to end G4S’s contract with their country clubs in a show of support for Israel.
Jennifer Mogannam, a PhD candidate at UC San Diego and member of the union, told Shadowproof the attacks are “part and parcel of the larger Zionist movement’s suppression and attacking of those fighting for Palestinian self-determination and against Israeli settler colonialism.”
A recent BDS victory that saw security firm G4S announce it would end its contracts in Israel has caused Florida country club members to partake in their own boycott. The country club members are threatening to end G4S’s contract with their country clubs in a show of support for Israel.