April 3, 2024
Berkeley, CA
Resolution to Implement a Labor Strategy for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions at the University of California
Whereas: At the January 31, 2024 Monthly Membership Meeting (MMM), the UAW 4811 campus units at Berkeley/LBNL voted unanimously and near-unanimously in support of a resolution committing to a “labor strategy towards Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions at the University of California,” which formed a BDS exploratory committee to “identify potential targets for a BDS campaign at the University of California” and to “analyze what strategies could be employed against those targets,” including “political education,” “direct actions,” and use of “the formal bargaining process;” and,
Whereas: In the two months since the passage of this resolution, Israel has continued its genocidal assault on Gaza, imposed starvation on a civilian population of over two million people, killed Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid, targeted hospitals and refugee zones, and expanded settlements in the West Bank, all of which constitute war crimes under international law; and,
Whereas: The Palestinian BDS movement began long before this most recent assault and will continue its struggle into the future, and our union’s renewed commitment to this movement requires the development and implementation of a correspondingly pragmatic long-term strategy to pressure the University of California (UC) to completely divest from the Israeli occupation of Palestine and from all companies that directly profit from the occupation and are implicated in war crimes; and,
Whereas: Our union’s BDS exploratory committee has identified UC’s direct investments in General Electric, one of the world’s largest military contractors, which provides aircraft engines and systems for “multiple weapon systems that are routinely used in war crimes against Palestinian civilians” and turbines for wind farms in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights; and,
Whereas: Our union’s BDS exploratory committee has identified UC’s direct investments in Honeywell International, a private contractor known for developing cluster bombs and missile systems as well as for managing four national laboratories for the National Nuclear Security Administration, including Sandia National Laboratories, which is officially in partnership with several UC campuses to support its “national security” mission; and,
Whereas: Our union’s BDS exploratory committee has identified UC’s direct investments in Coca Cola, whose Israeli subsidiary operates its main production facility in a settlement in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem and sources raw materials from settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Syrian Golan Heights; and,
Whereas: Our union’s BDS exploratory committee has discovered that, in line with the broader financialization of American universities over recent decades, the vast majority of UC’s investments are now indirectly held through index funds, hedge funds, and other large asset managers, rendering its financial portfolio both more heavily invested in weapons manufacturers and other companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine and more opaque and challenging to target for divestment; and,
Whereas: In order to meet this structural challenge to a BDS campaign at UC, our union must leverage our unique collective power as workers by organizing a credible strike threat and waging a series of disruptive strikes to force UC to divest from weapons manufacturers and the Israeli occupation of Palestine; and,
Whereas: Winning even partial divestment through our union’s 2025 contract campaign would be a necessary step towards subsequent campaigns for UC’s complete divestment from weapons manufacturers and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and would furthermore set a crucial precedent for all unions in the higher education sector to wage effective BDS campaigns, to win broader worker control over university investment decisions, and to ultimately reverse the financialization of higher education; and,
Whereas: During their successful Stand Up Strike last year, our union siblings in the auto sector set an important precedent by forcing Stellantis to both reopen a shuttered plant and to build a new EV battery plant, thereby winning partial worker control over an employer’s investment decisions;
THEREFORE let it be resolved: That the UAW 4811 campus units at Berkeley/LBNL demand that UC liquidate its direct investments in General Electric, Honeywell International, Coca Cola, and any and all other weapons manufacturers and companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine; and,
Let it further be resolved: That the UAW 4811 campus units at Berkeley/LBNL demand that UC divest from or offset its indirect holdings, in the form of index funds, in weapons manufacturers, the BDS violating companies in Appendix A, and any other firms which violate BDS, by moving UC investments from their current indexes to funds which do not contain the offending firms, by the transfer of UC’s index holdings to “direct” or “customized” indexes which track the index funds UC currently invests in, but screen out stocks from offending firms, and by utilizing any other methods not mentioned here to divest from or offset these holdings; and,
Let it further be resolved: That the UAW 4811 campus units at Berkeley/LBNL demand that UC remove its investments from any private equity firm which either has substantial ties to weapons manufacturing or which independently violates BDS; and,
Let it further be resolved: That the UAW 4811 campus units at Berkeley/LBNL demand that UC pressure any related or subordinate financial agents, such as campus foundations and academic programs, to similarly divest their financial holdings; and,
Let it further be resolved: That we in the UAW 4811 campus units at Berkeley/LBNL view these demands as an urgent, moral imperative, and therefore commit to an immediate program of systematic political education and disruptive escalatory tactics, preceding and building into the 2025 contract campaign; and,
Let it further be resolved: That to this end, the UAW 4811 campus units at Berkeley/LBNL call on the Executive Board and Joint Council of UAW 4811 to ensure that these demands are specified in the forthcoming bargaining survey, so that we can formally express and ratify this commitment as a bargaining priority through our union’s democratic process; and,
Let it further be resolved: That should these bargaining demands be ratified and should circumstances justify, we commit to organizing and calling for a strike, through our democratic Strike Authorization Vote process, as our most powerful tactic to win these demands and to ensure that the University of California complies with its moral and legal obligation to end its complicity in the genocide, ethnic cleansing, and colonization of the Palestinian people; and,
Let it further be resolved: That the UAW 4811 campus units at Berkeley/LBNL call on our colleagues at other campuses to pass similar resolutions at their respective MMMs; and,
Let it finally be resolved: That this resolution will be communicated to the members of UAW 4811 at Berkeley/LBNL and to the UAW 4811 Joint Council within 48 hours of its passage.
Appendix A
Note: an earlier version of this resolution was voted on and approved by the BDS Exploratory Committee. In the intervening days, as our broader membership read it and provided feedback, we’ve found new wording that more clearly expresses the intent of the resolution. The amendments, which preserve the content and spirit of the original resolution, are highlighted in yellow.