Seattle Labor Unions Condemn Military Aid for Israel as Student Protest Encampment Established at UW

by Lauryn Bray and Julia Park

Seattle labor unions added their voice to protests against the Israel-Hamas War over the weekend as a protest encampment was established at the University of Washington Quad the morning of Monday, April 29, following protests on multiple campuses across the country.

Members of the University of Washington Progressive Student Union (PSU) began setting up tents and signs on campus at 8 a.m. Monday, stating their intent to stay until the university meets their demands to divest its investments in Israel and support Palestine. The university posted "no camping" signs around the campus.

UW PSU member and second-year student Mathieu Chabaud says the group has watched as students have led similar protests at universities across the country.

"We see that students are moving in the tens of thousands to take up these demands to a higher level, and we looked at it and we said we can't wait any longer, we need to act now," Chabaud said.

Anti-war protests at Columbia University launched a wave of rallies at campuses around the country, with about 1,000 people arrested at institutions ranging from Northeastern University in Boston to the University of Texas, Austin, and the University of California, Los Angeles.

According to Chabaud, the encampment group's demands of the university are to "materially divest from Israel, to cut ties with Boeing, and to end the repression of pro-Palestinian students, staff, and faculty." They will remain in the encampment until the president of the university has demonstrated a commitment to comply with these demands, Chabaud says.

A-frame signs appeared on the Quad prohibiting camping in university facilities, citing the Washington Administrative Code, but the encampment group had not yet heard of a direct response from the university, according to Chabaud.

And it's not just students who are taking action to show their support for Palestine. On Saturday, April 27, a couple of days before the UW encampment was established, several hundred Seattle residents gathered in front of the downtown Federal Building for a rally organized by nine local labor unions to condemn the passing of a bill that will send $26 billion for military aid to Israel.

"Today, we join in solidarity as Washington's organized labor to make the following demands of our elected representatives: One, we demand a permanent cease-fire; we demand an end to U.S. military funding to Israel; and three, we demand that there be no regional U.S. involvement in military escalation in Palestine—Israel. We are here to say: not on our dime," said Jen Greenstein, elementary school social worker and Jewish Voice for Peace activist, at the rally.

Since Israel began retaliating against Hamas for its Oct. 7 attack, which killed over 1,000 Israelis, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed. Over 9,000 children have been injured, making many amputees, according to UNICEF.

"For the more than 34,000 Palestinians who've been brutally killed and injured since the awful Oct. 7 attacks, and the hundreds of thousands more that are being threatened by famine, by bombings, we all have to raise our collective voices and say no more. We refuse to allow our government to be complicit in this bloodshed," said Darya Farivar, state representative for the 46th Legislative District in northeast Seattle, at the rally.

The nine labor unions that came to the rally to join in the call for a cease-fire were: MLK Labor, UFCW 3000, UAW 4121, SEIU 775, OPEIU, PROTEC17, Restaurant Workers United, Seattle Education Association, and Tacoma Education Association.

"I am joining my voice with more than 9 million union members — the majority of the labor movement — calling for an immediate and permanent cease-fire in the Israeli-Gaza war. While I am proud that the majority of the labor movement has now called for a cease-fire, more must be done," said Faye Guenther, president of UFCW 3000, at the rally. "That is why our union's executive board also unanimously endorsed the uncommitted vote to send a clear message to Biden that the war must end."

UFCW 3000, a union of retail, grocery, health care, and other workers active in Washington, northeast Oregon, and northern Idaho, released a statement at the end of February in support of an uncommitted vote in the upcoming Democratic primary, citing Biden's refusal to end the war in Gaza as a main motivator. The statement reads, "We stand in solidarity with our partners in Michigan who sent a clear message in their primary that Biden must do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Biden must push for a lasting ceasefire and ending US funding toward this reckless war." Democratic primary results show that 9.9% of Washington voters were uncommitted.

The rally came just days after mass graves were uncovered in southern Gaza near Nasser Hospital, and many of the bodies in the graves were found with zip-tied hands and bullet wounds, according to Palestinian authorities.

"I am sick and tired of learning about another mass grave — this time in Khan Younis Hospital in Gaza with 300 decomposing bodies of executed Palestinians with zip-tied hands, and there's evidence that the Israeli army dumped Palestinian children into these mass graves," said Rami Al-Kabra, deputy mayor of Bothell, at the rally, after quoting Fannie Lou Hamer. Al-Kabra's family is from Palestine and identifies as Palestinian American.

For Al-Kabra, and so many others, Israel's constant bombardment of Gaza can only be recognized as genocide. "I don't care that genocide is a legal term. If it looks like a genocide, sounds like a genocide, is talked about by senior Israeli officials and journalists as a genocide, then guess what," said Al-Kabra at the rally.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces has denied the government's involvement in the mass graves and said it was a part of a misinformation campaign against Israel.

According to a statement from Starbucks worker Emma Cox, who could not attend the rally in-person due to being ill, Starbucks union workers understood early on that their fight is aligned with Palestinian resistance.

Less than two weeks after Israel began its retaliation campaign, Starbucks sued its union, Starbucks Workers United, for making a social media post in support of Palestine. Starbucks released a statement at the time, responding to the lawsuit and what it called "ongoing false and misleading information" against the company. The union responded with a countersuit, saying that the union is allowed to use the company's name and logo and that Starbucks sought to defame the union by accusing them of supporting terrorism. Despite this, Starbucks union workers remain staunch in their demands for a cease-fire. The move was considered bold, as Starbucks had been accused by employees of avoiding contract negotiations.

"Throughout this long fight, as the company avoided bargaining, I felt hope slowly drained and found it increasingly difficult to motivate and excite my coworkers around things I didn't know for sure would happen," said Cox in her statement. "When Palestinians tore down the wall of their apartheid state on Oct. 7, I began to feel hope again that these oppressive systems were finally to be confronted, and real justice would be felt. Again, my hope drained as I felt powerless, watching a genocide before my eyes every day while having to go about life as normal. When my union put out a statement, my hope in the power of unions in international solidarity grew exponentially."

Youssef El Hamawi is a union representative at PROTEC17 and a Palestinian American. El Hamawi has been with PROTEC17 for several years and is also part of the Palestinian Youth Movement. He spoke at the rally about his experiences."Palestinians spent the past 76 years in places where they did not exist — cannot speak up without a form of retaliation, or insensitivity to their struggles. What a normal conversation at work for you is a question of my existence," said El Hamawi.

He began his career doing humanitarian work in Beirut and lived through Israel's 2006 attack on Lebanon. El Hamawi's grandmother was also a survivor of the 1948 Nakba.

"My grandma is from Haifa, Palestine, from the land that was stolen in 1948. Until the day she died, she kept saying, 'I am from Haifa, Palestine, and I will return. And if I don't return, my kids will return. And if my kids don't return, my grandkids will return!'"

El Hamawi says the solidarity the labor movement has shown for the Palestinian cause has created a bridge between his two worlds. "My worlds merged," he said. "Palestine is a part of labor now, and I don't think anything can separate this bond."

Featured image: University of Washington students establish an encampment on the Quad on Monday, April 29, as protests against the Israel-Hamas War intensify on college campuses around the country. (Photo: Susan Fried)