BDS resolution overturned by UC grad students’ national union: It discriminates against Jews

UPDATED

Foes of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel got a big boost Wednesday when a national union told a local chapter it couldn’t adopt a BDS resolution.

United Auto Workers (UAW) International Union, which oversees U.S. chapters, granted an appeal from a member of the University of California student-worker group Informed Grads, the student group said in a release yesterday.

The student had complained to UAW International that the UC chapter (Local 2865), which represents all grad student workers in the UC system, did not have authority to speak on the issue for its members. The union agreed.

According to pro-Israel activist group StandWithUs, the union’s executive board said it was “unanimous” in finding that the BDS resolution “can easily be construed as academic and cultural discrimination against union members on the basis of their national origin and religion.”

The resolution promotes “vilification” against both Israelis and Jews of other nationalities, the board said, and would harm other union members by boycotting their employers, creating “direct economic deprivation.”

The BDS campaign at UC was full of “anti-Semitism and active promotion of hate,” said Informed Grads member Karra Greenberg. The group linked to video of a “BDS Caucus event” from UC-Berkeley last fall showing speakers saying things such as “bringing down Israel really will benefit everyone in the world.”

Informed Grads told The College Fix it couldn’t yet release UAW’s full statement overturning the Local 2865 resolution because it was a response to the member who filed the complaint and included “personal information.”

Read Informed Grads’ release and the StandWithUs statement.

UPDATE: Informed Grads explained to The Fix why it hasn’t released UAW’s full statement. The article has been amended.

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