Category Archives: Human Rights

Unions representing 9 million workers are calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war | National Labor Network for Ceasefire

The National Labor Network for Ceasefire supports:

An immediate ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

Restoration of basic human rights.
Immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas.
Unimpeded full access for humanitarian aid.
Our president is calling for a permanent ceasefire.

Working people around the world have mourned the tragic loss of life in Israel and Palestine since Hamas’s brutal attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. As trade unionists, we stand in solidarity with workers everywhere and join in movements leading towards a just and peaceful world, which upholds our values of democracy, equality, and respect for human and labor rights.

The ongoing tragedy in Israel and Gaza makes the prospects of a just and peaceful world more remote.

Our unions are united in our call for a ceasefire in Gaza. To achieve a just and lasting peace, the bombing must stop, the hostages must be released, and the humanitarian aid that is so needed in Gaza must be realized.

Together, we have formed the National Labor Network for a Ceasefire. We stand for peace, justice, and a better future for working people everywhere.

Our unions comprise educators and electric workers, tradespeople and transportation workers, autoworkers and flight attendants, nurses and care workers, postal workers and public servants, and many more.

American unions that have called for a ceasefire now represent the majority of the organized labor movement.

Unions and union members! Sign on to join the U.S. labor movement and call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.

Link to sign the call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. – https://www.laborforceasefire.org/

Justice for Tyre Nichols! Stop the War on Black America

When Dr. King was murdered, Nina Simone, in song, raised the question “are they men or are they beast?” On January 7, 2023, the Memphis PD Scorpion Squad once again answered the question. They, representatives of a racist system, are monsters in service of controlling oppressed communities, defending the social order and the profits of the capitalist class. Policing in the US is a system that has grown out of the history of slave catchers (paddy rollers) and the enforcing of Jim Crow chain gangs. This is what colonialism looks like. Continue reading →

Saladin Muhammad, Black Workers for Justice Founder and Leader Joins the Ancestors

It is with great sadness and profound loss that we announce the passing of our exemplary revolutionary warrior and leader, Comrade Brother Saladin Muhammad. Saladin passed this morning after a long battle with illness. His wife, Naeema and son Muhammad were with him as he transitioned. He fought until the end. They described him as being at peace.Saladin on courthourse steps

Brother Saladin leaves an outstanding legacy of revolutionary commitment, leadership, consciousness, and direct organizing of our people’s struggle for liberation. He was a commander-in-chief of revolutionary forces throughout the Black Liberation Movement and a staunch fighter for the Black Working Class. He worked tirelessly and with phenomenal energy to organize, guide, and lead our people’s fights and battles against oppression. He was an internationalist, upholding the world-wide struggle against capitalism and imperialism. His intellect, insight and analysis was outstanding in the theory and practice of organizing class and revolutionary struggle and the tactics and strategy of social transformation, national liberation, and socialism for the African American people.

Saladin’s unmatched organizing skills led to the formation of the Black Workers for Justice, UE Local 150, and the Southern Workers Assembly, just to recognize only a few of his impactful accomplishments. And these organizational formations of the Black working class were built in the context of North Carolina, a state widely recognized for it’s anti-unionism and racist history and in the US South where the lack of a strong, progressive labor movement in the southeast region has been the Achilles heel of the US national labor movement. The struggle to build a “new trade unionism” in the US South must continue.

His leadership and guidance, upon which thousands around the country and the world relied, is irreplaceable and will be sorely missed by all of us. Saladin was active in the struggles for justice and liberation for more than 50 years.

Saladin Muhammad, PRESENTE!!!

The Executive Committee,Black Workers for Justice

Black Human Rights Organization Demonstrates Black Community Support for Southern Amazon Workers

February 20^th witnessed support actions across the country in support of the efforts of Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama to be represented by the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union. In total, there were 23 across the South and between 50 – 55 nationally. The broad support for this organizing is encouraging and an indication of how much people across the country understand the need for unions and are willing to get involved.

Organizations representing and advocating for oppressed communities have historically taken a stand in support of the right to organize understanding the importance of organization for all workers in general and Black workers in particular. Black civil rights and Black Liberation organizations have always engaged in or supported efforts to build the power of workers on the job and in the community

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Reparations Now!

The Biden administration has promised to issue scores of Executive Orders reversing many of the Trump policies. He has gone on record saying how vital the Black vote was in his win vowing to have our backs. The call has been made for him to uphold that vow by making a down payment on the Reparations owned us as a result of our enslavement. The campaign is being led by the Brooklyn, N.Y. based December 12th Movement (D12)