U.S. Unions Bankroll Israeli Aggression

By BOB MATTINGLY


Labor voices are being raised against the AFL-CIO's
collaboration with the U.S. government's backing of
Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.

Unionists are petitioning the labor federation's
officers, stating that they "deplore the fact that
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney recently associated
U.S. labor's name with support for the Israeli
invasion of the West Bank, which has resulted in the
widespread death and destruction of the Palestinian
people and property."

The petitioners charge that "all the world knows the
murderous assault on the Palestinians with the most
modern tanks, helicopters, and missiles is financed by
our taxes."

But what the world and even most U.S. unionists may
not know is that U.S. union dues monies and union
pension funds are being used to buy Israeli government
bonds, also helping to finance what the petitioners
accurately term Israel's "horrific aggression."

Michael Letwin, the president of UAW 2325, which
represents legal aid lawyers, says, "It's bad enough
that our tax dollars are going to fund Israel, but our
union dues-that's intolerable."

Yes, it's intolerable, and the money is considerable.
The Jewish weekly Forward on March 22 quoted the
National Committee for Labor Israel's director as
estimating that "the American labor community holds $5
billion in Israel bonds."

And judging by the mutual praise regularly exchanged
by U.S. union officials, the Jewish Labor Committee,
Israeli politicians and the Israel Bonds National
Labor Division fund raisers, there can be no doubt
that U.S. unions will continue to buy Israeli bonds in
significant amounts.

For example, in November, the Israeli bonds sellers
will hold a tribute dinner for Terence O'Sullivan,
president of the 800,000-strong Laborers Union,
according to the Israel Bonds National Labor
Division's web site.

A later tribute is being organized for the A. Philip
Randolph Institute, headed by Norman Hill, also a
member of the Israeli Bonds Labor Advisory Board,
which is co-chaired by Barbara Easterling,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Communication Workers
Union.

In 1999, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka
called on unionists "to invest in the [Israeli] bonds
that are such a tangible link between our movement and
the continuing struggle to nurture and protect the
State of Israel."

A year earlier, AFL-CIO head John J. Sweeney accepted
the Israeli Bonds 50th Anniversary Labor Achievement
Award.

But those American trade unionists that are slapped on
the back by the Israeli bond sales staff shouldn't
think that the bond sellers are all that selective
with their praise and awards. In1975, the Israeli
Ambassador inducted the notorious Teamster official
Jackie Presser into the "Prime Minister's Club, a
group made up of people who personally (or in
Presser's case, through his union) bought more than
$25,000 worth of bonds" (Steven Brill, "The
Teamsters").

By 1977, Brill reported, the Teamsters "had bought
$26,000,000 worth [of Israeli bonds] out of total
American union purchases of $100,000,000."

The Forward reported that recent honorees and speakers
at a March Jewish Labor Committee dinner included
Richard Trumka; Michael Monroe, general president of
the Painters Union; Morton Bahr, head of the
Communications Workers Union; Dennis Hughes, president
of the AFL-CIO, New York State; and Mike Sacco,
president of the Seafarers Union, who, when
introduced, "removed the napkin tucked into his collar
and waved it in the air."

What the bond money buys

In a May 30 report, the International Labor
Organization (ILO) charged that Israeli aggression has
resulted in a "socio-economic meltdown," devastating
to Palestinian workers.

An ILO statement on its report said, "'The escalation
of violence and the military occupation of the
territories have caused great physical damage to the
infrastructure and agricultural land ' Preliminary
figures put the cost of reconstruction of public and
private buildings and infrastructure in the West Bank
alone at some USD 432 million.

"Real growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of
the Palestinian areas declined by 12 per cent in 2001
and real Gross National Income (GNI), the sum of GDP
and of factor income earned abroad (wages of
Palestinian earned in Israel) dropped by 18.7 per
cent, according to the report.

Further, "Preliminary ILO estimates suggest that
'unemployment could have reached nearly 43 per cent in
the occupied territories during the first quarter
(January-March) of 2002.'

"'The percentage of the population living in poverty
(less than USD 2.1 per day) increased from 21 per cent
in 1999 to 33 per cent in 2000 and 46 per cent in
2001. The figure could possibly reach 62 per cent in
2002,' the report said."

Union members shouldn't think that Israeli government
bonds bought with their dues monies and pension funds
pay high interest rates. According to the
Multinational Monitor report by Mokhiber, "The bonds
pay interest rates below those of other available
securities and well below what most investors would
expect from loans to a foreign government, especially
one as economically troubled as Israel....

"And unlike most bonds, State of Israel securities are
not easily converted into cash. The institutional
bonds cannot be traded on the open market, and can
only be sold to pension funds, charities and other
non-profit organizations [labor unions]. Israel bonds
not only pay a poor return, they carry a high risk as
well. Although Israel bonds, like other privately
placed securities, are not given a credit rating, if
they were they would almost certainly be considered a
poor investment."

1500 labor groups buy bonds

Given the poor financial returns from buying Israeli
bonds, and putting aside the anti-Palestinian aims
some union officials undoubtedly share with the
Israeli and Zionist establishment, why have so many
unions (1500 labor organizations, reported Lee O'Brien
in "American Jewish Organizations and Israel," and
cited by Mokhiber) put their members' dues monies into
Israeli bonds?

It's hard not to conclude that a large part of the
answer has to do with the uncritical backing that high
union officials have traditionally given to bipartisan
foreign policies, including the Marshall Plan, the
Vietnam War, and the current military intervention in
Afghanistan.

It's well documented that the highest echelons of the
AFL-CIO have worked hand in hand with various U.S.
administrations to oppose, subvert, and destroy
democratic movements, especially in Latin America,
targeted by the CIA (giving a new meaning to the term
"company" men).

Even today, the AFL-CIO receives more than $15,000,000
a year from the government, which suggests to some
critics that the U.S. labor federation might have had
a role in the recent failed coup attempt in Venezuela.


In April, AFL-CIO chief Sweeney spoke at a Washington,
D.C. gathering billed as a "Solidarity Rally for
Israel. Sweeney said that "the American labor movement
has a long and enduring relationship with the state of
Israel, a relationship grounded in our solidarity with
the Israeli Trade Union Federation, the Histadrut."

Although he acknowledged that the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict is fueled by poverty and despair," he
knowingly ignored the February Israeli bombing of the
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in
Nablus.

Nor did Sweeney choose to speak in defense of ordinary
Palestinian workers employed in Israel who must
register at official labor exchanges and then are
subjected to huge deductions from their pay: "I worked
for three years through the labor office and no one
ever told us what benefits we were entitled to. They
were taking over 25 percent of our wages and give us
nothing in return" ("Attacking Labor," by Marty
Rosenbluth, Multinational Monitor, April 1988).

Nor did Sweeney denounce the Israeli's forcing of
Palestinian workers to return to the territories each
night, bringing to mind the racist segregation of the
former South Africa apartheid regime.

Sweeney told the Washington rally that he spoke on
behalf of the union federation's 13 million working
members. But some union members would dispute
Sweeney's claim, including New York trade unionists
who in May picketed the AFL-CIO's Executive Council's
meeting with Israeli Consul general Alon Pinkus at the
Sheraton Hotel.

The union pickets called for divestment from Israeli
bonds, an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian
territories, and the right of Palestinian refugees to
return home.

Socialist Action /August 2002