Series On Confronting Antisemitism From Big Labor Unions; Episode 1

House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing to highlight the rising numbers of organized labor unions who are openly participating in Pro-Hamas protests.

Today the House Education and the Workforce Committee held a hearing to highlight the rising numbers of organized labor unions who are openly participating in Pro-Hamas protests where the rhetoric has been decisively antisemitic, hateful and discriminatory towards the Jewish population and the Pro-Israel public. I have watched this evolve over time and am personally thankful a public hearing was held today to highlight the anti-American, ant-Zionist death to Israel and death to America Marxist mob rule we have been watching unfold unabated in America. It is about time action and remedy takes place to stop this mob role mentality from growing, stop it in its place, and to reverse this dark and dangerous path our country has traveled since October 7, 2023. I will highlight the written and oral statements from the esteemed guests at the hearing today as they chronicle with solid evidence the indifference and at times outright failure of organized unions to adequately extinguish the Jewish hatred and discriminatory practices. At times you will learn, the unions have actually retaliated when union members brought legally sound grievances through the appropriate procedures.

Ilana Kopmar, has 32 years experience as a criminal defense attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, NY and served as President of her local union before her local union joined UAW Local 2325, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, also known as the ALAA. Ms. Kopmar provided personal first hand knowledge of the discrimination she and her members have experienced by the Union in testimony today.

Over 10 years ago, Ms. Kopmar's office joined UAW Local 2325, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys believing that through the camaraderie and the support of more than 3000 members of the ALAA, spread over 30 non-profit agencies, that the Union would help the local members to bargain for higher wages, increased state and county funding, improved benefits, and a better work environment, and a stronger, more effective Union.

"Recently, instead of focusing on collective bargaining and fostering a united membership, the ALAA and its leadership created an antisemitic, hostile work environment for its Jewish members for whom Zionism is an integral part of their Jewish identity, as it is for the vast majority of American Jews, and their non-Jewish allies. After the attack by the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7 - the worst attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust – the ALAA communication channel, Gaggle (an email listserv for Union members and Joint Council meetings) became a festering community filled with antisemitism and blatant discrimination directed against its members.

Shortly after October 7, 2023, multiple emails emerged with shocking statements from fellow ALAA members denying the atrocities that happened on October 7, "one email questioned whether Jewish Legal Aid lawyers who have “an allegiance to Israel'' can zealously represent clients who are Palestinian or Muslim and questioned whether such lawyers were colluding with prosecutors." The Bronx Defender Chapter of the ALAA adopted a blatantly antisemitic resolution which questioned the veracity of reports of Hamas’ brutality, killing, mutilation and rape of Israeli victims, and falsely accused Israel of genocide. On November 14, 2024, the ALAA gave just three days' notice of a resolution to be voted on by its entire membership, entitled “Resolution Calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza, and End to the Israeli occupation of Palestine." The membership voted for the resolution by a margin of 1067-570. Within the resolution, the ALAA states "Israel has kept the Gaza Strip under a state of siege for decades, and according to many international human rights organizations, maintains colonial apartheid occupation regime against the Palestinian people. And ALAA UAW Local 2325 endorsed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in the resolution.

Unions should not engage in discriminatory speech against its own members or show bias against ALAA clients. The "Union has the right to criticize Israel and its government, just as it may any other government. However, denying Jews the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland and condoning violence and discrimination against Jews crosses a clear line into antisemitism," as Ms. Kopmar stated in her testimony.

The ALAA resolution was so inflammatory in its antisemitism that the Legal Aid Society of New York City, The Bronx Defenders Organization and the President of the New York Legal Assistance Group issued statements rejecting the ALAA resolution as antisemitic. "The Board and management of the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, led by our Chief Attorney, N. Scott Banks, issued a statement rejecting the resolution for its “antisemitic language and thinly veiled call for the destruction of the State of Israel.” The statement concluded that “this resolution does not represent the values or mission of our office and is divisive and hurtful to so many members of our staff and clients.”

Four members obtained a temporary restraining order under New York law from a Nassau County Supreme Court Judge, in Clarke, et al. v. The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, et al., Index No. 618764/2023 (Sup. Ct., Nassau Cnty.), to stop the membership vote from concluding on November 17. The following week, after listening to extensive oral arguments, the Judge extended the TRO. The case was then transferred to federal court in the Eastern District of New York, where the TRO was dissolved. The vote proceeded, and the resolution was passed by a vote of 1067 to 570 – almost half of ALAA members did not vote at all. After the resolution was presented, the Union turned on anyone who expressed concerned and support for Israel by retaliating against them including dissuading any member from giving public testimony about their opinions or concerns.

Immediately after the TRO was filed, four members from the ALAA filed discriminatory retaliatory charges, pursuant to Article 31 of the UAW Constitution, to expel Ms. Kopmar and the other three members who exercised our legal right to oppose the Union’s antisemitism by securing the TRO. They accused the four members of “conduct unbecoming of a union member” for engaging in protected activities in filing the TRO to stop the Union from voting on the resolution and for calling out antisemitism espoused by Union members in Gaggle. On January 2, 2024, the ALAA Amalgamated Council ratified the discriminatory Article 31 charges and sent the retaliatory complaint to the Joint Council to hold a trial and render a verdict. If a guilty verdict is reached this means any or all four members will be expelled from the Union and potential job loss. The ALAA four Union members argued that the proceeding violates the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law.

The four members filed charges against the ALAA with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Within days of the ALAA being notified of the EEOC charges, they received a decision from the UAW International Executive Board denying the appeal without considering the legal arguments that the expulsion violates Federal and New York laws. Shortly thereafter, the four members received notice that the Union intended to commence the expulsion trial on July 9, 2024. They have since appealed the expulsion trial and are awaiting a decision.

The barrage of vitriol continued even after the Union began expulsion proceedings against the four members, in both Joint Council meetings and Gaggle. Jewish Zionist members and their allies were demonized as “scabs, snitches and genocide-deniers.” The members were subject to a continuous barrage of vitriolic hate speech through Gaggle and during Joint Council meetings. They were called "fascists, genociders, genocide deniers, snitches and Zionist ghouls." They were bullied and told to go kill themselves. The slogan “from the river to the sea” was routinely used. Union members were very vocal in publicly calling for the elimination of Israel. One member wrote “we have a duty to stand up and call for a Free Palestine, which means an end to Isreal [sic]. . .” and signed off with “goosestepping [sic] outside.” These attacks were done in the presence of ALAA President Lisa Ohta and the ALAA Sergeant at Arms.

In a subsequent resolution vote, the Union delegates overwhelmingly rejected a Hamas hostage release resolution submitted by ALAA members by a vote of 18 in favor and 124 against. The Union is "fostering attacks against its Jewish and non-Jewish Zionist members who fight against antisemitism and discrimination. This is not how a Union should act, and its members should not be forced to support such discriminatory actions."

Its important to note, at the beginning of June 2024 leaders of eight Global Union Federations (GUFs) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) travelled to Ramallah to convey their solidarity to unions in the West Bank and Gaza. These organizations represent almost every sector of the global economy and have members in more than 150 countries representing over 200 million workers. UAW President Shawn Fain representing one of the America’s largest trade unions has vehemently criticized the mass arrests across the United States of the Pro-Hamas Palestine college protesters stating “The UAW will never support the mass arrest or intimidation of those exercising their right to protest, strike, or speak out against injustice,” Fain shared the following statement on the social media platform X. “Our union has been calling for a ceasefire for six months. This war is wrong, and this response against students and academic workers, many of them UAW members, is wrong.”

Furthermore, the history of Union organizing for social, political and cultural transformation was first introduced by Karl Marx. In Karl Marx’s view, transforming trade unions into a powerful social and cultural change agent for the eventual goal of overthrowing capitalism and the current system of State governance was his ultimate goal. Karl Marx stated "In addition to their original tasks, the trade unions must now learn how to act consciously as focal points for organizing the working class in the greater interests of its complete emancipation. They must support every social and political movement directed towards this aim. By considering themselves champions and representatives of the whole working class, and acting accordingly, the trade unions must succeed in rallying round themselves all workers still outside their ranks . . . They must convince the whole world that their efforts are far from narrow and egoistic, but on the contrary, are directed towards the emancipation of the down-trodden masses.”

Hopefully, the Workforce and Education Committee hearing today is a start for reversing the rampant abuse of power the Union has on its members and society at large. Many times the Union acts with brute force aggression by intimidating membership with loss of employment, membership rights and harassing its members much like the mafia. Unions should not be in the business of social or political causes, instead they should stay within the scope of representing their employees in respect to fair wages, benefits and legal employee representation when appropriate.

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God Bless America🙏