WASHINGTON (Sept. 18, 2020) — The Washington-Baltimore News Guild (WBNG), a unit of the News Guild and the Communications Workers of America- AFL-CIO, has passed a resolution calling on the AFL-CIO to end its affiliation with the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA). The resolution, which was passed on September 3 in a special member meeting by a vote of 111-32, also calls on the CWA to undertake a process to separate itself from its law enforcement members.
The full text of the resolution is below:
WHEREAS: Police unions have historically served as a force for racial segregation and repression of labor rights and;
WHEREAS: Police unions do not act in solidarity with the broader labor movement and;
WHEREAS: Police unions have resisted efforts of police reform, including alienating their own members who become whistleblowers and;
WHEREAS: Amid the current uprisings against police brutality police unions have become a clear target of police power and;
WHEREAS: In order to fully live up to the idea that Black Lives Matter and supporting the CWA’s Executive Board’s statement that “There is no in-between. There is no neutral option. The only real way to dismantle racism and build the working-class power we seek is for every worker to take on the struggle for justice for Black people in this country as their own and to embrace the actions that “an injury to one is an injury to all” demands of us”
THEREFORE: We the Executive Board of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 call upon the AFL-CIO to disaffiliate the International Union of Police Associations from the Federation and direct its constituent State Labor Federations, Area Labor Federations, and Central Labor Councils to do the same.
ADDITIONALLY: We call upon the Communications Workers of America to separate itself from its 3,245 Law Enforcement and Correctional Officer members.
WHEREAS: Police unions do not act in solidarity with the broader labor movement and;
WHEREAS: Police unions have resisted efforts of police reform, including alienating their own members who become whistleblowers and;
WHEREAS: Amid the current uprisings against police brutality police unions have become a clear target of police power and;
WHEREAS: In order to fully live up to the idea that Black Lives Matter and supporting the CWA’s Executive Board’s statement that “There is no in-between. There is no neutral option. The only real way to dismantle racism and build the working-class power we seek is for every worker to take on the struggle for justice for Black people in this country as their own and to embrace the actions that “an injury to one is an injury to all” demands of us”
THEREFORE: We the Executive Board of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, Local 32035 call upon the AFL-CIO to disaffiliate the International Union of Police Associations from the Federation and direct its constituent State Labor Federations, Area Labor Federations, and Central Labor Councils to do the same.
ADDITIONALLY: We call upon the Communications Workers of America to separate itself from its 3,245 Law Enforcement and Correctional Officer members.