Socialist Action /August 2002
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 |