"UW-Madison graduate student union endorses BDS"
May 19, 2016
The following press release was sent out by the UW-Madison
Union of Graduate Student Workers:
“Members of the Teaching Assistants’ Association at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison vote overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution to
divest from the State of Israel and corporations that profit from the illegal
occupation of Palestine.
“During a two-week vote distributed to all union members,
the Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA/AFT Local 3220) at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, the oldest graduate student labor union in the United States
representing over 9,000 graduate workers and students, voted
overwhelmingly (81% of voting members) in favor of adopting a resolution to
divest from Israeli state institutions and international corporations complicit
in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the ongoing violations of
Palestinians’ human rights.
“In doing so, the TAA joins other graduate student unions
UAW 2322 at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, UAW 2865 at the University
of California System, and UAW 2110 at New York University, who have stood in
solidarity with Palestinian Civil Society’s call for Boycott, Divestment, and
Sanctions (BDS) as a non-violent tactic to put political and economic pressure
on Israel until it ends the occupation and its violation of human rights and
international law. The resolution also calls on the TAA’s employer, the
University of Wisconsin System, and parent international, the AFL-CIO, to
divest from the state of Israel and companies that contribute to and profit
from the military occupation and oppression of Palestinians....”
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