Workers United in Upstate New York stands with Black Lives Matter. We mourn for Rayshard Brooks, Michael Thomas, George Floyd, Dion Johnson, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and all other Black people murdered by police. We commit to fighting white supremacy and fascism in all their forms.
As Angela Davis said, “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.” To this end, we reject allyship and call for solidarity. Now is not the time for performative gestures, like the statements so many union-busting companies have released, but for actions that demonstrate the truth that an injury to one is an injury to all.
At its proudest moments, the labor movement has united workers of all races and identities in the class struggle. This is what we must work toward. However, it is not an automatic result of organizing. Our history also reveals many times when unions have valued whiteness over class solidarity. In order to fulfill our mission of fighting for our members and for the entire working class, we must recognize and eliminate white supremacy within our own ranks.
We further believe that conflating our mission with that of police unions undermines our solidarity, the principle we must hold dearest. Modern police departments evolved from vigilante groups and slave patrols. White supremacy within policing cannot be blamed on individual “bad actors,” but must be understood as central to the institution itself. This origin also exposes the fact that policing was always intended to protect bosses’ “property” — which then meant human beings — and to suppress workers’ rights. Therefore, we urge the labor movement to cut ties with police unions. The AFL-CIO has said it supports Black Lives Matter. We join the Writers Guild of America, East, and their supporters, including Association of Flight Attendants president Sara Nelson, in calling on the AFL-CIO to make good on its word by expelling the International Union of Police Associations. We recognize that the fact that Black people are disproportionately working-class makes failing to be anti-racist and supporting police unions an even greater betrayal of working-class struggle and unity.
Finally, as the government attempts to designate anti-fascism as terrorism and as police question protesters about their political beliefs, we want to make it clear: We are Antifa. Fascism seeks to ban unions and prevent workers from organizing. It entrenches white supremacy and class domination. It is the ultimate threat to the working class. We have no other option but to be anti-fascist. We exist to defend workers against bosses, whose “property rights” are backed by the power of the state. The real looters are not poor people; the real looters are the wealthy who steal our labor for pennies. When they try to crush our movements, we fight back. We were Antifa when the bosses’ hired mercenaries and their police and National Guard collaborators murdered union workers and their families in places like Thibodeaux, Butte, Lawrence, Ludlow, and Blair Mountain — and when we resisted. We will continue to resist all efforts to destroy our solidarity, uphold white supremacy, and weaken the power of the working class.
In solidarity,
Gary Bonadonna Jr
Jaz Brisack
Rafael Acosta
Kari Aldrich
Ana Maria Alicea
Zach Anderson
Joyce Angelo
Emily Belle
Richard Bensinger
Vincent Bertolone
Julie Black
Dustin Block
Taylor Boyer
Leona Brown
Lamont Bryant
Zoe M. Burk
Desiree Calloway
Al Celli
Phoenix Cerny
Sabrina Chatman
Ross W Clark
Kyle Cody
Joseph Conway
Kathy Costello
Kathrine Coward
Michelle Croce
Richard Crowder
Vincent Cruciata
Grace Dana
Ronnie Daymon
Elaine DeForte
Andrea Delvecchio
Shaylak K. Diaz
Judy Doctor
Rachael Dollinger
Sarah Dugan
Courtney Dupre
Molly Etzel
Bart Feberwee
Katrina Fletcher
Kim Francis
Lucas Fredericks
R.J. Gavadin
Abby Gilbert
Debbie Glinski
Michael R Greco
Tracy Harris
Garrett Hoffman
Celinda Holmes
Sheree L Hudnell
L. Bruce Jackson
Cory Johnson
Rondayia Johnson
Darryl Joye
Aidan Kaplan-Wright
Kay Kennedy
Sonya Kittles
Philip Kneitinger
Byrne Kolega
Kathy Krafft
Angel Rose Kuykendall
Deion Kuykendall
Derrick Kuykendall
Barbara Leclair
Peter Leipzig
April Marie Lewis
Verdina Lightfoot
Willie J. Lightfoot
Anthony Locurto
Rolanda Lott
Ava Mailloux
David Mangan
Matthew Martinen
Kimmy Martinez
Samantha Mason
S. Mazur
Krista McCabe
Michael McGrinder
Lauren McLaughlin
Aretha Maxwell Mclamore
Melinda K Miller
Brian Millet
Laurýn Tamar Minter, PhD
Kristopher Mulvaney
Mike Napierski
Salina Nesmith
Joseph Nicholas
Raine Oakley
Cassandra OBrien
Timothy O’Donnell
Yomaira Otero
Wanda Parris
Kayleigh Patnella
Vanessa Patterson
Clayton Pitcher
Catoria Pittman
Julian Pompilio
Christopher J. Powderly
Rosalind Randolph
Charley Rawlings
Christina Riccio
Randy Ritz
Irving Rivera
Melissa Rivera
Sid Roberts
Diana Rodriguez
Linda Rodriguez
Kristin Ross
Paul Schojan
Lace Seiders
Monika Shelton
Mark Sidebotham
Colleen Silvernail
Tyesha Sisson
Robin Solomon
Killian Steiner
Angie Strasser
Ken Strasser
Jaby Thomas
Robert Thompson
Linda Thornton
Lillian Tomik
Emily Vick
Rob Vitello
Tywanda Walker
Dane R. Weisbeck
Lyla White
Olivea Wiggins
Angela Williams
Heather Williams
Erin Young