Working Families United Members Condemn Acts of Terror in El Paso and Mississippi.
Solidarity, not division, is always what moves workers forward.
As working people in El Paso and Mississippi mourn, recover, and organize in the wake of the white supremacist attack and the ICE raid of 680 workers in poultry plants, including two represented by United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, (UFCW), the members listed below of Working Families United issued this statement of support and commitment:
Neither the murderous attack by a young man in Texas nor the massive raid by the President’s deportation force in Mississippi can change the truth that the strength of working people has always been based on what happens when we come together. We hold the solidarity of the labor movement at our core and we will not be divided.
We pledge our support to the union members and their families who were terrorized at their worksites in Mississippi. Our laws should protect workers who come together to assert their rights, not criminalize them. And we mourn alongside the families terrorized in El Paso. Our elected officials should bring us together, not encourage divisions that tear us apart.
Organizing as coworkers — across race, creed, and color — is what improves our worksites and makes our futures brighter. In 2019, it is time we refuse to let corporations gain their wealth by seeing workers fighting each other instead of fighting the 1%.
Our unions are made better, our demands are made stronger, and our country made more whole when we make it 100% clear that there is no room for white supremacy within our ranks, our worksites, and the broader world. We will fight the raids, shootings, and the politicians who would tell any of our members to go back to the shadows, back to a time of servitude, or back to where they came from.
The statement is on behalf of UFCW, UNITE HERE, IUPAT, Teamsters, and Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC).