Resolution for MLK Labor to Endorse and Support Land Day

March 20, 2024

WHEREAS, MLK Labor passed a motion from UFCW 3000 and PROTEC17 at the January 17th Board & Delegates meetings directing the council to advocate internally to the AFL-CIO calling for a ceasefire to the war in Gaza. Since then, the AFL-CIO has amended their stance on the violence in Gaza and Palestine and called for a ceasefire in their February 8th statement.

WHEREAS, on January 17th MLK Labor also passed a motion from PROTEC17 to provide a Teach-in on Liberation and the events, concepts and ideologies of Palestine and Israel, which will take place on April 2nd.

WHEREAS, since January, the situation has become considerably more desolate, with thousands facing starvation and dehydration. As we enter Ramadan, the city of Rafah – where millions have been directed to take refuge – is being threatened with an impending ground invasion authorized by President Netanyahu. 

WHEREAS, community partners standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people are reaching out to the King County labor movement amid the worsening conditions in Gaza to endorse and turn out a delegation of union members to the Land Day commemorative event on March 30 at 2 pm at Lake Union Park in Seattle.

WHEREAS,  Land Day is an annual observance commemorating the day in 1976 of the general strike throughout much of the Galilee and the Negev when Israeli police opened fire on protesters demonstrating against vast land confiscations owned and farmed by Palestinians.

WHEREAS, Land Day is celebrated around the world, bringing attention and awareness to ongoing land struggles and promoting solidarity with those standing for justice and human rights. The King County labor movement’s involvement in commemorating this labor action is a fitting demonstration of solidarity with the global labor movement.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that MLK Labor will endorse and mobilize a labor contingent to the upcoming Land Day event on March 30th, where community members from throughout the PNW will converge to express their commitment to ending the siege on Gaza, their resilience, and holding the collective outrage and grief of the Palestinian people, and residents of the occupied territories.