While AFL-CIO president Rich Trumka has reaffirmed the labor federation’s support for Israel, a group called Labor for Palestine has issued an “Open Letter From US Trade Unionists” to Trumka calling for a boycott of “Apartheid Israel.”
Among the listed signatories is Clayola Brown, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an AFL-CIO-affiliated organization of African-American trade unionists. But as the TULIP website reports, Brown has sent an email message to Labor for Palestine:
It is with disgust and dismay that I find my name listed as a signer of “Boycott Apartheid Israel: Open Letter from US Trade Unionists.” I demand that my name be removed immediately!
Prior to seeing the letter on the Palestine Chronicle website, I had never seen such a letter or engaged in discussions about its content. I find it disrespectful that someone would attach my name to a document and circulate such a document without contact with me, or consent from me.
Please make every effort to convey my demand to and any other publications that you have used or are likely to use your letter with.
