The global trade union movement is not only standing together, but acting together, in support Black Lives Matter.
The Council of Global Unions, consists of global unions, uncluding UNI, which represent workers in nearly every country in the world and the International Trade Union Confederation. Yesterday, it issued a clear call to fight against systemic racism and to re-imagine the criminal justice system in the United States and beyond. UNI is also showing its support by draping its headquarters in a “Black Lives Matter” banner.
The CGU statement comes after the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, three Black Americans whose profoundly unjust deaths sparked protests in the United States and then spread globally from Sao Paulo to Seoul.
“For too long racism and white supremacy have divided working people and weakened our ability to win real power,” and the GCU is declaring “no more.”
Unions are redoubling their “fight for a new world. A world where we all recognize that Black Lives Matter.”
Read the full statement below.
Council of Global Union Statement Supporting Black Lives Matter
We are here as leaders of the global labor movement, and our unions represent millions of workers around the world.
We are: Teachers and truck drivers, nurses and actors, shop workers and musicians, machinists, factory and field workers, seafarers, janitors and journalists, hotel workers and construction workers.
Together, we are united to stand up for Black lives.
Together, we join the fight to end systemic racism and police violence against black men and women everywhere.
Together, we join the fight to win healthcare, good education, and decent wages for all.
For too long racism and white supremacy have divided working people and weakened our ability to win real power.
We know we will never achieve economic justice without racial justice.
That is why unions in the United States and throughout the world have spoken out loudly and clearly for demanding justice for George Floyd, and the thousands of others around the world who have been the victims of racist brutality.
Today, we say “no more.” We redouble our commitments to create constructive, systemic solutions to the scourge of racism and discrimination.
We stand with unions fighting to end police brutality and demanding to rebuild the criminal justice system in the United States.
We stand for the rights to a workplace free of racism and hate-based violence.
In the streets, on the job, or in the halls of power, we will stand up for Black lives.
This moment of resistance was hundreds of years in the making, and the global union movement is ready to fight for a new world.
A world where we all recognize that Black Lives Matter.
Black Lives Matter.
