Our joint statement with the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee on recent events, and our solidarity with the uprisings taking place across the US.
"The Industrial Workers of the World and Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee are in solidarity with the uprising happening across the U.S.A.
The recent murders of George Floyd in Minnesota, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Tony McDade in Florida, and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky are not isolated incidents. Within the racist history of the United States, Black and Brown bodies have consistently been treated with such callous disregard.
The uprisings across the country in response to the death of George Floyd are expressions of justifiable rage against an unjust system. Until the lives of Black and Brown individuals are treated with the dignity they deserve, justice will never be served. Police will continue to ignore pleas of, “I can’t breathe,” while the criminal justice system will act to protect those who murder in the name of ‘law and order.’
President Trump’s denunciation of these protests online has only exacerbated concerns for the safety and well-being of others. Racist rhetoric coming from state officials which describes protesters of color as “thugs” must be condemned for the cover it gives to dehumanizing those who seek a future without oppression.
As an international union with a long-standing history of interracial solidarity, we stand united with all members of the working class in their fight against racism, police repression, and state-based violence. Moreover, we reaffirm our commitment to our motto, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” We appreciate Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005, Transport Workers Union (TWU), and many other unions whose bus drivers refused to transport police to make arrests or transport arrested members of the working class. This is the kind of power a union can have, when we are united. We call upon our members to similarly refuse to give their labor to any attempt to interfere with the call for justice, and for outside unions to cease assisting or protecting the police in any way. We call upon the AFL-CIO to immediately remove police “unions” from its federation, and to actively condemn all such "unions" which are actively injurious to the solidarity of the working class. We call upon all other unions to provide material aid where possible to those protesting, and to denounce racist police violence.
Until there is justice, there can be no peace for the working class."