Tell the AFL-CIO: DROP THE COPS

AFL-CIO

As members of the labor movement committed to fighting racial and economic injustice, we demand that the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) expel the International Union of Police Associations (IUPA). Additionally, we demand that AFL-CIO affiliates with partial law enforcement membership terminate their relationship with unionized police and correctional officers.

Historically and to this day, police unions defend state violence rather than support the interests of workers. The existence of police unions gives police false credibility as laborers and hides their true role as enforcers of capitalism, racism, and other forms of exploitation.

In this moment, we mourn the lives of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and the countless others lost at the hands of police violence, and we recognize that justice for the working class will never exist without Black liberation.

For Philando Castile — a Teamster of 14 years — and other Black unionized workers, membership in a union has not stopped the violence of police. Like so many other police murderers, Castile’s killer was acquitted of all charges, with the assistance of a police union. Revealingly, of the thousands of killings by police that took place between 2003 and 2019, only four percent of officers were charged, and only one percent were convicted.

Background

Since their earliest days, police in the United States have repressed striking workers, brutalized marginalized communities, and fought against an array of efforts to create a more just society. With roots tracing back to vigilante night watches and slave patrols, American policing has always been on the opposing side of the struggle for freedom and liberation. From the Haymarket Massacre to the Stonewall Riots, from the Civil Rights movement to today’s #BlackLivesMatter protests, police have consistently served as a militarized arm of the state designed to quell the fight for workers’ rights and racial solidarity. The material interests of police as they presently exist in the United States are antithetical to the values of our labor movement.

While police actively endanger Black and Brown people around the country, their unions shield members from accountability. Police union contracts contain provisions which limit independent oversight, facilitate the expungement of misconduct records, and minimize possibilities for discipline. In fact, police contracts embolden violence against Black people from law enforcement. According to a recent study, a Florida Supreme Court decision that conferred bargaining rights on sheriff’s deputies led to a 40 percent increase in violent incidents and police misconduct among sheriff’s officers.

With legal defense funds and representation, police unions work to ensure that officers face few to no repercussions for violence and brutality. Moreover, at all levels of government, police unions are a powerful lobby against community control over officer conduct and the demilitarization of police forces.

Across the country, police unions stand opposed to the broader aims of the labor movement. Shamefully, Donald Trump is endorsed by the country’s two largest police unions: the unaffiliated Fraternal Order of the Police and the AFL-CIO affiliated IUPA. In Minnesota — the site of George Floyd’s murder — Minneapolis Police Federation President Bob Kroll has amassed dozens of internal investigations and a record of inflammatory statements, like referring to Black Lives Matter as a “terrorist organization.” In Wisconsin, police unions supported legislation that stripped collective bargaining rights from most public-sector employees, while exempting police officers from the measure. With the working class under constant threat of layoffs and austerity, police unions continue to thrive.

Call to Action

As we have seen again and again around the country, police unions shield their officers from accountability — and, on many occasions, actively facilitate officer misconduct. For a labor movement that professes a commitment to creating a just society, continuing to affiliate with police unions signifies cognitive dissonance at the highest level. We will no longer tolerate the status quo; we demand the following actions NOW:

  • We call on the AFL-CIO to expel the International Union of Police Associations.

  • We call on AFL-CIO affiliates with partial law enforcement membership — such as CWA, AFSCME, AFGE, and a range of others — to terminate their relationships with unionized police and correctional officers.

  • We unequivocally state that Black Lives Matter and commit ourselves to vanquishing anti-Black racism within the labor movement.

Petition by
No Unions
Washington, District of Columbia

To: AFL-CIO
From: [Your Name]

As we have seen again and again around the country, police unions shield their officers from accountability — and, on many occasions, actively facilitate officer misconduct. For a labor movement that professes a commitment to creating a just society, continuing to affiliate with police unions signifies cognitive dissonance at the highest level. We will no longer tolerate the status quo; we demand the following actions NOW:

We call on the AFL-CIO to expel the International Union of Police Associations.

We call on AFL-CIO affiliates with partial law enforcement membership — such as CWA, AFSCME, AFGE, and a range of others — to terminate their relationships with unionized police and correctional officers.

We unequivocally state that Black Lives Matter and commit ourselves to vanquishing anti-Black racism within the labor movement.