CWA Rank and File Petition in Solidarity with Palestine and Against Political Repression
CWA VP of Public Healthcare Education Workers Margaret Cook, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr., and CWA VP of District 1 Dennis G. Trainor
Letter language last updated: March 15, 2025
We, the undersigned CWA members around the country, are writing in the hopes that you will use your platform to call for the release of Mahmoud Khalil and Leqaa Kordia, as well as the reinstatement of all Columbia students recently expelled, suspended, fired, or stripped of their degrees as a result of their solidarity with Palestine.
Specifically we ask that you:
Sign onto the open letter signed by dozens of other labor leaders in support of Khalil.
Issue a separate formal statement demanding:
Khalil and Kordia’s release and the permanent halting of deportation proceedings against them
The full reinstatement and restoration of degrees for impacted Columbia students and workers, including UAW 2710 President Grant Miner
That universities defend freedom of political expression and the right of students and staff to organize–while also protecting staff and students from immigration enforcement.
As you know, Khalil–a Palestinian student leader at Columbia and a former member of UAW 2710–was abducted in his apartment by Department of Homeland Security agents earlier this week, despite holding a Green Card and not being charged with any crime. He is currently imprisoned awaiting deportation proceedings.
Khalil is a political prisoner, and his imprisonment reminds us that the U.S. war machine will continue to attack anyone it deems to be a threat—which is why it is so important that labor unions like ours stand up against political repression and state violence.
Even as people around the country rose up in support of Khalil and in solidarity with Palestine, ICE reportedly kidnapped a second Palestinian living inside the U.S., Leqaa Kordia, for Kordia’s alleged participation in the Columbia student protests. The abductions of Kordia and Khalil come as Trump ramps up attacks on immigrants, the Palestine solidarity movement, and in particular Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim activists. Their detention comes after 15 months of an accelerated U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine, and amid ongoing global repression of organizing in solidarity with Palestinian liberation. This is a direct attack on the freedom of speech and political action that we hold so dear as union members.
The same week that Khalil and Kordia were taken by immigration forces, Columbia sanctioned 22 students with suspensions, expulsions, and degree revocations for their own alleged activism. Among them: the president of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC), UAW Local 2710, Grant Miner—the day before the union’s first bargaining session with the university for a new contract. Columbia administration subsequently cancelled that bargaining session hours before it was set to begin, and as SWC rallied for Palestine and in support of those facing attacks in the U.S.
Coupling textbook union busting with broader tactics of political repression, Columbia’s actions this month are yet another reminder that as workers, our movement here is inseparable from the struggles of people around the world fighting for liberation, land, and dignity. The same billionaires who keep our wages down profit off of occupation and genocide abroad. Recognizing this, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions-Gaza (PGFTU-Gaza) and other Palestinian labor bodies, such as the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate (PJS), have called on international unions to stand with Palestine, and to refuse to cross the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) picket line.
As a collective of CWA members, including many members employed by universities like Columbia, we ask that as our elected leaders, you hear the voice of the rank and file. We hope you will raise your voices to demand justice for Khalil and Kordia and all those facing political repression and state violence, and that you do everything in your power to protect freedom of expression.
Finally, while we hold our right to political action and speech sacred, we want to be clear that our ability to organize is significant not as an abstract principle, but because it is our duty to disrupt the forces of empire occupying Palestine, terrorizing communities around the world, and destroying our planet. As you consider supporting Khalil and Kordia, we sincerely hope that you will also hear our ongoing and primary call to ensure CWA stands in unwavering solidarity with Palestine–now and until liberation.
Signed,
Sponsored by
To:
CWA VP of Public Healthcare Education Workers Margaret Cook, CWA President Claude Cummings Jr., and CWA VP of District 1 Dennis G. Trainor
From:
[Your Name]
We, the undersigned CWA members around the country, are writing in the hopes that you will use your platform to call for the release of Mahmoud Khalil and Leqaa Kordia, as well as the reinstatement of all Columbia students recently expelled, suspended, fired, or stripped of their degrees as a result of their solidarity with Palestine.
Specifically we ask that you:
*Sign onto the open letter signed by dozens of other labor leaders in support of Khalil.
*Issue a separate formal statement demanding:
1) Khalil and Kordia’s release and the permanent halting of deportation proceedings against them
2) The full reinstatement and restoration of degrees for impacted Columbia students and workers, including UAW 2710 President Grant Miner
3) That universities defend freedom of political expression and the right of students and staff to organize–while also protecting staff and students from immigration enforcement.
As you know, Khalil–a Palestinian student leader at Columbia and a former member of UAW 2710–was abducted in his apartment by Department of Homeland Security agents earlier this week, despite holding a Green Card and not being charged with any crime. He is currently imprisoned awaiting deportation proceedings.
Khalil is a political prisoner, and his imprisonment reminds us that the U.S. war machine will continue to attack anyone it deems to be a threat—which is why it is so important that labor unions like ours stand up against political repression and state violence.
Even as people around the country rose up in support of Khalil and in solidarity with Palestine, ICE reportedly kidnapped a second Palestinian living inside the U.S., Leqaa Kordia, for Kordia’s alleged participation in the Columbia student protests. The abductions of Kordia and Khalil come as Trump ramps up attacks on immigrants, the Palestine solidarity movement, and in particular Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim activists. Their detention comes after 15 months of an accelerated U.S.-Israeli genocide in Palestine, and amid ongoing global repression of organizing in solidarity with Palestinian liberation. This is a direct attack on the freedom of speech and political action that we hold so dear as union members.
The same week that Khalil and Kordia were taken by immigration forces, Columbia sanctioned 22 students with suspensions, expulsions, and degree revocations for their own alleged activism. Among them: the president of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC), UAW Local 2710, Grant Miner—the day before the union’s first bargaining session with the university for a new contract. Columbia administration subsequently cancelled that bargaining session hours before it was set to begin, and as SWC rallied for Palestine and in support of those facing attacks in the U.S.
Coupling textbook union busting with broader tactics of political repression, Columbia’s actions this month are yet another reminder that as workers, our movement here is inseparable from the struggles of people around the world fighting for liberation, land, and dignity. The same billionaires who keep our wages down profit off of occupation and genocide abroad. Recognizing this, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions-Gaza (PGFTU-Gaza) and other Palestinian labor bodies, such as the Palestinian Journalist Syndicate (PJS), have called on international unions to stand with Palestine, and to refuse to cross the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) picket line.
As a collective of CWA members, including many members employed by universities like Columbia, we ask that as our elected leaders, you hear the voice of the rank and file. We hope you will raise your voices to demand justice for Khalil and Kordia and all those facing political repression and state violence, and that you do everything in your power to protect freedom of expression.
Finally, while we hold our right to political action and speech sacred, we want to be clear that our ability to organize is significant not as an abstract principle, but because it is our duty to disrupt the forces of empire occupying Palestine, terrorizing communities around the world, and destroying our planet. As you consider supporting Khalil and Kordia, we sincerely hope that you will also hear our ongoing and primary call to ensure CWA stands in unwavering solidarity with Palestine–now and until liberation.