SEIU joins labor unions calling for ceasefire in Gaza

Washington DC - The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) – one of the largest labor unions in the US – has joined growing calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry has released a statement calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza to save Palestinian lives.
SEIU President Mary Kay Henry has released a statement calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza to save Palestinian lives.  © TASOS KATOPODIS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

"SEIU's almost two million members believe that wherever violence, fear and hatred thrive, working people cannot," the union's president, Mary Kay Henry, said in a statement released on Monday.

She went on to call for an immediate and lasting ceasefire; the release of all hostages; and the delivery of food, water, medicine, and other much-needed resources to the people of Gaza.

The announcement makes SEIU the latest in a growing list of prominent unions – including the United Auto Workers, the American Postal Workers Union, and more – to demand an end to Israel's brutal killings and siege of Gaza.

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"Our call for a ceasefire is a call for peace, rooted in the pain that SEIU members are feeling, from the Jewish member concerned for her son’s safety in Tel Aviv, to the Muslim member who immigrated to this country from the Middle East to escape war and violence, to the hundreds of thousands of SEIU healthcare workers who see themselves in the healthcare workers in Gaza who have been killed trying to save lives," Henry said.

"We call on elected leaders to come together to bring an end to the violence and demand a peaceful resolution that ensures both lasting security for the Israeli people and a sustained end to decades of occupation, blockades and lack of freedom endured by the Palestinian people," she continued.

"This war must end, as it is expanding into a regional conflict. It is time for long-term solutions that will bring safety, peace, democracy, and justice to all in the region."

The statement came 108 days after Israel began its ongoing bombardment and invasion of Gaza, killing at least 25,295 Palestinians and counting.

Cover photo: TASOS KATOPODIS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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