Court blocks local union vote to support Palestine
www.workers.org
The Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA)-United Auto Workers Local 2325 represents 2,700 legal and social services workers in the New York City area. The local attempted to conduct a membership-wide vote Nov. 17 on a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli occupati

Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Felice J. Muraca, after a hearing Nov. 21 where Local 2325 members and supporters packed the courtroom, extended the temporary order barring the vote. No concrete evidence of antisemitism in the union’s resolution was presented. In fact, a number of the attorneys involved in drafting and campaigning for the resolution are Jewish.

The courts are no friends of labor, having issued countless injunctions against striking unions to limit picketing. But this might be the first time a court blocked a secret ballot vote by the membership of a union. This court order is a flagrant violation of the union’s First Amendment right to freedom of speech.