California Unions Demand Cuba's Removal from Terrorist List

Havana, Jul 18 (RHC) The California branch of the largest labor federation in the United States unanimously approved a resolution at its convention today demanding that Cuba be removed from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.

On behalf of its nearly 2.3 million members, the California chapter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) "strongly urged the Executive Committee" of the union to oppose the arbitrary designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

In addition, it was agreed that "the executive board of the national AFL-CIO will send a copy of the resolution to (U.S.) President (Joe) Biden.

According to Mark Friedman, a member of the Hands Off Cuba Committee in Los Angeles and the International Association of Machinists Local 1484, one of the groups that make up the AFL-CIO, the document was approved at the recent convention, which was attended by more than 700 delegates.

The team that worked to pass this resolution, he said, included Tom Brandon, head of the California Machinists Conference, Bill Camp of Building Relations with Cuban Labor, leaders of IAM Local 1484 and activists from the Los Angeles Hands Off Cuba Committee.

This comes on the heels of a similar major initiative approved by the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union Convention, which also donated $10,000 to Global Health Partners' campaign to purchase pacemakers for health facilities in Cuba.

The most recent event was preceded by the California Conference of Operators, which represents some 17,000 workers, who endorsed a similar proposal.

The convention, Friedman added, also reflects "the changes taking place in the U.S. labor movement, with more young people and a diversity that represents many low-wage workers who are now organizing nationwide. A new wave of unionization not seen since the end of World War II (1939-1945) is taking place across the United States, Friedman stressed.

Cuba was first included in the SSOT in 1982, during the administration of Republican Ronald Reagan, until 2015, when then-Democratic President Barack Obama decided to rescind the measure on the grounds that it lacked merit and justification.

However, in January 2021, days before the end of his term, Donald Trump redesignated Cuba to the unilateral list, a provision that reinforces the blockade imposed by the White House against the Caribbean nation more than six decades ago (Source: Prensa Latina).