HERE Local #17 supports Mumia

On Tuesday, May 15, the executive board of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, Local #17 passed the attached resolution, modeled after the resolution passed by the California Labor Federation, to support Justice for Mumia, AND to recommend that the International Union pass the same resolution at our General Convention in July.

Resolution for Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal

WHEREAS,  Mumia Abu-Jamal is an outstanding African-American journalist and member of the National Writers Union-UAW who campaigned against police abuses and who, with no previous criminal record, has been on Pennsylvania’s death row since 1981, convicted of shooting a police officer in a trial in which there was compelling evidence of his innocence and of gross misconduct on the part of the police, prosecutor and judge; and

WHEREAS,  his execution was stopped only by massive international protests, yet he still faces imminent execution if Federal District Court Justice William Yohn refuses to hear new evidence or consider the 29 charges of Constitutional violations, even while new witnesses have come forward and new evidence announced by Rubin Hurricane Carter clearly shows perjury and prosecutorial subornation of perjury; and

WHEREAS,  despite his life and death need to put his case before the public, Mumia Abu-Jamal showed courageous solidarity with locked out NABET/CWA workers by his refusal to be interviewed by a scab ABC television crew, helping to bring national attention to NABET’s just struggle and has also championed the ILWU’s bold efforts in solidarity with the Liverpool dockers in regard to the Neptune Jade scab ship; and

WHEREAS,  Mumia Abu-Jamal’s struggle for a new trial is supported by a broad range of Labor organizations which stand up for social justice, city governments, organizations such as the NAACP, Amnesty International, American Friends Service Committee and the European Parliament, and by such well known figures as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King III, Alice Walker, Paul Newman, Maya Angelou, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and many others who seek justice and human rights; and

WHEREAS,  ever increasing numbers of people are being freed from death row because of new evidence of innocence that has brought about public (including political) questioning of the fairness of the death penalty; and

WHEREAS,  should he be executed without a new trial, it would be an affront to all who believe in fairness, and it would be an irreversible, tragic miscarriage of justice and a disgrace to the United States of America as a whole; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that this Forty-Third General Convention of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, AFL-CIO commends Mumia Abu-Jamal for his principled and courageous acts of union solidarity and we continue to take our place alongside those labor organizations who stand up against racism and injustice, demanding justice and a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we call upon Justice Yohn to hear Mumia Abu-Jamal’s new evidence and witnesses, and consider his Constitutional issue and if he refuses, we call upon the Attorney General of the United States to intercede and order a new trial; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we support the LABOR FOR MUMIA Campaign urging the entire Organized Labor Movement to educate and organize our members and to bring Organized Labor’s Power to bear to assure Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union adopts this resolution at it’s General Convention on July 15-19, 2024, and forwards this resolution and encourages its adoption by the national Executive Council of the AFL-CIO.

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