Our Petition

We, the undersigned UAW Rank and File, call on our union to support the following actions with us:

The normalization of diplomatic relations with our Neighbor Cuba.
A commitment to each other to lobby our congressional representatives to normalize relations with Cuba starting by removing Cuba from the SSOT list and ending the blockade.
Public statements from Shawn Fain, the UAW International Executive Board, and our UAW region directors calling on the US Government to normalize relations with Cuba starting by removing Cuba from the SSOT list and ending the blockade.

On January 11th 2021, Donald Trump spitefully placed Cuba on the SSOT list to subvert President Joe Biden’s foreign policy plans to normalize relations with Cuba. Now Cubans residing abroad are unable to open bank accounts, Cubans within Cuba are unable to purchase humanitarian supplies from abroad, and any non-Cuban doing business with Cubans will have their bank accounts frozen. [1] This has directly caused fuel, medical, and food shortages on the Island. [2] In one example, the US sanctions blocked a purchase of medical supplies and ventilators for Cuba at the height of the pandemic [3], and in another example the island nation was able to develop their own vaccine in spite of the embargo, yet lacked a sufficient amount of syringes that required purchasing abroad. [4] The cruelty being done in our names must end.

The embargo hurts us, too. As Cuba’s closest neighbor, the embargo artificially depresses demand for US goods and services; Cuba would be a willing trade partner and trade creates union jobs. UAW got the big three autoworkers some of the best contracts in the country; now let’s make more union jobs by selling our cars to our neighbors in Cuba. If US workers could access Cuban medicine we would give UAW workers access to a lung cancer vaccine [5], to end mother-to-child transmission of AIDS [6], and maybe have access to Cuban doctors willing to travel to places in need. Obama’s normalization efforts led to the largest increase in scientific collaboration [7]; normalization today will lead to more academic research for UAW scientists. All workers benefit from scientific and cultural exchange.

UAW, of course, already leads the nation in calling for an end to the embargo against Cuba and the lifting of the State Sponsors of Terror (SSOT) sanctions applied against them. [8] We join many academic institutions [9] [10] [11], and other unions, calling on the US Government to normalize relations and to heed the UN’s call for the US Government to lift the blockade. [2]

In Solidarity,

Tim Rupprecht, GENU-UAW
Steven Rizzo, HGSU-UAW
Austin Dragone, UAW Region 8
Eric Logan, UAW Local 2320
S. M., NOLSW-UAW 2320 NLSA
L. M., GENU-UAW
Manuel Ramirez, UCONN GEU-UAW Local 6950
K. S., UCONN GEU-UAW Local 6950
Elizabeth Lee, UAW member
G. W., UAW Local 4811
Alexi Shalom, UAW Local 2325
A. R., UAW member
C. G., GENU-UAW
M. F., UAW Local 2322
Brian Murray, UAW member
Emily Schkeryantz, former Local 1596
X. D., GENU-UAW
Haley Rayburn, former 2110
V. P. B., UAW NLA
Claudia Benincasa, UAW Local 1596
Claire Maguire, UAW Local 2320
Niki Thomas, GENU-UAW
Jennifer Jones, UAW Local 1975 Eastern Michigan University (staff)
Frank Hammer, UAW 909 GM
Ron Lare, UAW Local 600
Richard Blum, Ass’n of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325
Nathan Partlan, GENU-UAW
Vanessa Bartlett, UAW Local 1596
Shubh Agrawal, GENU-UAW
Ericka Sanchez, Former HGSU-UAW, 5118
Julian de Gortari, UAW Local 4811
Martha Grevatt, UAW Local 869
Eric Zimmerer, GENU-UAW
X. L., UAW Local 5810
H. M., GENU-UAW
Luis Sotillo, UAW Local 4811
Sophie Capobianco, UAW Local 4811
Evan MacKay, UAW Local 5118
Kay Ljunggren, HAW-UAW
S. H., UCLA-UAW
Shahinaz Geneid, GENU-UAW
U. N., GENU-UAW
C.B., GENU-UAW
Veronica Rubinsztain, GENU-UAW
D. B., GENU-UAW
Salah Hassan, GENU-UAW
M. B., UAW Local 2320 NOLSW
K. W., GENU-UAW
A. S., GENU-UAW
S. E., GENU-UAW
Zachary Valdez, Columbia University Support Staff, UAW Local 2110
Helen Bolton, Center for Reproductive Rights Union UAW 2110
Brian Allen, UAW Local 7902
Paul Brown, SWC-UAW Local 2710
Lenny Black, ACT-UAW, Local 7902
Jonathan Pankauski, UAW Local 2710
Conlan Olson, Student Workers of Columbia, UAW Local 2710
Sophia Gurulé, UAW Local 2325
Jonathan Larson, Act-UAW local 7902
H. R., SWC-UAW 2710
Margarida Assis, SWC-UAW 2710
Susanna Weber, SWC-UAW Local 2710
Dana Kopel, UAW Local 4811
Charles Gelman, UAW Local 7902
Alex Hastings, UAW Organizing Department
Pepi Ng, ACT-UAW 7902
I. F., UAW Local 7902
Nora Christiani, UAW Local 2325
Jean Bae, NYU CFU-UAW
John King, ACT-UAW Local 7902
Matthew Rohrer, NYU CFU-UAW
G. B., UAW Local 7902
S. I., UAW LSSA 2320
Rebecca Snyder, The New School UAW Local 7902
Elijah Blanton, UAW Local 7902
Noel Sikorski, CFU-UAW
Dan Rourke, UMass Lowell GEO, UAW Local 1596
Cameron Foltz, SWC-UAW, Local 2810
Sophie Collyer, UAW Local 2710
Hanna Anderson, UAW Local 2710
Pooja Patel, UAW Local 2325
Leah Margulies, ALAA-UAW 2325
S. N., UAW Local 2710
Martha Grevatt, UAW Local 869
H. Griese, HGSU-UAW, Local 5118
Joshua Linkous, HGSU-UAW
C. C., HGSU-UAW
Nate Herter, HGSU-UAW
Bailey Plaman, HGSU UAW Local 5118
C.M., HGSU-UAW
Noam Chenzion, UAW 2710
B. H., GEO-UAW
Ava Tomasula y Garcia, Student Workers of Columbia, SWC UAW 2710
P. F., HGSU-UAW 5118
I. M., SWC-UAW 2710
Bryan Fotino, UAW Local 2325
Rayyan Mikati, UAW Local 7902
Anthony Salazar Vazquez, UAW Local 2325
Frances Hogan, UAW Local 7902
Matthew Daunt, NYURU-UAW