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Arab American leaders urge Michigan to vote “uncommitted” and send message to Biden about Israel policy
Michigan community leaders are encouraging voters to select “uncommitted” in the Michigan primary elections, hoping to send a message to President Biden before November that they’re unhappy with U.S. support for Israel in the conflict with Gaza.
“The main push is Joe Biden’s stance on the conflict taking place between Israel and Gaza,” said Hussein Dabajeh, one of the organizers of the “Vote Uncommitted” movement.
“That’s not who we voted into office. That’s not who we helped elect,” said Dabajeh. “That’s not who over 150,000 Arab and Muslim voters in the state of Michigan voted for.”
In Michigan, Democratic and Republican presidential primary ballots alike offer voters the choice of selecting a candidate or “uncommitted.” A vote of “uncommitted,” according to the Michigan secretary of state, “indicates the voter is exercising a vote for that political party, but is not committed to any of the candidates listed on the ballot.” And, if there are enough “uncommitted” votes, the party “may send delegates to the national nominating convention who are not committed to a specific candidate.”
Michigan is a critical swing state, one that Mr. Biden won by a thin margin of about 154,000 votes in 2020, but that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 to Donald Trump, who appears likely to be the GOP presidential nominee this year. It’s home to a large community of Arab and Muslim Americans, 146,000 of whom voted for Mr. Biden in 2020, and many of whom disagree with Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
Organizers think that if the Vote Uncommitted movement in Michigan can convince tens of thousands of voters to vote uncommitted, it may help force Mr. Biden to reassess his backing of Israel in its war with Hamas. The Israeli military has cut off or restricted the flow of supplies and aid to civilians in Gaza as it continues to carry out military operations. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says that over 25,000 have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war.
The Vote Uncommitted movement in Michigan is similar to efforts to coax New Hampshire primary voters to write in “ceasefire” on their ballots. In last month’s primary, “ceasefire” received about 1.2% or 1,512 of Democratic primary votes. However, New Hampshire has a much smaller population than Michigan and a different demographic profile.
Earlier this month, Biden sent campaign manager Julie Chavez-Rodriguez to Michigan to meet with Arab American community leaders. They refused to meet with her.
“The lives of Palestinians are not measured in poll numbers,” Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, said on X. “When elected officials view the atrocities in Gaza only as an electoral problem, they reduce our indescribable pain into a political calculation.” In another post to X, Hammoud stated that one Dearborn resident has so far lost 80 family members in Gaza.
Vote Uncommitted is encouraging voters unhappy with Mr. Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war to vote uncommitted, no matter their party affiliation or background. The campaign describes itself as a “multiracial and multifaith anti-war campaign” in Michigan.
“This is not an endorsement of Trump or a desire to see him return to power,” the campaign states. “We are sending the warning sign to President Biden and the Democratic Party now in February, before it’s too late in November.”
A similar push occurred in 2008 when Michigan Democratic primary voters unhappy that Barack Obama was not on the ballot voted “uncommitted,” rather than for Hillary Clinton. Because Michigan defied the Democratic National Committee’s national calendar and held its primary out of order, the DNC sanctioned the state for holding its primary out of order. As a result, Obama withdrew his name from the Michigan primary ballot. That year, nearly 240,000 Michiganders voted “uncommitted.”
The state’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, recently acknowledged on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that there is “a lot of angst” around the Israel-Hamas war and “a lot of personal pain.”
“These are legitimate and raw feelings that people have, and they’re entitled to their opinions,” said Whitmer.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce giant for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized walkouts in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect any impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
Amazon is ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest companies.
At a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City, Atlanta and the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join” them, the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, aren’t its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party businesses, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.“
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
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