Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Urgent Call to Action: Our Unions Must Defend the Right to Abortion

The Rank-and-File Caucus of the Temple Association of University Professionals issued a statement against the Supreme Court’s attack on abortion and for the need for unions to mobilize to protect the right to an abortion in the streets and in our workplaces.

RAFT Temple

June 30, 2022
Facebook Twitter Share

Below is a statement released today from rank-and-file caucus, RAFT (Rank-and-File Temple). RAFT is part of Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP), a local of AFT that represents about 2,000 teachers, librarians, and other academic workers at Temple University. 

The right to an abortion is under a frontal assault from the ruling class’s functionaries — an attack on one of the most important democratic rights we have: the right to bodily autonomy. 

Winning the right to an abortion was a key victory for working class and oppressed people. That’s because the ruling rich will always be able to get an abortion. But it’s workers and the oppressed who are under attack when abortion is banned. 

Statements are important; still, they’re only a step. From here it’s crucial for all unions to build the power to refuse work for abortion rights — to give teeth to the call: “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” 

***

Last week the unelected, anti-democratic Supreme Court took away a basic human right — a right that feminists have fought for for decades, and won: the right to an abortion. This decision clearly contradicts public opinion.  

The right to abortion, and more broadly the right to bodily autonomy, is above all a key right for workers and the oppressed. The ruling rich will always be able to get an abortion. The Supreme Court ruling attacks poor and working people, BIPOC, and the unemployed who will be unable to travel or pay for access to basic reproductive health care or will be disproportionately targeted by law enforcement.

RAFT denounces the Court’s horrific, reactionary decision in no uncertain terms. Abortion is necessary healthcare; it is a key human right, and above all, a right essential to workers and the oppressed. Working class and oppressed people must be able to make decisions about their bodies and their lives. Bodily autonomy is at the heart of labor rights!

We know the Court won’t stop there. Justice Thomas made it clear the Court should reconsider the rights to gay marriage and contraception. 

Now is the time to fight. But we already know the battle can’t be won by voting. Democrats had fifty years to enshrine Roe v. Wade into federal law. They refused. Waiting to vote is accepting defeat. The Supreme Court made this clear by gutting the Voting Rights Act before moving down this path. 

No one is coming to save us. Only a major show of power from the bottom up — disruption in the streets and in our workplaces — can hope to turn the tide. We need to protect the right to an abortion. The antidemocratic Supreme Court has declared a war on anyone who can bear children.

RAFT demands that our union, TAUP (AFT 4531), AFT, and the AFL-CIO mobilize all of our union siblings to the streets and to struggle in our workplaces. No one ever won a right by playing by the rules. Now is the time for our national union and federation to demand: “Safe, free, universal access to abortions!” And now is the time to win that demand by disruptive action, in the streets and in the workplace!

Facebook Twitter Share

Labor Movement

“Our Big Push Was for Union Democracy and a Plan to Win”: An Interview with the Amazon Labour Union Democratic Reform Caucus

Two years after the historic victory at JFK8, Amazon workers voted in a referendum in their union. They want to hold new elections and revise the constitution, as part of a struggle to make ALU more democratic and militant. Left Voice spoke with two organizers to discuss the struggle in ALU.

Luigi Morris

March 20, 2024
A banner reads "Real Wages Or We Strike" at a rally for CUNY, which is experiencing cuts from Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul.

CUNY Faculty and Staff Have Gone One Year Without a Contract — It’s Time to Strike

CUNY workers have been without a new contract for a full year and the university has yet to make any economic offers. It's time to take action.

Olivia Wood

February 29, 2024
Florida governor Ron DeSantis stands at a podium that reds "Higher Education Reform"

U.S. Higher Education Is Being Gutted, but We Can Fight Back

Across the United States, higher education is being gutted through program eliminations and budget cuts. We must prepare to fight these attacks with everything we have.

Olivia Wood

February 28, 2024
CUNY workers at a demonstration hold a banner that reads "STRIKE TO SAVE CUNY."

CUNY Workers Launch New Strike Campaign

As Governor Hochul proposes another $528 million in cuts, workers at the City University of New York are fighting back.

Olivia Wood

February 12, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024