On behalf of its almost 2.3 million members, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in California “strongly urged the executive board” of the union center to oppose this arbitrary designation of Cuba.

It was also agreed that “the executive board of the national AFL-CIO send a copy of the resolution to President (of the United States) Joe Biden.”

The document was endorsed at the recent Convention, which saw the participation of more than 700 delegates, 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 team that worked to pass this resolution, included Tom Brandon, leader 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, Friedman said.

The Convention also reflected “the changes taking place within the US labor movement, with greater numbers of young people and diversity representing many lower-paid workers now organizing across the state.” Friedman stressed that a new wave of unionization, not seen since the end of World War II is taking place across the United States.

This comes after the International Union of Longshoremen and Warehousemena’s similar important initiative approved by the convention, which donated $10,000 to the Global Health Partners campaign to purchase pacemakers for health institutions in Cuba.

The recent event was preceded by the California Machinists’ Conference, which represents some 17,000 employees, who endorsed a similar proposal.

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