Bill Balderston
Posted December 8, 2025
On Monday, November 10th, the Alameda County Central Labor Council (ALC) voted unanimously to support the Oakland People’s Arms Embargo (OPAC) campaign. This builds on previous support by the ALC for the overall labor arms embargo position and the county Ethical Investment Policy (See A BDS Victory – And Beyond).
The OPAC coalition started last summer, led by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC) and the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), and joined by over 20 Bay Area partners (including Bay Area Labor for Palestine).
This BDS project is part of a worldwide effort to disrupt the shipment of military material to the Zionist Israeli state, which plays a critical part in the genocide of Palestinians, especially in Gaza. Our brothers and sisters in the Palestinian labor federation made an appeal internationally for workers to prioritize these efforts.
The global campaign has mainly focused on maritime shipping, with dockworkers in Italy and the US taking action against arms shipments to Israel. The International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) have practiced such solidarity since the anti-apartheid movement.
Air traffic now plays an important role in the arms shipping network. Recently, Belgian airport workers refused to handle military equipment destined for the murderous Israeli state.
While the OPAC campaign began outside the organized workers movement, it was clear that airport workers in Oakland and elsewhere must play a critical role in it. PYM had done an exhaustive study of the military cargo to Israel coming from Oakland airport, going out multiple times each week (in the first eight months of 2025, at least 280 arms shipments, including F-35 fighter jet parts, traveled through Oakland International Airport), mainly bomb droppers and targeting systems for Israeli jets and other key components for the Israeli military assault. These shipments are the second-most (after Fort Worth, Texas) of any U.S. airport.
HERE Local 2 (Restaurant workers) and SEIU (Service Employees) Local 1021 brought the resolution before the ALC. Both locals have members at the airport. Many other Bay Area locals supported the resolution, including the University of California UAW locals and my own union, the Oakland Education Association. The longshore workers, ILWU Local 10, though not part of the ALC, were also strong backers.
The campaign is by no means over. Pressure is growing very powerfully on the Port Commission, which administers both the shipping port and the airport, and includes a member from the labor council.
BDS is alive and well in the Bay.
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