Can Black Lives Matter LA dismantle the powerful police unions?

One year after the George Floyd uprisings, Vergara is part of a coalition of activists in LA that has begun targeting the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL), the union that represents officers after they have killed civilians. Organizing with Black Lives Matter LA, the advocates are fighting to eject law enforcement associations from public sector labor groups – in hopes of eventually dismantling police unions altogether. Tensions over police union membership have been simmering for years within the US labor movement, but boiled over last May after Floyd’s murder, which prompted the Minneapolis police union leader to launch an attack on Floyd’s character and call BLM protesters “terrorists”. LA is now home to one of the most organized campaigns against police unions, led by local union members who have lost loved ones to police killings and who are now directly standing up to a sister union within the same labor federation. “LAPPL is not a union. They don’t belong with unions. They take the lives of other union members”, said Vergara, who is part of the LA teachers’ union. “I am a union member and I advocate for my community. They don’t. They advocate for their rights and how they can avoid being held accountable. They advocate for more weapons, more funds, and more jobs for them to control the community.”

Sam Levin in Can Black Lives Matter LA dismantle the powerful police unions? (Guardian)