Veterans Call on Marine Corps to Cut Ties with the UFC

Recently the New England Joint Board has been very involved in a national campaign to call on the Marine Corps to refrain from using taxpayer money to sponsor the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The UFC has repeatedly tolerated jokes about rape, homophobic slurs, and remarks that are demeaning to women made by a number of its fighters and its president (see www.unfitforthecorps.org for examples). As a union representing a large number of military veterans with numerous factories working on defense industry contracts, we know the true values of the Marine Corps. Marines are trained to embody honor, loyalty, respect, and dignity. These proud values that we know and also cherish as union members are directly contradicted by the behavior tolerated by the UFC.

A number of our member veterans participated in a national day of action in Washington, DC where over 6,000 petitions were delivered to Marine Corps recruiting stations and the ceremonial barracks at 8^th and I. Through these actions we stood in solidarity with our UNITE HERE brothers and sisters in Las Vegas who have been fighting for years to win union recognition at Las Vegas’s Stations Casinos. Stations is owned by the Fertitta brothers who also own the UFC. The Ferittas use much of the money made through the UFC to fight back the attempts by their employees to join UNITE HERE.”

See a press release here (http://unitehere.org/presscenter/release.php?ID=4625)