“Workers in Palestine” is composed of 18 unions and professional associations. Their call received unprecedented support from worker-led action groups in multiple countries including Italy, India, Canada, Belgium, Spain, USA, UK, France and Australia.
On November 30, 2023, port workers from 12 European countries affiliated with the European Dockworkers Council (EDC) organized “a day of action” during which all arms shipments to Israel were blocked https://www.workersinpalestine.org/news/european-dockworkers-council-issue-declaration
“Workers in Palestine” calls on all solidarity movements to identify the companies that profit from the destruction of the Palestinian people politically, through pension fund investments for example, or through the manufacture of weapons used to destroy that people, all this being part of global capitalism’s attempt to gag the masses in each country.
The political leaders of the major capitalist countries take the side of Israel and want to impose silence on their populations who support the Palestinians. These leaders are involved with the large multinational arms companies employed in killing the Palestinians. They are the same leaders who prepare war against all the peoples of the world, in hope of protecting world capitalist hegemony.
The Posadists joins in the workers’ initiatives that are answering the call of the Palestinian Unions. We salute the tenacity of the Palestinian peoples whose daily resistance – despite the torture to which they are subjected – educates and invites the international working class to unite against the stinking rot of capitalism and its preparations for global war.
Thanks to the heroic resistance of the Palestinians and their allies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and in every country in the world, an International United Front is being formed on a proletarian basis – essential condition for its triumph as a class against the global capitalist regime.
We publish below the appeal launched by the Palestinian Trade Unions. We publish also the news, as we know them, of the mobilizations around the world in answer to the call of the Palestinian Trade Unions.
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PALESTINIAN TRADE UNIONS’ APPEAL 16.10.23
Palestinian unions are issuing an urgent global call to action. They ask the workers around the world to stop the trade and financing of arms to Israel, and all related military research.
Israel’s decisions, massacres and rhetoric show that it intends to carry out the second Nakba it has long promised, expelling as many Palestinians as possible and creating a “new Middle East” in which the surviving Palestinians will live under perpetual yoke. In response, Western states have demonstrated complete and total support for the State of Israel, without any regard for international law. This has amplified Israel’s sense of impunity and given it carte blanche to wage unlimited genocidal war. On top of diplomatic support, the Western states supply arms to Israel and fuel the activities of Israeli arms companies within their borders.
As Israel intensifies its military campaign, Palestinian Trade Unions call on their counterparts internationally, and on everyone with a conscience, to help end all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes. The need is urgent to stop the trade of weapons with Israel, as well as any funding and military research. The time to act is now – Palestinian lives are at stake.
The situation is urgent: only a massive increase in demonstrations of global solidarity with the people of Palestine can stop the Israeli war machine and end the genocide. We need you to act immediately – wherever you are in the world – to prevent the arming of the Israeli state and prevent corporations from assisting the blockade infrastructure [of Gaza].
We call on Unions in the sectors concerned to refuse to manufacture weapons for Israel and to refuse to transport weapons to Israel. We call for motions to this effect to be adopted within their Trade Unions.
We call for action against complicit companies involved in implementing the brutal and illegal siege [of Gaza] by Israel, particularly if they have contracts with your institution.
We call for pressure on governments to stop all military trade with Israel and, in the case of the United States, to stop financing Israel.
We launch this appeal as we see increasing efforts being made to prohibit and limit the expression of any form of solidarity with the Palestinian people. We ask you to speak up, and to take action to denounce injustice, as Unions have always done throughout history.
We launch this appeal from conviction that the struggle for justice and liberation of Palestine is not only a particular regional or global struggle. It is a lever of liberation for all the dispossessed and exploited peoples of the world.
Signed by:
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in Gaza (including the General Union of Utilities and Commerce Workers + General Union of Municipal Workers + General Union of Kindergarten Workers + General Union of Petrochemical Workers + General Union of Agricultural Workers + Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees + General Union of Media and Print Workers.
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) (including the Palestinian General Union of Teachers + General Union of Palestinian Women + General Union of Palestinian Engineers + Association of Palestinian Accountants)
Federation of professional associations (including: Palestinian Dental Association – Jerusalem Center + Palestinian Pharmacists Association – Jerusalem Center + Medical Association – Jerusalem Center + Association of Engineers – Jerusalem Center + Association of Agricultural Engineers – Jerusalem Center + Veterinarians Union – Jerusalem Center + Palestinian Journalists Union + Palestinian Bar Association + Palestinian Association of Nurses and Midwives + Kindergarten Workers’ Union + Palestinian Postal Service Workers’ Union) + Federation of Palestinian University Teachers’ and Employees’ Unions General Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Palestine + The New Federation of Palestine Trade Unions + General Union of Palestinian Writers + Palestinian Entrepreneurs Union + Federation of Health Professionals Unions + Palestinian Union of Psychologists and Social Workers.
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NEWS OF WORKERS’ MOBILIZATIONS IN SUPPORT OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE
On November 9 and 10, 2023, as well as December 7, 2023, factories and arms deliveries were disrupted across six countries, as part of the journées d’action internationales against the export of arms to Israel, initiated by Palestinian unions.
Recent Trade unionist-led blockades at factories and ports in eighteen cities in Canada, the United States, Italy, Spain and Australia have put a spotlight on the urgent need to end the transport of the weapons that perpetuate the crimes of Israel’s war. The days of action initiated by the coalition of the Workers in Palestine Unions come as international pressure intensifies over Israel’s war crimes, its use of illegal weapons and its violations of the Genocide Convention.
Canada
§ Hundreds of indigenous people and activists closed four arms factories that trade with Israel – Hundreds of workers and citizens closed L3Harris sites in Hamilton, Toronto & Montreal, and Lockheed Martin in Ottawa: https://x.com/palestinelabour/status/1722988783375700396?s=46
§ Activists and supporters sealed off the entrances to GeoSpectrum in Dartmouth N. GeoSpectrum is a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, a leading arms supplier to Israel. https://x.com/palestinelabour/status/1722634676911603789s=46 / https://x.com/palestinelabour/status/1722634676911603789?s=46
§ Actions also targeted the offices of ZIM shipping in Vancouver and Boeing in Winnipeg.
§ December 11, 2023, in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, occupation of the premises of the ZIM Company
United Kingdom
War on Want, 2024.
§ More than 400 trade unionists blocked the entrance to the BAE System factory in Rochester, United Kingdom. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-67378052.amp
§ A thousand people demonstrated outside the Department of Health and Social Services in the United Kingdom, calling for an end to military training with Israel and an immediate ceasefire. https://x.com/clarehymer/status/1722685302941139167?s=46
§ Activists hung a banner on the Scottish Parliament reading: “Stop arming Israel”
§ On December 7, 2023, 1,000 British trade unionists blocked factories supplying weapons to Israel (components for F-35 bomber aircraft included) in Bournemouth, Lancashire, Brighton, Glasgow.
Italy
§ On November 7, 2023, blockade of the port of Salerno and the ZIM Company by Italian workers
§ Dock workers at the port of Genoa blocked the entrance to the port and demonstrated in front of the ZIM offices on November 10, 2023. https://contropiano.org/news/politica-news/2023/11/10/genova-porto-bloccato-contro-lattracco-di-una-nave-israeliana-0166217
§ In the port of Naples workers blocked arms exports to Israel
§ https://znetwork.org/fr/znetarticle/les-syndicats-bloquent-les-exportations-d’armes-vers-Israël/
Australia
§Trade unionists prevented the loading of a delivery from the ZIM company in Narrm/Melbourne https://www.instagram.com/reel/Czbly4xuJTc/?igshid=MTN5ZjJ4cWQwNWR0bA==
§ Workers disrupted Israeli delivery of ZIM into Sydney Harbour, including using jet skis https://twitter.com/packetofchips/status/1723196446881841507?s=46&t=1XCSUq1Ga1Wqklu7mX1B9Q
United States
§ Trade Unionists and activists demonstrated in front of Raytheon offices in Goleta, California. https://x.com/marcywinograd/status/1722741188170854791?s=46
§ Union workers and protesters shut down the Colt weapons manufacturing facility in West Hartford, Connecticut, which supplies weapons for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. https://x.com/proucomplicitat/status/1722727173558050855?s=46
Spain
§ Workers at Airbus, Getafe, Spain, demonstrated inside the factory with a banner saying “Airbus workers stand in solidarity with Palestine, no to arms sales to Israel.” https://x.com/cgtzonasur/status/1722210731091992604?s=46
§ Trade unionists and activists demonstrated in front of the Israel Chemical Limited (ICL) mine. ICL supplies Monsanto (now Bayer) with phosphate for the production of white phosphorus then sold to Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA) which assembles. https://x.com/proucomplicitat/status/1722727173558050855?s=46
§ Unions representing all workers at the port of Barcelona signed an answer to the Palestinian unions’ appeal. They declared their opposition to weapons transport to Israel and demanded an immediate ceasefire. https://x.com/ustp_portdebcn/status/1722575572981739845?s=46
Malaysia
§ The maritime transport of the ZIM Company was prevented from docking in ports
Tunisia
§ Workers boycotted the ZIM Company
India
§ 12 union federations representing 100 million members oppose proposals to send 100,000 Indian construction workers to Israel, to replace Palestinian workers whose jobs Netanyahu’s government has eliminated.
Indian Trade Unions stand with Palestine. They reject any ‘export deal’ to replace Palestinian workers in Israel.
India’s Central Trade Union Organizations, representing approximately 100 million workers, have strongly condemned reported talks between New Delhi and Israel that could see the “export” of up to 100,000 Indian workers to replace Palestinian workers. Source: Peoples Dispatch.
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PALESTINIAN RESPONSES TO DAYS OF ACTION
Kayed Awad, general secretary of the Palestinian Transport union said: “We salute the dockers in Barcelona, and those in Genoa, as well as the transport workers in Belgium for refusing to transport and handle weapons destined to commit war crimes in Gaza. We salute them for calling on all unions campaigning for freedom and justice to do the same. Unions have the power to influence and prevent the arms trade and war crimes being committed in Gaza. Long live the working class!”
Samira A.A. Hasanain, member of the General Union of Public Service Workers – Gaza (GUPSWT) and board member of the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) – said:
“Palestinian workers are on the front lines in Gaza, saving lives and caring for communities amid incessant Israeli bombings and war crimes. We continue our duty and warmly salute those who act and work tirelessly to prevent the arms trade with Israel.”
Nadia Habash, President of the Palestine Engineers Association, said: “The Palestinian unions thank everyone who participated in the Days of Action on November 9 and 10 to end arms sales to Israel. Every group that blocks a weapons’ factory or prevents a weapons’ delivery saves lives.”
A striker from L3Harris Waterdown, Canada, said: “We are acting in solidarity with the Palestinian people here and abroad, but also, more broadly, against colonialism. We are acting in support of the indigenous people of Turtle Island”.
For more information about Workers in Palestine, follow on social media, website or contact: – www.workersinpalestine.org
Posadists Today, 30.1.2024 – Upgraded 16 Feb 2024
Feature image: British workers block the arms factory BAE Systems at Rochester, 7 December 2023. Below is an upgrade.
Demonstration at Bristol Rail Station on 15 Feb 2015 protests Israel's storming of the Nasser Hospital in Rafa
Update: Hastings, 6 March 2024:
1.3.2024 -The protest started at 7am at the Sidney Little Road factory, one of the two General Dynamics sites in Hastings, timed to coincide with workers as they arrived for work. Demonstrators held placards, sung songs for ‘Ceasefire Now’ and handed out leaflets which informed workers of their right to refuse to take part in handling components used in breach of international law.
