Marking the horrifying 3rd anniversary of Israel’s ongoing, livestreamed genocide against our people in Gaza, the Palestinian labor movement salutes the the collective of unions from eight countries representing dockworkers at 40 ports in Europe and the Mediterranean that have announced a day of strikes and protests against war and genocide on October 30th. We call on all unions representing dockworkers, port workers, and other maritime and transportation workers across the world to join and support this mobilisation.
We remind all trade unions globally, whether joining the October 30th mobilizations or not, that we have also called for organising solidarity actions marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, from November 20th – 29th.
This coming October 30th, we the undersigned Palestinian trade unions and federations renew our call to unions around the world to:
- Uphold and defend the inalienable rights of the Indigenous people of Palestine as stipulated in international law, particularly the right of our refugees to return home and receive reparations, and
- Escalate BDS pressure to end all state, corporate and institutional complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide.
Our struggle for justice in Palestine is inseparable from the global struggle against systemic racism, militarisation, exploitation, climate devastation and all forms of oppression.
It is the duty of unions to ensure that the workers they represent—whether in ports, on ships, in businesses, or in government offices—are not involved, often without their knowledge and/or consent, in actions that involve complicity in atrocity crimes anywhere, including Israel’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Indigenous Palestinian people.
The 2024 decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – that Israel is plausibly committing genocide, that its occupation is illegal, and that its policies amount to apartheid – make ending all complicity in Israel’s crimes not only a moral but also a legal obligation. States, institutions (including unions), and corporations must impose targeted, lawful sanctions on Israel.
Intensifying our collective efforts to end Israel’s genocide, we, the undersigned Palestinian trade union bodies, call on port, maritime and transportation workers and unions around the world to escalate their support for our liberation struggle by joining the dockworker unions’ mobilisation on October 30th by:
- Peacefully disrupting and blocking the transfer of military, energy and other dual-use supplies to Israel, including by refusing to handle Israeli or Israel-bound such supplies.
- Supporting the maritime transfer guidelines from the Palestinian BDS National Committee and using them to pressure your governments to comply with them.
- Pressuring your governments to uphold their legal obligations following the ICJ rulings of 2024, as stated by UN human rights experts, by, at a minimum, imposing “a full arms embargo on Israel, halting all arms agreements, imports, exports and transfers, including of dual-use items that could be used against the Palestinian population under occupation,” as well as canceling or suspending “economic relationships, trade agreements and academic relations with Israel that may contribute to its unlawful presence and apartheid regime in the occupied Palestinian territory.”
Signatories:
- Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), Gaza
- Palestinian Federation of Trade Union (PFTU)
- General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW)
- Palestinian Postal workers union -PPSWU
- Federation of Independent Trade Unions
- The Palestinian New Federation of Trade Unions
- Communication it and postal workers coalition -CWU PS
- General Union of Palestinian Women
- General Union of Palestinian Teachers “GUPT”
- Association of Employees of The Financial Sector – Palestine
- Health Services Employees’ Union
- Union of Workers in Kindergartens and Private Schools
- Union of Workers in Local Authorities
- Palestinian Electricians Union
- Southern Electricity Company Employees Union
- Palestinian Painters and Plasters Association
- Union of the Southern Local Authorities