“As the genocide in Gaza continues, and attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank escalate, we must turn solidarity into winning workplace campaigns.”
Ahead of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s “Workers organising for Palestine” trade union conference on Saturday 14 November, Martial Kurtz calls for workplace solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Workers all around the world have taken up the call to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Thousands continue to march in the streets while trade unionists are organising in their workplaces. This year TUC voted for the very first time to support the Palestinian-led movement for boycott divestment and sanctions (BDS) to help to bring an end to Israel’s genocide and apartheid.
It is now 3 years since the start of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and its ethnic cleansing, annexation, settler violence and pogroms in the West Bank are accelerating. Israel’s livestreamed genocide, coupled with the wars and threats of aggression by its imperialist partners in Washington, is undermining international law and threatening humanity at large. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Palestinian trade unions and the BDS movement have called for workers to further escalate their solidarity actions leading up to the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Sunday 29 November.
On Saturday 14 November, PSC is holding its annual Trade Union conference: Workers Organising for Palestine – where reps and activists can network and plan to build BDS campaigns in their workplaces and trade unions.
The conference will include skills and information workshop sessions designed to empower every worker, trade union member and organiser to step up their activities. It will also feature international guest speakers and key trade union representatives and activists, including:
Jamal Juma, executive committee member of the New Unions in Palestine and a secretariat member of the BDS National Committee (BNC), Hameda Deedat, South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), Sarah Kilpatrick, Deputy General Secretary NEU, Zita Holbourne FRSA, Co-Chair Artists’ Union England, Aimee Shalan, Director Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Micaela Tracey-Ramos, UNISON Vice President, Dooley Harte, Pensions Official at UCU and Vice Chair of the ICTU Global Solidarity Committee; and more.
A key goal of the conference will be preparing for the next Workplace Day of Action for Palestine on Thursday 26 November, when thousands of workers and students around the world will be launching workplace campaigns for BDS and taking action to end their government’s complicity with Israel’s crimes.
From local government pension fund investments and corporate contracts to cultural partnerships and suppression of Palestine solidarity, British institutions are tied to and support systems which enable Israel’s genocide and system of apartheid against the Palestinian people.
Workplace days of action are a way for us as workers to launch campaigns to confront their complicity, to demand boycott, divestment and sanctions.
As the genocide in Gaza continues, and attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank escalate, we must turn solidarity into winning workplace campaigns.
- The PSC Trade Union conference: Workers Organising for Palestine will take place on Saturday 14 November in London. You can sign up for it here.
- The Workplace Day of Action for Palestine will take place on Thursday 26th November around the country. You can register for it here.
- Martial Kurtz is a campaigns officer for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. You can follow the PSC on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and Bluesky.
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