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Recent Trade Unions Articles
- Major UK union votes against Trade Union Friends of Israel
- UK academic union’s right to boycott Israel upheld by employment tribunal
- Bloque Nacionalista Galego trade union in Galicia votes to support BDS
- 5 main Unions in Galicia in Spanish state adopt BDS
- Major boycott of Israel victory as PSI congress adopts boycott resolution
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Trade Unions Resources
- The Histadrut – Its History and Role in Occupation, Colonisation and Apartheid
- Briefing: Labor Zionism and the Histadrut
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Trade Unions Statements
- Palestinian trade union movement stands in solidarity with European unions resisting austerity and struggling for social justice
- Palestinian trade union movement salutes National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) London Transport Regional Council for joining Derail Veolia and Alstom Campaign
- Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) formed at historic conference
- Palestinian trade union movement applauds the Scottish Congress of Trade Unions (STUC) for heeding the Palestinian Civil Society Call for BDS and calls on the STUC to sever links with the Histadrut
- PGFTU Reaffirms call for Boycott of Israel
Trade Unions
In commemoration of the first of May – a day of workers struggle and international solidarity – the first Palestinian trade union BDS conference was held in Ramallah on 30 April 2011, organized by almost the entirety of the Palestinian trade union movement, including federations, professional unions, and trade union blocks representing the entire spectrum of Palestinian political parties. The conference hosted the formation of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) as the largest coalition of the Palestinian trade union movement.
All of the major Palestinian trade unions, federations and factions are signatories to the 2005 call for BDS and members of the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
Trade unions have endorsed BDS and organise consumer boycott or divestment campaigns within the labour movement or use their position as large and important civil society organisations to call for sanctions against Israel.
Dockworkers have been especially proactive in their support for Palestinian rights. In the wake of the murderous Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla in summer 2010, and in response to an appeal from the Palestinian trade union movement, the Swedish Dockworkers union blocked more than 500 containers weighing approximately 500 tons during a week-long blockade of exports to Israel and Israeli goods and dockworkers in Oakland, California respected a labour and community picket by refusing to unload an Israeli cargo ship for twenty-four hours. These actions followed those of the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union which pioneered the boycott against Israeli maritime trade in Febuary 2009 by refusing to offload a ship in Durban in protest of Israel’s war of aggression on the Gaza Strip. The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) promoted the “Israeli Apartheid Free Zone” to ensure their municipalities have no commercial, academic, cultural, sporting or other linkages whatsoever with the Israeli regime. Similar campaigns led by trade union activists have sprung across the world including in Ireland and Australia.
Palestinian trade unions have also called for their international colleagues to sever relations with the racist Israeli trade union, the Histadrut. Scores of individual unions and the national congresses of trade unions in Scotland and South Africa have either severed relations or debated doing so.
Statements
Letter of the Palestinian Postal Service Workers’ Union to the South African Communication Workers on the 65th commemoration of the Nakba
Sisters and brothers of South Africa, dear to our hearts, Fraternal greetings from Palestine, We address you today as we commemorate the grim anniversary of our Nakba, our national catastrophe, and as our days continue to be filled with calamities … Continue reading
Statements
Statement of the Palestinian Postal Service Workers’ Union on the occasion of May Day
The Palestinian Postal Service Workers’ Union calls upon all trade unions representing workers in postal services, telecommunications and logistics worldwide to boycott the postal services of the Israeli Occupying Power
News
Bloque Nacionalista Galego trade union in Galicia votes to support BDS
In January 2013, five major trade unions in the Galicia region of the Spanish state announced their support for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Below is an English translation of the statement. In March 2013, the Bloque Nacionalista Galego union also voted to adopt BDS.
Statements
Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) stands in solidarity with UK workers
The Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (PTUC-BDS) stands in solidarity with working families across the UK marching on October 20 against cuts and austerity and for “A Future that Works”
Briefing
The Histadrut – Its History and Role in Occupation, Colonisation and Apartheid
This detailed briefing by Trade Union Friends of Palestine (Ireland) provides an analysis of the role that the Israeli trade union federation the Histadrut has played in the colonisation of Palestine and its continued complicity with Israeli violations of international law.









