Labor for Palestine: Organizing Labor in Support of BDS

The BDS campaign was initiated by Palestinian civil society, including its entire labor movement. It calls for an end to Israeli military occupation and colonization of historic Palestine, the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the land from which they have been ethnically cleansed since the Nakba of 1947-1948, and equal rights for all throughout historic Palestine.

This campaign has been endorsed by numerous labor bodies, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), UNISON (UK), Transport and General Workers’ Union (UK), Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario, six Norwegian trade unions, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Scottish Trades Union Congress, and Intersindical Alternativa de Catallunya (Spain). This workshop will bring together labor organizers in solidarity with Palestine to discuss the role of labor organizing as part of the broader movement in support of BDS. Specifically, it will discuss three demands for labor organizing in the United States: 1) divestment of labor from State of Israel bonds; 2) boycott Israeli goods, and support workers' refusal to handle Israeli cargo; and 3) breaking of ties with the Histadrut (Israeli Federation of Labor, a founding party of the State of Israel and part of the current Israeli government).