We publish here an open letter from the Rank and File Trade Unionists for Divestment campaign, which makes proposals for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s 19 October trade union conference to be a decision-making and organising forum, not a rally. If you agree, ask your PSC group or trade union branch to endorse it.
Dear Comrades,
We are group of rank-and-file trade unionists involved in coordinating campaigns for LGPS divestment from Israel on a London-wide basis. Many of us have also taken part in sustained protest actions against the arms manufacturer BAE Systems.
We fully support the Trade Union Conference PSC has called for 19 October. As we argue in all of our literature, it is the working class organised in the trade unions that is uniquely positioned to provide concrete solidarity with Palestine. It is the labour movement whose actions can prevent the manufacture and transportation of armaments. It is the labour movement that can impose workers’ sanctions on Israel or which is able to force public institutions to divest themselves of their complicit investments so that Israel is isolated and weakened economically.
Tragically, the power of the trade unions has been largely absent from the solidarity movement. In Britain there have been no strikes in solidarity with Palestine; none of the national unions, despite their formal policies, have led campaigns in support of BDS; and the Appeal of the Palestinian trade unionists issued last October has been scandalously ignored by the relevant unions such as Unite. We are eleven months into a genocide and this state off affairs must change! The trade unions must become vehicles for militant internationalism, prepared to take action, including strike action, in support of their Palestinian brothers and sisters.
If the October Conference is to contribute to this change, it must be a genuine working conference. What is not needed is a repeat of the recent Divestment Conference in which attendees were talked at by a series of platform speakers over several hours. Only questions, rather than developed contributions, were allowed from the floor, devaluing the rich experiences and creativity of those present. The conference ended with no decisions about future actions having been made. By contrast, we think that the aim of October’s conference should be to debate and to decide on policy proposals for future solidarity actions, policies that activists can then take into their specific trade unions. Concretely, we propose that:
There is a severe limitation on platform speakers. It is vitally important to hear from Palestinian trade unionists. This does not, however, apply to the leaders of the UK trade unions, most of whom have done little to provide concrete solidarity with Palestine over the last 11 months. The emphasis of the conference should be on openness, participation and democracy, encouraging as many contributions as possible from those attending.
It should be a resolution-taking conference, allowing comrades to both propose specific solidarity actions and to argue for their view of the direction the movement should take. A show of hands at the conference will determine whether a proposal has been accepted.
Trade Unions Building Solidarity with Palestine
Saturday 19 October, 10am–4:30pm
Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London
WC1H 9BB
