THIS FRIDAY, workers in over 20 Mediterranean ports will take coordinated strike action to oppose the genocidal war waged by Israel to drive Palestinians from their land.
The International Day of Action on February 6th has been called to oppose arms shipments to Israel and the complicity of their governments in Gaza genocide, and demanding an immediate end to weapons transfers.
Italian dock workers will join with fellow workers in a coordinated strike in ports across Italy, Greece, the Basque Country, Morocco and Turkey over the growing militarisation of the key transport infrastructure and the impact of a war economy on workers’ rights and social security systems.
Launching the day of action last week, Francesco Staccioli from the Italian-based grassroots dockworkers union, Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), said: ‘If we don’t take this step, all our other demands will be crushed under war.’
Representatives from USB stated that industrial action against genocide, militarisation of the ports and opposition to US imperialism are inseparable from local labour struggles.
The USB highlighted that European governments have adopted repressive measures against workers taking action in solidarity with the Palestinians.
In particular, the USB cited the case of Italian firefighters who went on strike and demonstrated in solidarity with Palestine only to be hit by reprisals in the form of disciplinary action as an example of the increased use of law to stifle opposition to government complicity with genocide.
This was supported by dock workers from Mersin in Turkey and Piraeus in Greece who also reportedly stressed that the situation is worsening and can only be challenged through coordinated, international resistance.
Trade unionists from Piraeus said that if workers stand together ‘ports can become a barrier to war, not corridors for weapons deliveries.’
The strike initiative follows a declaration signed by several unions in September 2025 in the Italian port of Genoa entitled ‘Dockworkers and port workers do not work for war’ and reaffirms the commitments of these unions to the demand for an end to Israeli genocide carried out with the support of the US, NATO and EU nations.
The port of Genoa is the key Mediterranean shipping hub for Italy and the EU, with 2.74 million containers passing through in 2023.
The dockworkers and trade unions in Italy and the other Mediterranean ports have the power to shut down Europe and deliver a massive blow to imperialist-backed genocide and all the war preparations being made by a world capitalist system desperately seeking to survive through wars at home and abroad.
Workers from German ports, along with trade unionists from Brazil, Palestine, the US and Venezuela have sent messages of support and solidarity to those unions participating in Friday’s international general strike.
Notably the TUC has remained completely silent on this general strike call following its usual refusal to organise anything other than last year’s round of lunchtime meetings to ‘discuss’ Palestine.
At last Saturday’s massive demonstration in support of Palestine in London Andrea Egan, general secretary of Unison, stated that Palestine would be ‘a top priority for the unions,’ insisting: ‘We will not support complicity with genocide.’
Now is the time to force trade union leaders to move from words of support to taking action to end all support for governments that are complicit in genocide.
Italian dockworkers along with their fellow trade unionists across the Mediterranean have shown the way.
The working class has the strength to end Zionist genocide and put an end to imperialist wars by forcing their trade unions to immediately call indefinite general strikes to bring down the governments that are enabling all the war crimes and genocide being committed in Gaza and put an end to all imperialist war preparations by going forward to workers’ governments and socialism.
This requires the building up of the WRP and Young Socialists in the UK and sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in every country to organise the working class to smash capitalism and imperialism through the victory of the World Socialist Revolution.
