THE Unison National Delegate Conference has rejected ‘critical engagement’ with the Histadrut, the Zionist trade union, which plays a central role in the Zionist occupation of Palestine. This was despite the fact that the resolution was backed by the NEC of the union and moved by a leading member of the NEC, its president Angela Lynes.
The NEC was seeking to get the union to restore its relations with the Histadrut, after these relations had been suspended when the Histadrut backed the murderous attack by Israeli troops on the Mavi Marmara, and the Freedom Flotilla, during which nine mainly Turkish protesters were murdered.
Recent documents from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and the newly-formed Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) featured in the debate.
The resolution was put to the conference after a union delegation to Palestine last November reported back that both Palestinian trade unionists and Israeli labour rights organisations, whilst highly critical of the Histadrut, thought that Unison should engage with the Israeli union federation.
The conference was however informed, in the discussion on the resolution, that there were strong opponents of the Histadrut within the Palestinian unions, including within the PGFTU, when the Unison delegation made their visit.
In fact the PGFTU had issued a ‘clarification’ which urged ‘all international organisations and trade unions not to use the relationship between the PGFTU and the Histadrut to justify establishing relationships with the Israeli occupation and its institutions that contribute towards strengthening the occupation’.
The BDS was formed after May Day. It includes in its membership the General Union of Palestinian Workers, Federation of Independent Trade Unions (IFU), General Union of Palestinian Women, Union of Palestinian Professional Associations (comprising the professional syndicates of Engineers, Physicians, Pharmacists, Agricultural Engineers, Lawyers, Dentists and Veterinarians), General Union of Palestinian Teachers, General Union of Palestinian Peasants and Co-ops, General Union of Palestinian Writers, Union of Palestinian Farmers, Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE), Union of Public Employees in Palestine-Civil Sector; and all of the trade union blocs that make up the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU).
The PTUC-BDS Statement of Principles deals with the Histadrut as part of the wider issue of ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’. It spells out the Histadrut’s role in perpetuating Israel’s occupation, colonisation and system of racial discrimination.
A PGFTU statement that, ‘It is time all world organisations decided to boycott all Israeli institutions implicated in the occupation and its practices’, clinched the argument, defeating all those who wanted to appease the Zionist land-grabbers.
The conference decision was taken on the eve of a new ten-ship attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza, an attempt that the Israeli government has vowed to halt.
There is now a huge movement of young people throughout Palestine, absolutely determined to found the Palestinian state this year, and to see Jerusalem as its capital, with all refugees returning home.
The successful Unison resolution must now go forward to September’s TUC Congress so that it can become the policy of the entire Labour movement.
There it must be joined by an emergency resolution for a trade union boycott of Israel, and all of its goods and services, to be clamped on until the establishment of the Palestinian state.
With the Palestinian government seeking UN backing for their state this September, this is a vital step to take.
