UK unions to step up Israel boycott

British trade unions are meeting next week to step up their support for the international Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.“This conference will promote discussion on how we take the campaign on the boycott of complicit firms forward,” the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said. The conference at the TUC headquarters in London on October 29 includes keynote speakers from Palestine and trade unions, alongside practical workshops to develop the work and increase solidarity nationally, regionally and locally. At the annual TUC Congress in September, British unions expressed overwhelming support for Palestinian rights, freedom and justice. The General Council was instructed “to work closely with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign to actively encourage affiliates, employers and pension funds to disinvest from, and boycott the goods of, companies who profit from illegal settlements, the occupation and the construction of the Wall”. In an amendment, unions also voted overwhelmingly to review links with all Israeli organisations, including with Histadrut, Israel’s racist trade union. Britain’s trade union movement supported sanctions during struggle against apartheid in South Africa and last year for the first time since endorsed the BDS campaign against Israel and its racist policies.