Solidarity with Palestine growing among workers unions around world

In an article written on Independent Australia by Davey Heller, writer and pro-Palestinian campaigner, he urges Australian worker unions to join international campaign of solidarity with Palestine.

On 22 May, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and other Palestinian workers organisations put out a joint statement, saying:
 

'This week, Palestinian activists and trade unions held a General Strike across historic Palestine. This is the first strike in recent history to bring together Palestinians no matter where we are located. In order to achieve our liberation, however, we require the solidarity of our comrades and friends in the trade union movement internationally.'

All of them took industrial actions against ZIM’s ships, the Israeli state-owned shipping company and the 10th largest carrier in the world.

According to Heller, "protests against ZIM are spreading to other cities in the U.S. including New York. Workers and the Palestinian solidarity movement in Australia have the opportunity to join this rising working-class movement against the Apartheid Israeli state, as ZIM’s ships profits handsomely from shipping freight to and from the Australian ports of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane."

ZIM runs freight between Chinese ports and Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, as their schedule attests.
 

"In addition to joining the ongoing solidarity protests in the streets, Australian workers and solidarity activists have the opportunity to do something concrete to impact the financial interests of Israel to protest its apartheid policies," he wrote.

"Appeals must be made to the rank and file workers at the dock, represented by the Maritime Union of Australia, to join and respect these pickets, just as their brothers and sister dockworker in Italy and the U.S. have done. Brilliant work has been carried out by many through building large rallies and organising the Palestinian solidarity movement in Australia. But creating a "block the boats" movement in Australia would be a powerful addition."

The first action to occur by workers in response to the recent onslaught on Gaza were dockworkers in the Port of Livorno in Northern Italy. The workers organised in Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), an independent trade union organisation representing workers in the main commercial port of Tuscany in Northern Italy. 
 

They refused to load a ship that they believed might be carrying weapons destined for Israel. The USB workers issued a statement that they no longer intended to load weapons that were destined to kill civilians, in Gaza or elsewhere.

On 18 May, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), issued a statement in calling on dockworkers in Durban to refuse to offload a ZIM ship, in support of the Palestinian struggle. About 100 protestors protested the docking of the ZIM ship on 21 May.
 

A "block the boat" action occurred at the Port of Oakland, New Jersey, on 5 June when hundreds of activists maintained a picket across six gates of the port to picket the unloading of a ZIM ship.
 

When the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 refused to cross the picket line, the ship was successfully turned around and unable to unload. 
 

On 6 June, in a significant escalation of the "block the boats" protests in the U.S., the first such protest was held at the dock in New Jersey when a ZIM ship came to dock.  

A ZIM ship has also been successfully blocked by pickets in Seattle on 12 June and actions are planned in other cities.
 

This movement is spreading through unions and activists creating genuine delays in several ZIM ships unloading and having to seek alternate ports on both the East and West coast that would be imposing a huge financial impost on the company.