Savvy trade unionists release worker’s field guide to fighting genocide

Grassroots trade unionists have made a guide to help you get genocide out of your workplace using boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). The document is called ‘BDS Action Handbooks for UK Charity Workers‘. Overall, the authors are trying to inform the NGO sector. But it has lessons for everyone.

It’s subtitled ‘A practical guide to building workplace solidarity with Palestine’ and presents various strategies and tactics. Innovative folks from the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) put the new guide together. UK firms often use Israel tech.

Major UK trade unions use genocide services! The Canary exposed how Britain’s biggest trade union Unison was still using genocide-linked providers in September. The providers were openly based in Tel Aviv in some cases.

Boycott, divest and sanction to fight genocide

The guide proposes the established model of Boycott, Investment and Sanction (BDS) to take on your bosses:

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement is a Palestinian-led campaign calling on people and institutions worldwide to withdraw support from companies and institutions complicit in Israeli occupation and genocide.

Israeli firms offer everything from IT to travel and pensions. The guide shows workers aren’t powerless. Workers can:

• Push charities to align their procurement and investment policies with international law and human rights.
• Expose and cut ties with corporations profiting from apartheid.
• Show practical solidarity by increasing the pressure on companies that support the Israeli occupation and genocide to cut ties with Israel.

They suggest building power through unions, workplace policy and, where applicable, Charity Commission rules. And they advise on how to find allies, map power and build solidarity.

Israeli-linked party food is an issue too. The guide encourages workers to:

Ensure no Israeli wines, dates, or fruit are served at charity events.

Deadly finances

The focus of any BDS movement is naturally to identify areas that implicitly support genocide. Financial services can be a major problem area:

Many of the banks that UK charities commonly hold accounts with provide finance for the weapons companies involved in the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine – these include all the major ones, Barclays, NatWest, HSBC, Lloyds and Santander.

But the fossil fuel industry can crop up to:

The same banks that fund arms companies like Elbit Systems are also bankrolling other deadly sectors, such as fossil fuels. This strengthens your case for boycotts.

The guide offers campaigners tips on how to put their pro-Palestinian arguments. For example:

We already avoid sweatshop labour, fossil fuels, and modern slavery. Supporting apartheid must also be excluded.

Worker’s should also consider citing:

UN resolutions, international law, and Palestinian civil society calls.

And there’s also useful advice on how to deal with slippery bosses. Of course employers love to say boycotts are discrimination. You can tell them:

BDS targets institutions and corporations complicit in human rights violations – not individuals.

The guide also includes links and resources to answer any questions you may have. Ultimately, when confronted with workplace complicity it is hard to know where to turn. This latest document will prove very useful in opposing Israel’s genocide

Featured image via the Canary