Date
12/11/2022
9:45 am - 5:15 pm
Palestine Solidarity Campaign Conference:
Trade Union Solidarity with Palestinian Workers
Saturday 12 November 2022 in Central London
This day conference is for trade unionists who want to further their solidarity work with Palestinians living and working under occupation and apartheid.
Supported by:
ASLEF, AUE, BFAWU, CWU, FBU, NEU, PCS, RMT, Thompsons Solicitors, TSSA, UCU, UNISON, Unite the Union.
Speakers will include:
Samia Al-Botmeh, Assistant professor in economics and researcher at the Centre for Development Studies at Birzeit University in Palestine
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary NEU
Riya Al’Sanah, PhD candidate at the University of Exeter, and co-authored the Working Palestine: Covid-19, Labour, and Trade Unions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip report along with Dr. Rafeef Ziadah and Professor Adam Hanieh.
Jo Grady, General Secretary UCU
Kamel Hawwash, Chair Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Mariela Kohon, Senior International Officer TUC
Amerit Rait, Vice-President UNISON
Sarona Bedwan, Outreach and Programme Manager MAKAN
Ben Jamal, Director Palestine Solidarity Campaign
The collective rights of the Palestinian people are under unprecedented assault, and they need our support now more than ever. The trade union movement is a crucial part of building meaningful and lasting solidarity with the Palestinian people, including BDS campaigns to end UK institutional and corporate complicity with Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.
Palestinian workers are forced into precarious, low paid and dangerous work, due to the crippling effect of Israel’s military occupation and apartheid system on the Palestinian economy, amid crippling unemployment. This is particularly the case when Palestinian workers are finding employment in Israeli illegal settlements, or in Israel, where they are rewarded with poor working conditions and low wages, made worse by hazardous journeys, which include harassment and delays at Israeli checkpoints. The same systems makes trade union organising extremely difficult, with very little legal recourse or opportunities to struggle for worker’s rights.
The conference will feature specialist speakers from Palestine and the UK, including trade union activists, who will present on the situation of Palestinian workers under occupation, the role for trade unions in building support for Palestinian freedom and self-determination, and concrete campaigns for trade unionists in solidarity with the Palestinian anti-apartheid movement.
A series of seminars will be offering detailed sessions on key topics, including on how to organise for Palestinian rights in your union, an in-depth discussion of Israel’s apartheid system, and what the next Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaigns are.
PLEASE NOTE REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED. PLEASE CONTACT US FOR ANY ENQUIRIES: Martial.Kurtz@palestinecampaign.org
