TUC carries composite 18 on Israel

Does it sever ties with Israeli trade unions?

It is a basically a repeat of last year's motion (boycott of settlement goods) but with a stronger role for the PSC. It does not commit the TUC to striving for a full boycott.

Matt - I don't think so - I am trying to get the text

I'm not surprised that the PSC and TUC make good bed fellows. Both are radical reactionary movements that belong in the Soviet era.

Composite motion C18 Palestine

Congress condemns the Israeli blockades of the Palestinian territories, particularly the Gaza strip where there is a severe and ongoing deterioration in the living conditions of those living there.

The actions of the Israeli military, under the orders of their Government, in mounting a deadly assault on activists on the Mavi Marmara and other ships seeking to take humanitarian aid to Gaza, is particularly condemned.

Congress furthermore condemns the Histadrut statement of 31 May which sought to justify the Israeli action and the failure of the Histadrut to condemn settlement construction. Congress endorses the 3 June 2010 statement of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions, criticising the Histadrut and calling for an immediate end to the military blockade on Gaza and for a full independent inquiry into the attack on the Mavi Marmara.

Congress believes that the effective annexation of massive swathes of land by Israel in defiance of international law, using walls and checkpoints and destroying Palestinian homes in the process, is a deliberate strategy to undermine the viability of the West Bank and thereby the potential for an independent Palestinian state.

Congress calls on the UK Government and the EU to take much stronger political steps to ensure Israel abides by UN resolutions.

Congress instructs the General Council 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.

Congress instructs the General Council to bring to Congress a report on the impact of the boycott and investment withdrawal strategy, together with the outcome of the PGFTU/Histadrut discussions recently facilitated by the ITUC and TUC. Congress agrees to join unions around the world for maximum coordination internationally for active solidarity to end the siege of Gaza and for a free Palestine.

Mover: Transport Salaried Staffs' Association

Seconder: GMB

Supporters: UNISON

Public and Commercial Services Union

Fire Brigades' Union

Minutes and agendas (400 words) issued 13 Sep 2010

http://www.tuc.org.uk/the_tuc/tuc-18472-f0.cfm

@Matt

Lanning, the Chair of the PSC, is also the Deputy Gen Sec of one of the public sector unions:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/about_pcs/about_us/whos_who_at_pcs.cfm

No condemnation the Jordanian government for failure to provide refugees of the 1948 war with basic human rights such as citizenship and voting.

No condemnation of Lebanon for its refusal to allow Palestinian refugees the right to work or vote.

No condemnation of Syria for its awful treatment of Palestinians in its care.

No condemnation of HAMAS for its continued assault on the freedoms of residents of Gaza, such as forcing all school girls including Christians to wear Islamic veils, burning of UNRWA childrens' camps, human trafficking, regular executions and use of torture and continued murders of Israeli civilians, firing rockets at kindergartens, etc.

No condemnation of Iran for its systematic use of rape and torture of political dissidents, executions by stoning, persecution of homosexuals and women.

No condemnation of Yemen for its brutal and deadly attacks against civilians in the north (with Saudi collusion).

No condemnations for anyone in fact... apart from Israel, the one country in the region that shares Western values and actually tries to do better.

Shame on the TUC. Shame on PSC.

Hypocrites and traitors.

Precisely Matt

http://thejc.com/news/uk-news/38114/tuc-vote-extend-israel-boycott

Memo to Brendan Barber: You must be very proud that the TUC is allied to a bunch of hateful street thugs who promote vicious extremists and fund terrorists

http://hurryupharry.org/2010/08/27/the-psc%e2%80%99s-street-thuggery-cam...

The Palestine Solidarity Movement & the far left extremists who attempt to hijack Our Trade Union Movement for their own ends tried to put down a full boycott resolution .

The actual composite motion carried was a compromise position that has fended of a full boycott within the Trade Unions . It was proposed by My Union The GMB & My General Secretary Paul Kenny made a constructive & responsible speech that tried to find a balanced approach for both Palestinian & Israeli Trade Unionists .

Trade Union Friends of Israel held Their fringe meeting at lunchtime today in which the deputy Israeli ambassador & other Trade Unionists spoke and We discussed how Trade Unions could assist the peace process .

TUFI's meeting was in total contrast to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign fringe meeting which was the usual hour long diatribe of people quieing up to jump on the fashionable bandwagon of attacking Israel in completely unreasonable terms .

Street thugs, jonathan? Like the EDL/BNP.

Guess who's back, like a bad smell. He wasn't missed.

We'll see who won't be missed after the britannia hotel zf meeting on October 17. I'm sure your mate the third reiss will greet you with open arms at the home of the undermedicated, jcwatch.

Hooray :)

It is a disgrace that you work for the UJIA. It's as if the late Dr Harold Shipman worked for Help the Aged

What's a disgrace is that someone so obviously self- seeking is perceived as being the voice of israel in the UK. Not for much longer, be'ezrat hashem, come oct 17 at the Britannia hotel hampstead the shanda will cease.

@Ian Sternberg:

Unfortunately I'm afraid that this motion says more about how irrelevant and unrepresentative the once great British trade union movement has become than British attitudes towards Israel. Trade unions need to modernise, democratise and appeal to ordinary more people if they are to survive. Many people view the trade union movement as belligerent, disruptive and anti-consumer.

It's always the weak organisations that get targeted by these self-serving fringe lunatics. The Green Party and the Methodist Church are also prime examples.

"ordinary more people" should read "more ordinary people" - sorry.

SpamSham

While you spit venom from behind the safety of an assumed name, wasting donations to UJIA, others get on with the job.

What job would that be,Jonathan? Helping yourself in a fruitless campaign?

Yawn..

What are the criteria for joining the ZF, I might just keep JH in his job, he makes a great poster boy.

The membership fee is £60. A bargain.

You will need to reveal your real name though, no cowardly hiding behind pseudonyms.

The goals of the BDS movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnpilMYsR0I

I note that the Firemen's Union was one of the supporters of this motion. I wonder if the firefighters manning the the Fire Station on Bury New Road Manchester who were the recipents of the benefice of the Manchester Jewish Community during their strike a few years back also support the motion or whether this Union has also been hijacked by the looney left.

£60? They must have seen you coming. I'll keep my much cheaper pro-Zion membership and we will all be at hampstead's lovely Britannia hotel on oct 17 to have a jolly good laugh. Side splitting stuff.

Oi, adviser, Jews are Jews and israel is israel. Boycotting israel - even Israeli settlements - is stupid and counterproductive, but it's not against Jews qua Jews.

I see acording to you boycotting Jews who are exercising their legal historical and moral right to self determination in their own homeland is not anti-Semitic?

UJIA employees who know who 'telegramsam' is are invited to contact me with the name.

Confidentiality guaranteed.

It's a stupid and counterproductive boycott against Israeli settlements, soon to be a thing of the past, not against Jews qua Jews which would be antisemitic. Doesn't Danny ayalon know the difference?

Let the witch hunt begin.

That's it, no other criteria?

"That's it, no other criteria?"

Jonathan can confirm but I believe the £60 only gets you entry level membership.

To get access to the inner cabal you'll have to demonstrate your ability to control the world media and governments (and of course the notoriously Zionist pro-Israel UN). I believe there are also a number of "tests" such as drinking Christian children's blood, poisoning wells and stealing kidneys.

Good luck!

Can we give the childish insults a rest, please?

http://www.thejc.com/blogpost/the-barons-an-everyday-story-struggle-workers’-rights-merrie-england#comment-11942