British trade unions to boycott Israeli goods

[sullivan]

Jerusalem Post, 17 September 2009

Britain's 6.5-million member labor federation, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), has adopted a policy calling for a consumer-led boycott and sanctions campaign against Israel at their annual conference in Liverpool on Thursday.

The TUC policy calls on the British Government to condemn the "Israeli military aggression and the continuing blockade of Gaza" and end arms sales to Israel, which it said reached a value of £18.8 million in 2008.

It also calls for a ban on goods originated from the settlements and an end to the European Union's preferential trading terms with Israel.

"The TUC calls on the British Government to seek EU agreement to impose a ban on the importing of goods produced in the illegal settlements and support moves to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement which provides preferential trade facilities to Israel," read the policy statement.

It came as the TUC's General Council (GC) introduced a "compromise" after the conference passed a motion calling for a complete boycott of Israeli goods and for the TUC to "carry out a review" of its relationship with the Histadrut for not condemning Operation Cast Lead, introduced by the Fire Brigade Union (FBU).

Announcing the compromise, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "The GC has worked hard to come up with a statement which the congress can unite around. That has involved compromise on all sides and I'm grateful to all the colleagues who have contributed. What you have before you sets out principles we can all share, conclusions I hope we can all agree on and actions we can all take."

article continues (anonymised link)

[Mike 117]

This is excellent news people here are finally starting to get with the program, good post

[Milton]

Yes, good news for a change, thanks.