Saturday, June 08, 2013

Warsaw Ghetto Watch: Britain’s Largest Trade Unions To Ban Members From Visiting Israel


Don't stop to help. We've got a Union Meeting to get to.

From the Jerusalem Post:

One of the UK’s largest trade unions is to ban its members from visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories on delegations organized by the Trade Union Friends of Israel (TUFI), a London-based organization supporting cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian workers. 
The GMB, which has over 617,000 members from an array of sectors, voted on Thursday at its annual conference in Plymouth to uphold a 2011 decision to “take a lead in driving forward the boycott and divestment initiatives of “companies who profit from illegal settlements, the occupation and the construction of the wall.” 
Last week, after the motion was moved and seconded by far-left anti-Israel activists, the union noted that “a major priority” of TUFI is to fight the boycott [of Israel] which they said “campaigns against the policy of this union.” 
Hence it determined that GMB members be banned from participating in TUFI sponsored visits to Israel or from speaking to TUFI platforms. 
The union also reaffirmed that it “unashamedly” is affiliated to the radical fringe group Palestine Solidarity Campaign. 
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Friday, a spokesman for the union – which is one of the three largest affiliates to the Labor Party – confirmed its position saying it did not want to be associated with an organization that fights the boycott call. 
“This is a freedom of association issue. The Congress does not want the union to be associated with an organization fighting a boycott of trade with illegal settlements in occupied territories. Their decision is binding on the union as an organization.”

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