The United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW), a National Branch of the Communication Workers Union, passed a motion in solidarity with the Palestinian people, to end all complicity and take concrete action to stop arming Israel. See the text below, and view their social media here.

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Introduction:

i1. Since 7 October 2023, Israel has significantly intensified its attacks on the Palestinian people including by:

i1a. Subjecting 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza to unprecedented bombardment, unleashing settler violence on Palestinians in the West Bank and a mass arrest campaign targeting ’48 Palestinians.

i1b. Levelling entire neighborhoods in Gaza, killing thousands of people – including many children – and injuring many thousands more.

i1c. Demanding that 1.1 million Palestinians evacuate the northern half of Gaza and cut off the little fuel, electricity, water, food and medical supplies from entering into Gaza.

i1d. Distributing more than 10,000 rifles to extremist settlers in ‘48 Palestine and the occupied West Bank to facilitate their escalating attacks and pogroms against Palestinians.

i2. Israel’s actions, massacres, and rhetoric point to its intention to implement its long promised second Nakba, expelling as many Palestinians as possible and creating a ‘New Middle East’ in which Palestinians live in perpetual subjugation.

i3. Palestinian trade unions have issued an appeal and call to action asking their comrades in the international trade union movement to take immediate action to end all forms of complicity with Israel’s crimes.

i4. These war crimes are not the responsibility of Israel alone. The UK government has a special responsibility as a key actor in creating Israel as a settler state in Palestine. To this day the government arms Israel and provides diplomatic cover (which has been echoed recently by the official opposition). This is unacceptable and must end.

i5. Statements from senior Labour figures in support of Israel and equivocation on voicing support for Palestinians have led to dozens of local councillors to resign the Labour Party.

i6. The tech industry is also complicit. Many tech companies have strong financial interests based in Israel, including contracts that actively enable the apartheid regime and the Israeli military. A notable example is Project Nimbus - a cloud computing project for the Israeli military, with contracts worth billions of dollars for Google and Amazon. More than 1000 workers at Google and Amazon have objected to this as part of the No Tech For Apartheid campaign. We commend this action by tech workers and call on all tech companies to cease all contracts with the state of Israel.

We note:

Palestinian Trade Unions have called for their international counterparts and all people of conscience to:

n1. refuse to build weapons destined for Israel

n2. refuse to transport weapons to Israel

n3. pass motions in their trade unions to this effect

n4. take action against complicit companies involved in implementing Israel's brutal illegal siege

We believe:

b1. These latest attacks are a continuation of more than 73 years of Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinian people, including belligerent occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid.

b2. Israel’s actions and escalation are enabled and facilitated by the impunity afforded it by the international community, who provide it with the weapons, machinery and technology to maintain its illegal occupation and to undertake its attacks.

b3. As trade unionists we must always stand on the side of justice, both in word and in deed.

b4. Lobbying our governments and issuing statements must be coupled with trade union action, ensuring that we are practically contributing to Palestinian liberation.

We resolve:

r1. To respond to the call by Palestinian trade unions by:

r1a. Taking immediate and concrete steps to ensure that, as a union, we ourselves are not complicit in supporting and sustaining Israeli oppression, and to call on UTAW members to discuss this motion in their workplace and to refuse to build and handle weapons* destined to Israel and/or support members refusing to transport weapons*.
* or any military technology, including software and cloud services

r1b. Issuing a public statement of solidarity (including by publishing this motion in full on public communication channels) with the Palestinian people, and expressing support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel to bring it in line with its obligations under international law.

r1c. Actioning the UTAW executive committee to send a letter of solidarity to the Palestinian trade unions on behalf of the whole branch.

r2. To call on the UK government to stop arming Israel.

r3. To call on the UK government and all opposition parties to stop excusing or downplaying Israel's war crimes or justifying them as a "right to defend itself".

r4. To support any member facing disciplinary action for comments made in solidarity with Palestinians, or refusal to work on contracts with Israel.

r5. To donate £X to Medical Aid for Palestinians to support humanitarian efforts.

r6. To donate £Y to Palestine Action to support direct action against the companies that produce weapons for Israel.

r7. To submit this motion to the CWU NEC and ask them to make similar decisions for the CWU as a whole, and work with other trade unions and political organisations to which the CWU is affiliated to secure the strongest possible response in line with this motion, including by:

r7a. Mobilising CWU members to attend future mass protests opposing the war on Gaza.

r7b. Raising the inadequacy and complicity of the response by Labour Party (to which the CWU is affiliated) politicians, by contacting LOTO and the Labour Party NEC.

r8. To call on the TUC to organise a mass campaign of solidarity action across all trade unions.

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