U.S. UNION LEADERS HIT BRITISH
UNION’S BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL

U.S. union presidents, led by Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers President Stuart Appelbaum and AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney, are criticizing an 800,000-member British union’s decision to boycott Israel.

In a letter to the Transport & General Workers Federation, the U.S. leaders said “the (boycott) resolutions have no purpose other than demonizing Israel,” said Appelbaum, president of the Jewish Labor Committee. The JLC is also soliciting support for a statement by U.S. unions opposing boycotts. The letter called boycotts “simplistic and non-constructive approaches” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A search of the British union’s website produced no information about the boycott, which Appelbaum said was instituted by “protesters of the treatment of the Palestinian people.” But Jewish and Palestinian publications in Britain provided the details.

A pro-Palestinian publication quoted the boycot resolution: “This (T&GWU) conference deplores the actions of the Israeli government in its treatment and attitude towards the Palestinian people in failing to recognise their legitimate aspiration of a Palestinian state. We therefore call upon conference to support a boycott of Israeli products and goods and call upon the (British) government to take a stronger stance in support of the Palestinian people.” It said the T&GWU should lobby the government on the issue.

Backers of the boycott, which T&GWU approved July 4 at its conference in Brighton, said it was aimed at Israel, but was not anti-Semitic, The Jewish Chronicle reported.

T&GWU Deputy General Secretary Barry Camfield said Britain had liberated Holocaust victims, “so we will not have the Israeli state telling us the boycott is anti-Semitic. Members should examine their purchases so as not to buy Israeli goods.” Added boycott backer Brid Smith: “We are refusing to buy Israeli products, not Jewish products. There are many Jews, some of them in Israel, who agree with us. It is spurious to say this [boycott] can be turned against the Jewish people.”

A similar boycott, imposed by a British union of university professors earlier this year, drew blasts from the American Federation of Teachers, whose president, Ed McElroy, also signed the letter to the Transport and General Workers.

The U.S. unionists, in their letter to the British union, had a very different view of the boycott. “Resolutions calling for boycotts of Israel undermine the goal of winning a lasting peace in the Middle East. It’s obvious the motivation behind these one-sided boycotts is less an authentic concern for human rights than it is a desire to bash Israel,” Appelbaum said.

“We view with increasing concern the phenomenon of trade unions in a number of countries, including, most recently, the United Kingdom, issuing resolutions that either directly or indirectly call for divestment from and boycotts of Israel. With the large number of local, regional and international conflicts, with the diverse range of oppressive regimes around the world about which there is almost universal silence, we have to question the motives of these resolutions that single out one country in one conflict,” the U.S. unionists wrote.

“Virtually all of these resolutions focus solely on objections to actions or policies of the Israeli government, and never on actions or policies of Palestinian or other Arab governments, parties or movements. We notice with increasing concern that characterization of the Palestinians as victims and Israel as victimizer is a staple of such resolutions.

There are victims and victimizers on all sides, and many if not most of the victims of violence and repression on all sides are civilians,” the U.S. unionists noted.

“Any just and fair resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be brought about through meaningful negotiations between their elected representatives. We believe strongly in a two-state solution, through meaningful negotiations, with the involvement and encouragement of the world community….Trade unionists and their organizations seeking such a just and fair resolution should be assisting those working to bring the two sides together in direct talks and then negotiations,” they added.

The U.S. unionists asked their colleagues worldwide to increase engagement with Israeli and Palestinian unions to try to end the conflict. They noted the Israeli and Palestinian unions maintained contact and cooperation “even in the midst of tumult and political change within their respective communities.”

Besides Appelbaum, Sweeney and McElroy, other signers of the anti-boycott letter were retired CWA President Morton Bahr, the Jewish Labor Committee Treasurer, UNITE HERE Vice President Clayola Brown, president of the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, and union presidents Larry Cohen (CWA), Joe Hansen (UFCW), Michael Goodwin (Office and Professional Employees), Ed Hill (IBEW), Jim Hoffa (Teamsters), Frank Hurt (Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers) and Michael Sullivan (Sheet Metal Workers). Barbara Easterling, CWA Secretary-Treasurer, also signed.

Also signing were presidents Gerald McEntee (AFSCME), John Gage (AFGE), Robert Scardelletti (Transportation Communications Union/IAM), Timothy Brown (Masters, Mates & Pilots), Tom Buffenbarger (Machinists), William Burrus (APWU), John Flynn (Bricklayers), Ron Gettelfinger (UAW), Thomas Lee (Musicians), Jill Levy (School Administrators), Bill Lucy (Coalition of Black Trade Unionists), Bruce Raynor (UNITE HERE), Cecil Roberts (Mine Workers) and James Williams (Painters).