The UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC), representing more than five million workers, has voted for the first time to formally endorse the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The motion was passed at the TUC’s annual congress in Brighton yesterday.
The resolution commits the TUC and its affiliated unions to campaign for an immediate end to UK military cooperation and arms sales to Israel, alongside expanding economic, academic, cultural and sporting BDS campaigns. It also supports divestment from companies considered complicit in violations of international law and workplace action in solidarity with Palestine.
The vote is particularly notable because it comes just days after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he “wholeheartedly opposed” BDS. While the UK government recently introduced restrictions targeting trade with Israeli settlements, Miliband has argued against boycotting Israel more broadly.
The TUC's motion goes considerably further, calling for pressure on the government to end military cooperation and arms sales, as well as supporting workers who refuse to handle goods or services they believe are linked to violations of international law. Delegates also backed workplace days of action for Palestine, with the TUC supporting further action later this year.
The vote therefore places the UK's largest trade union federation behind BDS at a time when the government has taken some measures against Israeli settlements but rejected a broader boycott.
