The NB Federation of Labour will call on unions to refuse handling any weapons shipments bound for Israel, following the adoption of an arms embargo resolution at the group’s recent convention in Saint John.
The resolution calls on the central labour body to declare any arms shipments bound for Israel to be “hot cargo,” a term referencing goods that unionized workers refuse to handle based on principles of solidarity.
“As workers, I think we really have the ability to hold the bosses and our governments to account in a way that other people can’t,” said Kevin Levangie, a letter carrier and regional union rep who is involved with the group Labour 4 Palestine.
He put forward the resolution on behalf of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
He noted that longshore workers shut down the Port of Saint John in 1979 to prevent the shipment of heavy water for a reactor in Argentina, which was ruled by a military dictatorship at the time.
In 2003, they refused to handle military cargo bound for Iraq during the U.S. invasion. And more recently, longshore workers refused to cross a picket line against the shipment of light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen. (more...)
‘Hot cargo’: Union delegates vote to refuse handling of Israeli arms shipments
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