Israeli Products Should Have No Place In Canada

 

Labour 4 Palestine is calling on the Canadian Labour Congress to declare all Israeli goods and services ‘hot cargo.’

Labour 4 Palestine (L4P) is calling on the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) to declare all Israeli goods and services “hot cargo.” L4P, an organization of labour activists standing in solidarity with Palestinians, is also asking union members and workers to add their names to the call.

At the time of writing, L4P is roughly halfway toward its goal of sending 51,200 letters to Canada’s national labour federation. The CLC is Canada’s highest labour body, made up of affiliated unions and local labour bodies and representing more than 3 million workers. 

The L4P’s call forcefully declares: “Since October 2023, Israel has waged a genocide against Palestinians, committing unspeakable war crimes – with Canada’s support. The Israeli army is using weapons produced by Canadian companies to murder Palestinians and to bomb hospitals, schools, and refugee camps in Gaza.”

Through its “hot cargo kills” campaign, the organization is therefore demanding that the peak organization of Canadian labour call on its affiliate unions to cease handling these weapons of war and their critical component parts. According to an investigation at The Breach, Ottawa-based Gastops is the only company in the world producing engine sensors for the American-made F-35 combat jets used to drop bombs on Palestinians. Thus, despite Canada’s arms trade being much smaller than the United States, this country plays a critical role in facilitating Israel’s assault on Palestine. 

“Hot cargo” is a term used in the labour movement to refer to goods union members refuse to handle, whether because doing so would undermine an active strike or because such products are produced under inhuman conditions. Such “hot cargo” declarations have also been issued in solidarity with people resisting war, occupation and exploitation.  (more...)

Israeli Products Should Have No Place In Canada