GENOA, Italy—Italian dockworkers successfully blocked shipments of military cargo bound for Israel to be used in their genocidal war against Palestine. The Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), along with their union siblings from the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) in Greece, held demonstrations and refused to unload cargo at their ports as the ship made its way through the region.
The USB declared victory last week when COSCO Shipping Pisces agreed to return three containers of military equipment to Singapore, their point of origin. The ship agreed that they will not unload at either the ports of Genoa or La Spezia. The decision came after the union announced a 24-hour strike for August 5 at the PSA Genova Pra’ terminal.
The USB produced a manifesto, “Labor Rejects War,” signed by dozens of associations, jurists, constitutional scholars, and peace movement leaders. They affirm that military operations are not among the essential services protected by Italian law.
“We will not work for war,” the USB stated, invoking Italy’s Law 146/1990, which bans arms exports to conflict zones. “War operations are not essential services, and a strike is legitimate if it serves to defend collective security and constitutional order,” the union said. “Stopping arms is not just a political choice, it is a right.”
The union has since organized an international dockworker assembly to be held on September 26-27 in Genoa to coordinate further actions, including preparing for a sector-wide strike if necessary.
Earlier on its voyage, the ship was met with protests by Greek dockworkers in Piraeus, organized by the ENEDEP dockworkers union and PAME, before it reached Genoa. They called on mass demonstrations to prevent the unloading of the military-grade steel on the ship Ever Golden headed for Israel. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) reported that the contents of the ship were loaded onto the COSCO Shipping Pisces which was then blocked in Italy.
“This is a clear example of how workers around the world can express practical solidarity with people resisting the imperialists’ unjust wars, of how they can strengthen their struggle as a united front against the merchants of war,” the PAME declared.
These workers’ actions continue a growing movement of port workers refusing to handle arms shipments to be used in Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian people. These actions build on several years of labor organizing against war and the supplying of weapons to Israel, dating back to the start of the war in 2023.
In France, workers at the port in Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille, led by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), refused to load 14 tons of weapons components destined for Israel Military Industries, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems in June. The CGT said the move made clear its refusal to “participate in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government.”
“We are very proud of this action led by our comrades, and which is part of the CGT’s long internationalist tradition for peace,” CGT General Secretary Sophie Binet said.
The class-struggle powered World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has publicly endorsed these workplace actions. But the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has remained silent. This, of course, highlights an ongoing divide within the labor movement over the role of trade unions and their relationship to questions of imperialism and war.
“The only force that can stop this painful course and put an end on imperialist and Zionist aggression is the reaction and resistance of the peoples with the working class in the front line,” the WFTU declared. “The WFTU has from the very first moment clearly and unequivocally condemned the aggression of the murderous Israeli state.”
“We are proud that under the banners of our Federation millions of workers around the world have mobilized and are mobilizing in solidarity with the people of Palestine for a free Palestine and an independent Palestinian state,” the federation said.
“For the progressive, anti-imperialist forces in the world today it is an urgent duty to defend the life and benefits of the people, the peace threatened by imperialist aggression.”
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