[This article also appears on the Z-Word Blog.]
Maybe because it’s Christmas week, or maybe because the issues are complicated, but there has been a distinctly muted trade union response to the fighting in Gaza.
The International Trade Union Confederation, representing 168 million workers in 311 national affiliates, takes an even-handed approach in its statement, calling for a cease-fire – but blaming Hamas for triggering the current wave of violence and reiterating its support for a two-state solution.

Its much smaller rival, the formerly Communist World Federation of Trade Unions, will have nothing to do with such even-handedness. It condemned “the barbaric Israeli air force attack” and expressed its “solidarity to the heroic Palestinian people and their struggle,” further demanding that “all the Israeli troops to evacuate all Arabic [sic] territory.”
The global union federations which bring together unions by sector have said nothing at all. The only exception has been the International Federation of Journalists, which – as it often does in conflict situations — “warned that journalists and media staff face serious risks” and criticized Israel for “an attack on a television station in Gaza.”
National trade union centers in the main English speaking countries have said nothing at all – the exception being the Congress of South African Trade Unions which was quick to issue a strong condemnation of Israel and demand that its government break all ties with the Jewish state.
The Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions published news of solidarity statements from unions in Kuwait and Morocco.
But the Israeli national trade union center – the Histadrut – does not have a website, so no one really knows what they think about this conflict.
Organizations outside Israel which are supposed to support the Histadrut such as Trade Union Friends of Israel in the UK and the Jewish Labor Committee in the USA have issued no statements so far on the conflict. Nor have unions which are traditionally quite sympathetic to the Jewish state saying much at the moment. The websites of the Canadian Auto Workers, the American Federation of Teachers and the Australian Workers Union are all silent on the fighting.
Unions which have called for boycotts of Israel in recent years, including the British unions UNISON, UNITE and the UCU have also had nothing to say as of this morning.