The Palestine and anti-war movements have received a major boost at the TUC Conference report Zahid Rahman and Chris Nineham

Just two years ago the TUC Congress narrowly passed a motion that pressed the government to increase defence spending and invest more in arms industries. At this week’s conference something very different happened. The TUC unanimously voted for a complete arms embargo on Israel, the recognition of a Palestinian state, a ceasefire and release of hostages and Palestinian political prisoners, and the government to align its foreign policy with that of international law.

Attempts by Unite the union to amend the Palestine resolution sponsored by the NEU were dropped at the last minute as all the unions fell in behind the mood to support the Palestinians. In addition to this, an emergency resolution was carried unanimously condemning Israel’s attacks on its neighbouring countries in the Middle East and calling for support for the country-wide workplace days of action for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza which have been organised by the Stop the War Coalition and other pro-Palestine organisations. 

As the UCU’s Sean Vernell said moving this this resolution:

“This is one of the greatest mass movements of our age… but the trade unions need to do more, we need to get our banners on the demonstrations, but we also need to take the protests into our workplaces where our strength lies.”

The TUC brings together 48 trade unions consisting of six million workers nationwide, making it the biggest voluntary organisation in the country. The congress is normally marked by its moderate politics and a tight control from the top table.

These votes indicate the breadth of sympathy there is in this country for the Palestinians. But they also mark a real advance for those in the labour movement pushing for clear opposition to war and militarism. The terrible scenes of genocide in Gaza, and the growing awareness of the British government’s complicity have clearly had an impact across the movement and created the conditions for the right wing to be pushed back.

This wouldn’t have happened without the tremendous street mobilisations of the last eleven months. Many thousands of trade unionists have been on those demonstrations, and what we saw this week in Brighton was the spirit of that marches being taken into the heart of the labour movement.

All this should in turn spur activists to raise the issues in their workplaces and union branches more openly and confidently. Support for Palestine, the demand for an end to arms sales are now TUC policy and this should be driven through every trade union branch in the country.

Off the back of that we are in a position to win broad support for the next workplace day of action for Palestine which is scheduled for 10 October.

The TUC votes have a wider significance too. They are a blow to Starmer and foreign secretary David Lammy who have been desperate to flag their continuing support for Israel, despite having been forced to suspend some of their export licences for weapons to Israel.

The problem for Starmer, which clearly goes beyond issues of foreign policy, was illustrated by the contrast between the lukewarm reception he received compared to the enthusiastic standing ovation which greeted the speech from Palestine ambassador Husam Zomlot at the end of the conference. 

We are winning the argument on Palestine. We need to redouble our efforts to force the government into line with popular opinion.

The next national demonstration for Palestine is on Saturday 21^st September at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.