The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), together with members of the Maritime Union of Australia, NSW Nurses and Midwives Union, NSW Teachers and Australian Services Union joined a national protest on September 10 to demand their universities cut all ties with Israel and that Labor impose sanctions.
In Gadigal Country/Sydney, they marched from UTS to the defence department in the CBD.
Among the speakers were Labor MLC Dr Sarah Kaine, a former NTEU president. She said unions had a responsibility to stand up for social justice issues, beyond their immediate workplace concerns.
鈥淚 will not be complicit with genocide,鈥 Kaine told the protest. 鈥淚 thank the unions that are here and the unions that are not here who continually work for social justice on this issue and all the other issues we have to work on to make a more compassionate society.
鈥淚 know the difference between bullets and components that go to making an aeroplane 鈥 sometimes that distinction is used as a bit of a crack through which to push a justification. And that justification is, 鈥楤ut we don鈥檛 have direct bilateral relations with Israel in terms of jets ... We don鈥檛 have any responsibility for that 鈥 it鈥檚 too far down that very complex supply chain.鈥
鈥淚 don鈥檛 agree with that. I know you don鈥檛 agree with that. But even if you did, the Australian government is required to consider a number of criteria before they grant licences for those exports, and that criteria includes taking into account humanitarian concerns and weighing them up against diplomatic and other concerns.鈥
Paul Keating, Maritime Unions Australia Sydney branch secretary, said the union would be talking to maritime unions in other countries about trying to block weapons shipments. 鈥淥ur members will not load containers headed for Israel. We will break bad laws to defend the Palestinian people.鈥
Greens MLC David Shoebridge said Australia must stand on the right side of history and work to force Israel to stop the genocide. 鈥淲e call on the Australian government to end the two-way arms trade immediately.鈥
Palestinian Australian Safaa Rayan, who is active in the campaign to shut down Bisalloy in Unanderra/Wollongong, invited people to join the protest to shut the factory down on September 21.
Latoya Rule, from Jumbunna Research Staff for Palestine, read a statement on the similarities between the Israeli and Australian colonial projects. NTEU NSW division secretary Vince Caughley sent a solidarity message, as he was unable to attend.
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Hundreds of Australian Services Union members working in the community sector in Naarm/Melbourne walked off the job, on the same day as taking unprotected industrial action.
Jacob Andrewartha reports that it was their second strike. The protesters marched from the State Library to the eight-hour monument outside Trades Hall. Community sector workers and Palestinian solidarity activists addressed the protest. The action was endorsed by Free Palestine Melbourne, NTEU Vic, Community and Public Sector Union Victoria, Teachers and School Staff 4 Palestine, Monash NTEU 4 Palestine, as well as Students against War and Students for Palestine.
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Markela Panegyres reports from Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide that unionists held a small but powerful vigil against scholasticide outside the University of Adelaide.聽
Activists from NTEU for Palestine Adelaide, Unionists for Palestine South Australia, Academics for Palestine South Australia and Teachers and School Staff for Palestine South Australia attended to condemn Israel鈥檚 destruction of Gaza鈥檚 educational and cultural infrastructure.
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They demanded sanctions on apartheid Israel and called on Australian universities to聽commit to the academic boycott of Israel, cut ties with the Israeli military and its suppliers, as well as cutting ties with the weapons industry.聽
The protest also demanded the Department for Education prohibit weapons companies from forming so-called 鈥渋ndustry partnerships鈥 with primary and secondary schools, under the guise of delivering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) programs.