Irish Congress of Trade Unions Workplace Day of Actions in solidarity with the people of Palestine
When: Thursday, May 14th, 2026
Our materials can be downloaded below:
You can find ICTU's Procurement Policy here.
On May 12th at 7pm, Congress will be holding a webinar ahead of the Workplace Day of Action with the IPSC, PSC, and TUFP. The webinar can be joined here.
Unions in the UK are also having a day of action and you can see their materials here:
The BDS Campaign have made materials available here.
If you are holding an event, please register your event with us at [email protected] in advance.
Context
On Thursday, May 14th, 2026, trade unions on the island of Ireland will answer the call of Palestinian trade unionists by taking action in our workplaces. The 14th May commemorates the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe), when approximately 750,000 Palestinians were displaced from their homes to Gaza, the West Bank and the wider Middle East. Today there are approximately 5.9 million refugees. Palestinians’ right to self-determination and to return must be respected.
The ceasefire agreement has been anything but with over 750 Palestinians killed in Gaza over the past six months.
Israel recently passed a “Prisoners’ Execution Law”, which codifies state-sanctioned political murder of Palestinians and turns prisons – already arenas of torture, violence, abuse and extrajudicial death – into legalised killing grounds.
And only this week Israel intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters near Crete. The use of force against civilians (including a number of Irish people) delivering aid to Gaza is unacceptable and a violation of international law.
So, the genocide continues while the illegal occupation intensifies its annexation of the West Bank.
However, we know all too well that only continued pressure and serious accountability measures, including lawful sanctions, will help stop Israel’s genocide and end its 77-year regime of settler-colonialism and apartheid.
Thousands of trade unionists in Ireland have joined and will continue to join national and local protests throughout the island and have been leading an array of solidarity actions.
In July, the Congress BDC passed a wide-ranging composite motion (link) urging leadership in the Palestine solidarity campaign, including coordinated workplace and community action aimed at ending Irish, UK and EU complicity in the genocide in Gaza, and calling on affiliates, through their respective collective bargaining mechanisms to secure ethical procurement and to challenge public procurement contracts with companies complicit in genocide, illegal occupation and other breaches of international law, including through the supply chain.
Workers on this island should not be placed in “unconscionable situations” of facilitating trade with Israel or handling Israeli goods. While Ireland has made diplomatic efforts within the EU - most recently, once again, the European Council has failed to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. In yet another disappointing development, the EU has failed to use its leverage to respond to the continued escalation and the bombing campaigns carried out by Israel across several countries in the Middle East. Despite calls from several Member States, including Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Slovenia, to suspend the agreement, strong opposition from Germany and Italy has once again led to a deadlock.
The ongoing failure to implement real sanctions means some trade union members fear being complicit in Israel’s violence. We would not be surprised if some of these develop into flashpoints of conscientious objection by some workers. As a movement, we are clear: we will not be found wanting in protecting our members where an employer seeks to discipline or dismiss a worker in such circumstances.
Palestinian workers, remaining steadfast in pursuing their struggle for freedom and justice, have called on workers around the world to stand in solidarity with them by campaigning to end the complicity of their governments, corporations and institutions in Israel’s system of oppression.
On 14th May, join in the workplace day of action to call for an end to government and corporate complicity in Israel’s atrocities, and mobilise for greater workplace actions in solidarity with the people and workers of Palestine.
Discuss with your colleagues in your branch about what kind of action is best suited to your workplace and its circumstances. Below are a number of suggestions but you may have your own ideas that suit your workplace too.
What you can do
Stand in your workplaces at 1pm in a joint moment of solidarity before proceeding for a photo.
Alternatively, take a photo outside your workplace at lunchtime with banners and signs and sharing personal statements of solidarity. These could be combined into a collage or video montage for social media. We would ask Affiliates to share photos on their social media channels. These could be joint union action in workplaces with more than one union present.
- Lunch-and-Learn Sessions: Organise workplace discussions or virtual lunch-and-learn sessions about Palestine and how we can make our support for BDS more effective / increase the number of trade union members attending national and local protests. Trade Union Friends of Palestine have developed a fantastic set of BDS educational materials. Why not explore them during a session and seek to organise a training of trainers session? Materials available here.
Occupied Territories Bill:
The Government made a promise to the electorate and has so far failed to deliver on that promise.
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade report (July 2025) recommended the Government pass a Bill that included a ban on goods and services from settlements.
Spain and Slovenia have passed similar bills since the Government promised to do this; the EU Commission hasn’t acted against them.
It is perfectly possible to introduce a ban on services from settlements in the OTB. It was done in regard to Russia.
The failure to introduce a Bill and to include services are political decisions which ignore the violent reality for Palestinians throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Keep in touch with www.passtheotb.ie for updates and more information.
Email and engage with local politicians so we can continue to apply political pressure from the ground up demanding that they fulfil their promise and pass the Occupied Territories Bill without delay. You can find them at https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/ .
Procurement: Does your employer have a procurement policy? Why not organise for ethical procurement in your workplace. An ethical procurement operation guide and the EPP Campaigns guide from ELSC. both can be found on the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) website here: https://elsc.support/know-your-rights/
An ethical investment policy from the BNC is also available here which would help regarding pensions: Use these resources to write to your employer seeking information in relation to their policy asking if it contains anything in relation to respect for human rights by companies, as well as their obligation under widely accepted business and human rights norms – as laid down in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises – to promote respect for human rights by companies with which they do business.
- Become an apartheid free zone - https://apartheidfree.ie/become-an-apartheid-free-zone/#contact
In the run up to the day why not promote the IPSC 20th National Demo planned for Saturday 16th May in Dublin at 1pm. Under the slogan of 'End 78 Years of Ongoing Nakba', we are marching to highlight that the so-called 'Gaza ceasefire' remains a fiction; the military occupation continues, and Israel has violated the 'ceasefire' more than 2,500 times over the past six months, killing some 750 people and injuring 2,100 more. The entry of aid, fuel and food is still controlled and highly restricted by Israel, with only 37% of the promised supplies having been delivered, while 77% of Gaza's population now experiences acute food insecurity, and Gaza remains in ruins.
