As part of the Quebec-Canada trade union solidarity tour May/June 2011.

Wednesday June 1st, 7pm
Centre St. Pierre, room 200
1212, rue Panet (metro Beaudry)
Montreal, Quebec
Facebook event

featuring representatives from The Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors & Employees (PFUUPE) The South African Union of Municipal Workers (SAMWU)

This speaking tour will be an important opportunity for debate and discussion on the question of how we as trade unionists can stand in solidarity with Palestinians. There is a great urgency in building our solidarity with Palestinian workers. It is important to note that Palestinian trade unions continue to operate in and confront a daily reality of military occupation, apartheid walls and neoliberal austerity. In Gaza, 98% of industrial operations remain idle as a result of Israel’s three-year blockade, which includes severe restrictions on electricity, heating oil, natural gas and construction materials. In the occupied West Bank, 25% of the population continues to face food insecurity as well as a complex network of 400-500 military checkpoints, roadblocks, fences, and other obstacles that separate Palestinian workers from their workplaces.

The General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW), Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), and the Palestinian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (PFITU) have been at the forefront of the Palestinian movement challenging these multiple violations of Palestinian workers’ rights. The “Building Solidarity from Palestine to South Africa” speaking tour is an important step in consolidating the worker-to-worker solidarity already established between Palestinian and Canadian and Québécois trade unionists. Make your union part of this historic step in the movement for Palestinian human rights by sponsoring this tour!

Biographies:

Dr. Amjad Barham is the head of the Palestine Polytechnic University employees union and the President of the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Employees and Professors. The Federation represents unions at all Palestinian universities in the West Bank and Gaza. Dr. Barham is a professor in applied mathematics.

PFUUPE is member of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDSPTUC-BDS, which includes almost the entirety of the blocks composing the Palestinian trade union movement, and is based on the Palestinian civil society call for BDS launched in 2005, as well as the standards adopted by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC), of which the Coalition is a key component.

Local Sponsors of the event:

Alternatives
CKUT 90.3FM
College and University Workers United
Canada Palestine Foundation Quebec
Conseil régional FTQ Montréal métropolitain
Fédération nationale des enseignants et enseignantes du Québec (FNEEQ)
Metropolitan Montréal Central Council, Confédération des syndicats nationaux
Independent Jewish Voices
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights-Mcgill/Concordia
QPIRG McGill
QPIRG Concordia

Sponsors & endorsers of the tour

Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW-STTP)

Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) – Ontario Division

CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee

CUPE Toronto District Council
CUPE Metro Vancouver District Council

CUPE Local 15
CUPE Local 2491
CUPE Local 3903, Toronto
CUPE Local 3906, Hamilton Political Action Committee
CEP Local 2025
Fédération nationale des enseignants et enseignantes du Québec (FNEEQ)
FTQ Regional Conseil Montreal
London & District Labour Council
Metropolitan Montréal Central Council, Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CCMM-CSN)
Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association’s Toronto Secondary Unit Human Rights Committee
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Local 568
Teaching Support Staff Union (TSSU) Social Justice Committee, Simon Fraser University
Toronto Secondary Unit OECTA Human Rights’ Committee
Vancouver & District Labour Council

Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Vancouver

Canada Palestine Association Vancouver

Canada-Palestine Support Network

Canadian Arab Federation

The Centre for Race Autobiography Gender and Age Studies (RAGA)

Faculty for Palestine

Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War

Independent Jewish Voices

London Solidarity Coalition for Palestine

Not in Our Name: Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism

South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD)

Stopwar.ca

Students Against Israeli Apartheid

Tadamon! Montreal

The Canada-Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet)

For more information or to endorse the event

Tadamon! Montreal
tel: 514 664 1036
email: info(at)tadamon.ca