I am watching the CLC (Canadian Labour Congress) convention in Winnipeg from afar—from 2500 km away in Halifax.

Of course as a former academic, a specialist in labour relations, I’m always interested in what workers and their unions are doing – especially in the political realm. Because serious people know the way to social change  and equality is rarely through the ballot box, I’d like to know if unions want to push left and join with fellow trade unionists and countless organizations, and associations to condemn Israeli apartheid, and do something useful to support the Palestinians. Enter Labour for Palestine (L4P). 

L4P organized to encourage several union bodies to move a resolution at the CLC

• Calling on the CLC to declare all trade, services, and relationships with Israel as “hot cargo” 
• Directing the CLC to endorse the Arms Embargo Now campaign, 
• Demanding that the CLC cut all ties with the Israeli trade union federation, the Histadrut, due to its complicity in the occupation of Palestine.

This resolution had more submissions than any previous one in the history of the CLC. Twelve union organizations, including the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the National Union of Public General Employees, the Ontario Federation of Labour, several union locals and four labour councils. These were combined into Resolution Gen-061 at the convention. As Sean McNeill in Rank and File notes, 

“The twelve submitting bodies received, debated, and endorsed the resolution for submission in their democratic processes. No other resolution even comes close to having twelve submitters. At most, others have five.”

I don’t have to tell anyone reading this there is a genocide against the Palestinians going on – caused 100% by Israel and supported by the US, Canada, western Europe, Australia and worse. General expressions of opposition, as opposed to more pointed calls for action, are next to useless. 

The Histadrut “wasn’t just a trade union organization. It was a great colonizing agency.” 

former Israeli PM Golda Meir

But you might not have heard about debate at this week’s CLC convention.  Of course, the dispute was not broadcast on the CLC’s Youtube channel —the CLC doesn’t like to air laundry in public.  The CLC leadership pushed aside the L4P based Resolution Gen-061 and rallied the delegates to support their own Resolution Gen-134 – a watered down version of Gen-061.  I heard that Gen-134 — was referred back to the CLC leadership. The CLC leadership either does not want to justify its own lack of support for Palestinians or does not want to antagonize any pro-Israel forces among the unions. The CLC leadership want to decide if and how much of the motion to put on the floor.

What is the difference between the two? Quite a lot.

Talk about democracy…

The Histadrut dates back 106 years, to a time that it did not allow Palestinian members.  That prohibition extended to 1959, when Palestinians began to trickle in.  Critics accuse the Histadrut of having a “racialized and segregated” structure.  This particularly affects construction trades – where Palestinian workers often lack union protections.  The Histadrut also had another role, according to former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir.  She once served on the Executive of the Histadrut; she noted it was a “big labor union [that] wasn’t just a trade union organization. It was a great colonizing agency.” 

The CLC Resolution General 134 is characterized as a “hollow” status quo substitute for the L4P and union-supported 061.  It doesn’t call for cutting ties with Israel, rather to work with the “international community” to find a solution.  The CLC is likely worried if they cut ties with Israel and the Histadrut that  they may no longer be part of the ICTU –the international labour body that supports Israel to a degree amidst “all struggles.”  In their press release here the CLC quotes the ICTU spokesmen, 

“We are deeply concerned by the grave humanitarian crisis faced by the people of Gaza, and we stand with Palestinians, Israelis, and people the world over calling for peace, equality, and justice.”

ICTU – no condemnation of Israel’s genocide

Here’s an example of when being so general tends to dwarf any specifics and make the genocide all but disappear.   And also, more importantly, there is no condemnation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.  

There is also the CLC’s concern about backlash and potential split from pro-Israel union members –who in their “burner groups” – sometimes here  today and gone tomorrow — like the so-called “Canadian Jewish Labour Committee” who have organized to oppose L4P and obstruct all calls for action, like the Gen-061. 

With all this as background, it is maddening that there was no way to watch the debate, not on the CLC’s Youtube channel, not on any media outlet. No journalists other than Kevin Skerrett and Sean O’Neill wrote columns about the “duelling” resolutions, or of the CLC Executive pushing through its own resolution to ensure the one from L4P never came to the floor.  

The CLC convention, now reduced from a biennial to a triennial  affair– doubtless to save money –is packing up.  The first holiday of summer, Victoria Day, also called the  “May 2-4” weekend, beckons.   The CLC convention is over for another three years. There will be little time at the CLC to argue politics– especially when no election is on the horizon.  

The message from  the CLC is “Gaza can wait”. But can it? Gaza is burning; Israel has killed more than 850 Gazans, and maimed 2400 maimed since the ceasefire last October. Israel massacred more than 75,800 Palestinians – mainly women and children in the last two and a half years. Today trade unionists remain comfortable with Winnipeg‘s temperature in the early 20s and a bit of rain.  But in Gaza today, the heat will top 35 ℃ and there is almost no shade.  

Cartoon at the top & below: by Carlos Latuff, in Mondoweiss.net. (1 May 2026).