Tell the Canadian Labour Congress: NO HOT CARGO
- editor732
- May 4
- 2 min read
The convention of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) begins next week and the umbrella labour federation of Canada’s unions is trying to prevent a Hot Cargo resolution, duly submitted by several labour bodies, from hitting the floor for debate.
The resolution calling for the CLC to declare Israeli goods, services, and institutional relationships as Hot Cargo has been submitted for debate at the upcoming convention by 11 union bodies, including two national unions, four labour councils, and one federation of labour. The resolution also has the support of more unions and members across the country.
Four federations of labour (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador), along with many locals, labour councils and unions (the latest being CUPE Manitoba) have endorsed Hot Cargo resolutions, including calls to cut ties with the racist Histadrut, Israel’s so-called labour central.
Despite this growing support for labour to use Hot Cargo to challenge Israeli oppression, the CLC is trying to block a much-needed conversation about it at this year’s convention.
Why?
In the midst of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Palestine and war crimes in Lebanon and Iran, workers in Canada and around the world have both a moral responsibility and the economic leverage to help put an end to these atrocities.
The CLC should be a place where we walk the talk, that an injury to one is an injury to all. Despite this, the CLC General Resolutions Committee is recommending ‘non-concurrance.’ In other words, arguing that declaring Hot Cargo on Israel wouldn’t be in the interest of Canadian workers and therefore shouldn’t even be debated at convention.
But this misleading claim couldn’t be further from the truth. Hot Cargo is a Canadian labour movement tradition: workers refusing to handle goods and services linked to oppression, war, or strike breaking. It’s how we use our power on the job to show solidarity and disrupt injustice.
Unions have invoked the phrase of Hot Cargo to engage in work refusals or interruptions act in solidarity with international unions and workers during apartheid South Africa, dictatorships in Argentina and Indonesia / East Timor, and against the war on Iraq.
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