Join Trade Union and Worker led Actions on 14th May in Solidarity with Palestine

For the first time the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) along with counterparts in England & Wales (TUC) and the Ireland (ICTU) are joining us in supporting a workplace day of action for Palestine!

This takes place next Thursday 14 May.

The Palestinian BDS National Committee, the largest Palestinian coalition leading the global BDS movement, has called on workers, civil society organisations, student unions and the broader solidarity movement to take action on May 14th.

What you can do:

Organise peaceful protests, sit-ins and walk-outs on May 14th and share pictures, videos on social media.

Join and support pickets and worker-led solidarity actions in your region: support workers who want to engage in flashpoints of conscientious objection, refusing to handle goods, or other peacefully disruptive actions.

Amplify and share the demands of Palestinian trade unions as per May 1st, 2026 statement.

Contact your elected politicians calling for an end to complicity, and the imposing of lawful sanctions: Apply political pressure from the ground up demanding complicity ends and that obligations under international law are upheld by endorsing targeted sanctions on Israel, starting with a comprehensive military and energy embargo.

Push your workplace, union, organisation to adopt Ethical Procurement Policies: An Ethical Procurement Operation Guide and the Campaign Guide from ELSC can both be found on the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) website.

If applicable, push your organisations to adopt an Ethical Investment Policy: An ethical investment policy is available here. Use these resources to write to your employer seeking information in relation to their pension arrangement asking if it contains anything in relation to respect for human rights, 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.

Promote, join and support upcoming demonstrations organised for Nakba day on Saturday 16th May - including the demo called for Edinburgh on this date.

Push your institution, workplace, union, organisation to become an Apartheid Free Zone (AFZ).

Tell us about - Your Workplace Day of Action

Resources and references:

STUC Workplace Day of Action: https://www.stuc.org.uk/action-for-palestine/
Apartheid Free Zones Scotland: https://apartheidfree.scot/signup/

ICTU Workplace Day of Action:
https://www.ictu.ie/events/2026-05-14/may-14th-workplace-day-action-solidarity-peop le-palestine
ICTU statement on conscientious objection:
https://www.ictu.ie/news/workers-must-not-be-placed-unconscionable-situations-com plicity-israeli-genocide
TUC Workplace Day of Action:
https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/workplace-day-action-palestine-14-may-2026
PSC Trade Union organising toolkit:
https://palestinecampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/TU-organising-toolkit-2.pdf
Apartheid Free Zone Guide: https://bdsmovement.net/sites/default/files/AFZ_Organizing_Guide.pdf
Apartheid Free Zone Toolkit:https://bdsmovement.net/sites/default/files/AFZ_Toolkit.pdf
Ethical Procurement Policy Legal Guide: https://bdsmovement.net/Operational-Guide-EPP
Ethical Procurement Policy Campaign Guide: https://elsc.support/resource/campaign-guide-for-an-ethical-procurement-policy/
Ethical Investment Policy: https://bdsmovement.net/resources/ethical-investment-policy

For Students and Student Unions specifically:

- Organise campus protests, including walk-outs, and campaign for your student unions and universities to implement policies on ethical academic ties and to cut all ties, including Horizon Europe projects, with Israeli universities for their complicity in violations of international law and human rights, in line with PACBI and BDS guidelines.
- Organise campus protests and campaign for your student unions and universities to divest from companies that BDS divestment priorities and adopt an ethical investment policy.
- Organise campus protests and campaign for your student unions and universities to stop purchasing from BDS priority targets and adopt an ethical procurement policy.
- Graduate students, staff, and faculty, sign the European Declaration of Conscientious Objection to refuse complicity in academic collaboration with complicit Israeli institutions, commit to abiding by PACBI and BDS guidelines, and encourage other employees on your campus to do the same.

Resources and references:

- PSC webpage for students’ mobilisation for the week of 14th May: https://palestinecampaign.org/events/nakba-78-national-student-day-of-action/
- PSC Apartheid Off Campus Campaign: https://palestinecampaign.org/campaigns/apartheid-off-campus/
- Policy on Ethical Academic Ties (PEAT): https://right2edu.birzeit.edu/policy-on-ethical-academic-ties-peat/
- PACBI Guidelines on Academic Boycott: https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi/academic-boycott-guidelines
- Strategic Radicalism on Campus: https://bdsmovement.net/news/campus-uprisings-for-palestine-strategic-radicalism-et hical-principles-and-incremental-wins
Wins and Impacts of Academic Boycott of Horizon Europe: https://bdsmovement.net/news/israel-margins-horizon-academic-boycotts
Uppsala Declaration on Conscientious Objection: https://uppsaladeclaration.se/europe/