Unions in Africa affiliated with the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), representing 18.5 million
transport workers and 740 unions worldwide, have called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Israel’s ongoing
genocide in Gaza and an end to political support for Israel. They have also expressed their solidarity with the
Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom and self-determination.
The motion was proposed by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) at the ITF’s Africa Regional
Conference held in Côte d’Ivoire in March 2024. It was passed unanimously on March 7, the same day that the Israeli
occupation forces bombed the headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in Gaza City.
The five-story building had attached to it several other facilities providing services to the Palestinian people,
including a kindergarten that served 380 children, as well as a large bakery.
Addressing the ITF Conference in Abidjan, Irvin Jim, the General Secretary of NUMSA, read out the motion passed by the
Conference.
The motion noted that South Africa brings a “unique perspective to the issue having ourselves fought against a system of
racial segregation, institutional violence and oppression, apartheid.”