Potential Trade Dispute
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has found it is “plausible” that Israel has committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention.
Article 1 of the Genocide Convention, of which Ireland is a signatory, states: “The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.”
Therefore the Irish government and the people of Ireland have an obligation to prevent genocide from occurring in Israel.
This genocide is only possible because of the economic power of Israel, resulting from the sale of goods and services from Israel globally.
Workers who do not wish to support the genocide can take steps to ensure their actions do not contribute to this genocide.
Workers can seek to add a provision into their contract of employment which allows them to not handle goods from countries where the ICJ has stated there is a plausible case that acts that violate the Genocide Convention have occurred.
To do this, the Trade Union Left Forum is urging all workers in Ireland to take the following steps:
1. Start or sign a petition to your employer asking them to cease selling goods or services from Israel.
2. Ask your colleagues to sign that petition too.
3. Request that your trade union lodges a claim that your contract of employment is changed to include a provision that you do not have to handle goods from countries under investigation for genocide.
The suggested wording for the petition is as follows:
“I, ________, am requesting that my employer ceases the sale of all goods and/or services from any country where the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said there is a plausible case that acts which violate the Genocide Convention are occurring.”
The suggested wording for a change to your contract of employment is as follows:
“Employees of [insert name of company] are not required or expected to handle goods from countries where the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has stated there is a plausible case that acts that violate the Genocide Convention have occurred.”
If your employer refuses to alter your contract with this simple provision, it is possible to lead to a trade dispute.
If you are not already a member of a trade union, you will need to join one to protect you and enable a trade dispute to occur if your employer does not submit to your request.
We will post more information on this issue shortly.
Change to legislation
The Irish government can implement legislation, or allow the opposition to implement legislation, which would allow all workers the right to not handle goods from countries under investigation at the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide.
This simple change to legislation would ensure that all workers who have a conscientious objection to the murder of innocent women and children can play their part in preventing any future deaths.
It may require an alteration to the Unfair Dismissals Act among other pieces of legislation.
