A worker suspended for refusing to handle ‘Israeli’ products in a Northern Irish Tesco branch has won a major victory. The price-gouging retailer has now reinstated their employee, after a two-month long campaign that saw a wave of protests erupt across Ireland and Britain.
The worker – who wishes to remain anonymous – is employed at the Newcastle, County Down branch of the supermarket. They told managers they were not prepared to run ‘Israeli’ products through the tills as the money goes to funding the ongoing Zionist holocaust in Gaza. A portion of profits from selling items made in the illegitimate pseudo-state go back to companies there. The Zionist regime then taxes those companies, and that income can be used to buy weapons and pay the salaries of ‘Israeli’ Genocide Forces (IGF).
Following Tesco’s humiliating climbdown, the official Tesco Worker Campaign page issued a statement. In it, they emphasise the possibility for all workers to take a stand against their employer forcing them to be complicit in funding genocide. They point out that the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW):
…passed a BDS proposition in 2021, recommending they “support and protect, with the full force of our Union, any member who wishes on moral grounds to refuse to handle goods originating from the currently occupied lands of Palestine by the State of Israel.”
They stress that a precedent has now been set for a worker successfully defying instructions to handle blood-soaked ‘Israeli’ goods, and USDAW have proven their capacity to back such an action.
Unions ready to back Tesco workers standing against genocide
Similarly, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has pledged their determination to stand with anti-holocaust workers, saying:
As a movement, we are clear: we will not be found wanting in protecting our members where an employer seeks to discipline or dismiss a worker in such circumstances.
Tesco’s suspension of the worker triggered an immediate backlash, with 100s of pro-Palestine activists rallied at the Newcastle superstore which ordered the disciplinary proceedings. What followed was a weekly wave of protests under the banner ‘Descend on Tesco‘. At times, more than 20 separate demonstrations were taking place across Ireland, alongside others in Britain.
At some of these, activists symbolically removed items such as ‘Israeli’ dates from the shelves, and delivered speeches asking customers not to buy them. The tactic has previously proven successful against Lidl Ireland and Lidl Northern Ireland. There, campaigners frequent removal of genocide-funding products led to these national branches of the German retailer ceasing to sell them.
Activists also bombarded Tesco’s phone lines, holding regular phone jams in which supporters of the worker would repeatedly call up to voice their disapproval at the worker’s treatment, and the continued sale of products imported from stolen Palestinian land. Additionally, campaigners conducted mass email storms to the Tesco CEO Ken Murphy.
Damian Quinn, a member of BDS Belfast, who was part of the coordinating group for the Tesco campaign, told The Canary:
This is a win for the brave Tesco worker, and for all the solidarity activists and unions who protested outside Tesco branches every week for nearly two months. It’s a win for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and the Palestine solidarity movement as a whole; it shows what collective power can do.
No Israeli products should be sold anywhere, so refuse to take part in complicity, refuse to handle Israeli products. We can all do something; follow BDS and boycott companies complicit in genocide.
BDS movement going from strength to strength
The BDS movement is the Palestinian-led campaign to hold the Zionist entity to account by crippling its economy. It has been described by the terrorist land theft project as its “greatest threat“. Founded more than 20 years ago by a coalition of Palestinian civil society groups, it has won numerous victories in its bid to isolate the criminal settler-colony. One notable example is Intel pulling out of constructing a $25 billion chip factory. Another is the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund’s decision to begin withdrawing investments from ‘Israeli’ companies.
The Tesco Worker Campaign statement concludes by thanking those who took to the streets in support, and emphasises that this support will be there again for any workers looking to replicate the Newcastle defiance:
The actions of the committed and compassionate activists, in Ireland and GB, who turned out every weekend for the past two months in support of this worker and all workers who want to reject genocide goods, have been hugely uplifting. Your support and solidarity has been immense. Thank you.
Our campaign will continue as we aim to support any worker taking a similar stance to this Tesco worker. For anyone who wishes to take action – rest assured that you will have support from across the nation if you follow your conscience, and refuse to play a part in genocide complicity.
Throughout the campaign, those protesting routinely cited the example of the 1980s Dunnes Stores workers, whose refusal to handle products from apartheid South Africa ultimately resulted in Ireland banning imports from that racist regime. Its even worse equivalent, so-called ‘Israel’, now stands on the brink of a similar fate, and the Tesco worker’s victory may now be the catalyst for a repeat of the strikers’ achievements 40 years ago.
Featured image via the Canary
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