What can a global strike of dockworkers achieve for Gaza?
More than 25 dockworkers' trade unions in 110 ports of 22 countries are going on strike on October 30.
Dock and port workers have long had a tradition of solidarity with the oppressed, upheld by strong labour unions and workers’ rights.
In February 2025, nearly a year and a half into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, dockworkers’ unions from Mediterranean countries came together to disrupt weapons shipments to Israel and Western countries’ military support of the onslaught.
“Weapons need transport, infrastructure, and workers’ hands to reach their destination,” Markos Bekris, leader of Greece’s dockworkers’ union, ENEDEP, at the Port of Piraeus in Athens, told Al Jazeera. “That is where our power lies.”
Organisers told Al Jazeera that workers and trade unions from other sectors have been called on to join with port workers, notably in Greece, while in Italy the USB has called for a general strike.