Boycott Israel campaign dabbles in labour disputes

01 December 2015 - 12:05 By TMG

Monday’s Woolworths annual general meeting (AGM)‚ was‚ by the National Coalition 4 Palestine and BDS SA’s account‚ “by all accounts‚ dominated by the boycott Israel campaign”. A joint statement issued by them said that “activists have pledged to return to next year’s AGM with more vigour and strength‚ unless of course‚ Woolworths decides to do the sensible and right thing - ending its buying and stocking of Israeli products”.The “shareholder-activists” – who had bought shares with the intention of using them to gain access to the AGM – boasted that the company was “completely thrown” when they went “beyond the boycott of Israel to also challenge the company on its outsourcing of security to G4S”.This was‚ the statement said‚ because of “its labour practices and specifically its dispute with workers at the WW Gauteng Distribution Centre”.“Activists pointed (sic) the discrepancy between directors receiving 40%-70% salary increases while some workers were being paid as little as R3500 at one of the largest and busiest WW distribution centres in the country‚” they said.The activists also said they supported the plea of Rania Awwad‚ “a Palestinian Christian from the town of Bethlehem in Palestine…to Woolworths' directors to end their relations with Israel in the same manner that international companies terminated their relations with apartheid South Africa in the 1980s”...

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