Concern at ACTU secretary’s BDS views
JEWISH community leaders are concerned at the record of new Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus (pictured) in supporting boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
JEWISH community leaders are concerned at the record of new Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus (pictured) in supporting boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
In 2011, McManus, who historically became the first female ACTU secretary last week, had written to then-mayor of Marrickville in Sydney, Fiona Byrne of the Australian Greens, expressing her enthusiastic support for BDS.
Published in The Australian this week, McManus’ January 18, 2011 letter in part stated: “I write to congratulate Marrickville Council on its decision to support the Global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel as a means of peaceful resistance and protest to their ongoing breaches of international law, humanitarian law and UN resolutions.”
As head of the NSW branch of the Australian Services Union at that time, McManus also proposed divesting union funds from any companies “profiteering from the occupation”.
The AJN understands that McManus’s pro-BDS stance was a major concern for some within the ACTU, but the almost certainty she would be elected as the roof union body’s secretary caused strategists to soft-pedal the issue.
Previously the ACTU has called for international humanitarian aid efforts for Gazans during the conflict with Israel but has never supported BDS, and it is unclear whether McManus would actively pursue an extreme line in her new role.
Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Anton Block said: “Campaigns which seek to delegitimise the State of Israel have been rejected by the main parties for good reason.”
But he noted McManus attended a Shabbat dinner at Central Shule in Sydney three years ago.
“This may indicate a softening of Ms McManus’ position since she wrote the letter [to Byrne].” ECAJ is planning to meet McManus in the coming months.
Describing BDS as an -“anti-peace, anti-worker far-left proposal”, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein told the AJN : “We can only hope that with the passage of time, Ms McManus has become better informed as to the way this proposal damages prospects of peace, furthers racism and hurts Palestinian and other workers.”
Zionist Federation of Australia president Danny Lamm said: “We wish Ms McManus well in her new role and trust that, notwithstanding her misguided support for the Marrickville Council’s ill-advised attempt at supporting the BDS campaign against Israel, she will have an open mind in dealing with issues related to Israel.”
McManus declined to comment in time for this week’s edition.
PETER KOHN
comments