Dockworkers in 21 countries have staged coordinated strikes and demonstrations at 113 ports across five continents under the slogan “We Don’t Work for War.”
They protested arms transfers to Israeli-occupied territories amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and called for an end to the use of commercial ports for military weapons shipments.
More than 25 dockworkers' trade unions participated in the international day of action on Friday, calling for ports to serve people's needs rather than facilitate wars and military operations.
The coordinated mobilization challenged the militarization of ports and workers' involvement in transporting military equipment to Israel.
Strikes and demonstrations were reported in Greece, France, Italy, India, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden and Germany, among other countries.
In Greece, a major strike rally took place in the port city of Piraeus, where demonstrators unfurled a large banner reading: “Workers do not work for war.”
Operations were also disrupted at the port of Thessaloniki, where more than 200 containers and trucks were brought to a standstill during a three-hour work stoppage. Workers at the ports of Patras and Piraeus also joined the strike actions.
In France, hundreds of workers at the port of Fos-sur-Mer, west of Marseille, took part in the mobilization, displaying banners opposing Israeli genocidal war and the militarization of ports.
In Italy, dockworkers in Reggio Calabria received support from workers and young people who joined the demonstrations with banners and pickets. In Germany, young dockworkers and apprentices held a solidarity gathering and demonstration at the Port of Hamburg.
Sweden's Port Workers' Union strongly condemned the militarization of European ports and warned against the use of security legislation to restrict trade union activities and exert pressure on workers.
In Denmark, trade unions and federations expressed solidarity with the international mobilization, stressing that dockworkers should not be made complicit in the aggression of war crimes through the transportation of weapons.
Dockworkers and seafarers in India also joined the action, calling for “ports of peace and jobs with dignity.”
According to the No Harbor for Genocide campaign, several participating ports, including Genoa, Livorno and Gioia Tauro in Italy, Marseille in France, Piraeus in Greece and Tangier in Morocco, have been linked to weapons shipments to Israel.
The campaign said it had tracked 315 shipments of components destined for Israel's largest arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems, passing through 56 commercial ports in 29 countries between August 2025 and September 2026.
The coordinated action reflects growing international trade union mobilization against the use of civilian infrastructure for military supply chains connected to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, with dockworkers demanding that governments and port authorities prevent commercial facilities from being used to facilitate arms transfers.
In recent months, dock workers have been warning they have the power to shut down ports across Europe and other continents to deliver a massive blow to imperialist-backed conflicts and ensure that ports are places of peace, free from any involvement in wars.
The administrations of former President Joe Biden and current US President Donald Trump have spent billions of dollars on military aid to Israel since the onset of the current war on Gaza.
Under pressure from anti-Israel protesters, Madrid and some other European governments have asserted that they will not permit their ports or airspace to facilitate arms deliveries associated with Israel's genocide against Palestinians.
The US now stands complicit in this genocide since it never stopped pouring weapons into the Israeli regime's war machine.
According to US law, military assistance to a country or entity should be halted if they use American-supplied arms to commit war crimes. However, despite evidence showing that the Tel Aviv regime has used US munitions in war crimes, military support to Israel has increased since the Gaza war began.
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