Unions condemn Floyd killing
 
Fórsa showed solidarity by joining the #BlackoutTuesday campaign, in which anti-racist organisations and individuals refrained from social media posts on 2nd June.
Fórsa showed solidarity by joining the #BlackoutTuesday campaign, in which anti-racist organisations and individuals refrained from social media posts on 2nd June.

Irish trade unions joined global condemnation of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer last week, and lent support to the mostly-peaceful ‘black lives matters’ demonstrations the murder sparked across the USA and the globe.


Fórsa showed solidarity by joining the #BlackoutTuesday campaign, in which anti-racist organisations and individuals refrained from social media posts on 2nd June.

 

Statistics show that black men and boys are almost three times more likely to be killed by US police than their white compatriots. Last year, 24% of those killed by cops were black, although black people made up just 13% of the population.

 

Of those killed by police, blacks are more likely to be unarmed. There was no prosecution in 99% cases of police killings between 2013 and 2019.


Yvonne O'Callaghan, who chairs the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (ICTU’s) Global Solidarity Committee, said George Floyd’s death reminded the world of the racism deeply embedded in US society.


“This racism is further encouraged by the irresponsible actions of Donald Trump, and we condemn his attempts to portray the fight against racism and fascism as terrorism,” she said.


ICTU official David Joyce said unions played an important role in the fight against inequality and state violence. “We stand in solidarity with our trade union colleagues in the US, and share their determination to address racism and discrimination,” he said.


David said black communities everywhere faced inequality in workplaces and communities. He cited Ireland’s ‘direct provision’ system for asylum-seekers as an example.

LikeLike (2) | Facebook Twitter