Dock and port workers plan to strike on Friday, 30 October, at ports around the world to demand an end to weapons and military cargo moving through their ports, especially shipments the unions link to Israel's war in Gaza. Reports on Wednesday, citing information from the organising unions, said workers at 111 ports in 22 countries would join the coordinated strike, stopping work for periods ranging from a few hours to a full day at ports from Marseille to Mumbai, Hamburg to Montevideo, and Melbourne to Oakland.

Source: Press TV, reporting organising unions' figures

More than 25 dockworkers' unions have officially declared they will join, with dozens of unions in other sectors pledging support, the Wednesday reports said. France's main dockworkers' union said ports across the country would be 95% shut on Friday, while unions in Italy, India, Greece and Turkey said their stoppages would last 24 hours. Those are the unions' own announced plans, not an independent count of how many ports will actually stop on the day.

Source: Press TV, reporting organising unions' figures

Where the call came from — and why the numbers differ

The day of action, held under the banner 'Ports for Peace – Jobs with Dignity', was launched after the Third International Meeting of Mediterranean and European Dockworkers' and Port Workers' Unions in Istanbul in May 2026, according to a World Federation of Trade Unions statement. The founding unions — CGT Ports and Docks (France), ENEDEP (Greece), LAB (Basque Country), Liman-Is (Turkey), ODT (Morocco) and USB (Italy), later joined by ORSA Porti of Gioia Tauro — say they represent workers in more than 40 Mediterranean and European ports.

Source: World Federation of Trade Unions statement, via World BEYOND War

That gap — more than 40 ports in the original call, and 111 ports in the organisers' latest Wednesday count — reflects the action spreading beyond its Mediterranean core. The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions' secretary-general, Shaher Saad, put the figure at nearly 50 ports across Mexico, Europe and India, coordinated with the International Transport Workers' Federation, while other organiser-side reporting describes the call reaching around 100 ports in 17 countries as unions in Ireland, Germany, India and Mexico signed on. Awaaz Punjab is reporting each number with its source rather than treating any one of them as settled.

Source: Real Media, Ports for Peace report

What the unions are demanding

The Istanbul Declaration behind the action, as published by the World Federation of Trade Unions, demands an immediate end to the war in Gaza and recognition of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in the unions' wording. It also says ports must not be used for the transport of arms, ammunition, military equipment or troops destined for war zones, and must not become military bases for NATO, the United States or the European Union. Alongside the foreign-policy demands sit workplace demands on wages, working conditions, automation and safety.

Source: World Federation of Trade Unions statement, via World BEYOND War

The action builds on an earlier coordinated day on 6 February 2026, which organiser-side reporting says shut or disrupted 20 ports in seven countries, and on years of local refusals by dockers in countries including Belgium, Sweden and Italy to handle particular weapons components. In Italy, the rank-and-file union USB has also called a general strike for the same day, extending the action beyond the quayside to rail, energy and logistics workers.

Source: Real Media, Ports for Peace report

Why Punjabi and Indian readers should watch Friday

India is named in the organisers' plans, with Mumbai listed among the ports in the Wednesday reports and Indian unions reported among those planning 24-hour stoppages. Any wide stoppage at major container ports can ripple into shipping schedules, freight rates and delivery times for exporters and importers — including Punjabi businesses that ship food, textiles and machinery through these routes — even when a port itself only stops for a few hours. Whether Friday's action reaches the organisers' claimed scale will only be known on the day.

What happens next: the strike is scheduled for Friday, 30 October. Awaaz Punjab will check on the day which major ports actually stopped, and for how long, before reporting any impact on shipping.