Independent unions in Israel?
Apr 27 2008 16:30
I represent the International Solidarity Commission of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). One of our members is planning a trip to Israel/Palestine in May and June, where she plans to meet with various unions and workers centers. We have some good contacts in Palestine and they are hooking us up with some Arab workers centers in Israel. However, I have been having a hard time finding any inter-ethnic or predominantly Jewish labor unions in Israel that would be compatible with the IWW's principles. The main union federation, HISTRADUT, is very hierarchical and has a long history of aggressive nationalism and complicity with the Israeli government. Does anyone know of any anti-racist, militant independent labor unions or workers centers in Israel?
-Mike
Apr 27 2008 17:58
#2
Ballista,
The IWW is a revolutionary labor union. We are anti-capitalist. I didn't use the words "revolutionary" or "anti-capitalist" in my original post because we recognize the need to be anti-sectarian when pursuing international alliances. We don't want to limit ourselves to groups that have exactly the same perspective as us, but we do have certain minimum standards, which is why I we wouldn't be interested in meeting with a group like HISTRADUT. Perhaps the word "union" is itself too loaded for a lot of people; we are just as interested in meeting with workers centers or any independent group made of, for, and by workers and concerned with changing conditions in the workplace. I'm not interested in having a debate about revolutionary methods on this thread. I am simply looking for contacts. Please stay on topic and let me know if you have any contacts. You can link to a new thread to debate the usefulness of unions if you want. Thanks!
-Mike
Apr 29 2008 00:37
#3
Well, one person you might want to get in touch with is someone who has been highly active in organizing security workers in Israel; he can be reached using an email I will send you in a PM.
As for actual extra-Histadrut labour organizations, you have Workers` Advice Center which is more active with Arab Israelis (and may well be a Stalinist front), Kav La'oved (Literally "Worker's Line") who are more of a charity and information clearinghouse, and some organization I've only recently heard of called Koah La'ovdim (Literally "Power to the Workers") who seem to be about encouraging (or recuperating) workers organizing in fresh locations. The way the describe their structure, it seems like thinly veiled democratic centralism, but I'm not sure. Eyal Rozenberg probably knows a lot more than I do, try to PM him as well.
Ballista