Israel: Histadrut to allow migrants entry under pressure from rival union federation

Histadrut has always been a strange creature. In most countries one joins a trade union which is affiliated to a national trade union federation. In Israel one first joins Histadrut and then one is allocated to a union. It is only outside Israel that Histadrut is seen as a normal trade union, the Israeli equivalent of the British Trade Union Congress or the American union movement AFL/CIO.

Less well known is the fact that Histadrut, an organization of the settler Jewish working class, was the key Zionist organization responsible for the formation of the Israeli state. As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir remarked: "Then [1928] I was put on the Histadrut Executive Committee at a time when this big labor union wasn't just a trade union organization. It was a great colonizing agency." [1] Pinhas Lavon, as secretary-general of Histadrut, went so far as to describe it in 1960 as "a general organization to its core. It is not a trade union ..." [2] Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, held that without Histadrut, "I doubt whether we would have had a state." [3]

STATEMENT IN OCCASION OF THE WORKERS’ BOYCOTT CALL
Today, 11th of February 2007, we, the Palestinian labour federations, vocational and professional trade unions, and the grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, have convened a press conference to announce a call for solidarity with our workers and the Palestinian people endorsed by the General Union of Palestinian Workers, Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, the Coalition of Independent Democratic Trade Unions and other professional unions.
This call addresses the Arab and International Trade Unions and, in particular, the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions, the Arab League, the Arab Labour Organization, the International Labour Organization, the International Trade Union Confederation, the Organization of African Trade Union Unity, the Palestinian people and the international community.
We call upon all the above to:
• Boycott and divest from Israel
• Work towards sanctions upon Israel
Until Israel stops its crimes against our people and implements international law safeguarding human rights for all.
This call from the Palestinian workers movement is part of our struggle against the Occupation and for Freedom, Self-determination, the Right of Return, Social Justice and a Palestinian independent state with its capital as Jerusalem and to end the racism against our people inside the Green Line.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and next year will mark 60 years from the Nakba. In the meanwhile, the Palestinian people still yearn for their right to live free in their homeland, and 6.8 million refugees scattered all over the world strive for their right (as enshrined in international law, including UN resolutions) to
return to their homes, villages and cities.
It is imperative to recognize that since its inception, the Histadrut has supported the Occupation and enacted racist policies against our workers, denying them their rights. It has kept silent in front of Israel’s crimes against our people throughout the decades of occupation.
We are thus asking the international trade unions to boycott the Histadrut to pressure it to guarantee rights for our workers and to pressure the government to end the occupation and to recognize the full rights of the Palestinian people.
Since July 2002, the Occupation is creating a new reality on the ground via construction of the Apartheid Wall. It turns the West Bank into ghettos, escalates the confiscation and isolation of our lands and water and increases racist policies against our people, eventually destroying the dream of a Palestinian state. On top of this, the Occupation continues with the policies of “targeted assassinations”, home demolitions, expulsion of non-Jews from Jerusalem and destruction of homes and historical monuments there, attacks on holy sites, and destroying our industries and entire economy then exploiting our workers, starving our people in order to force the Occupation’s projects upon us so that we will eventually surrender.
Today, we initiate as the Palestinian Labour Movement a Workers’ Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) to build upon the United Palestinian Call for BDS against Israel to the International Community. This call has been signed by more than 170 Palestinian organizations and political parties from the West Bank, Gaza and the Diaspora.
We thank and express our gratitude to the movements, unions and organizations all over the world that in the last two years have taken up the call for boycott and launched campaigns in their countries. They challenged the Zionist lobby and have shown steadfastness in the face of attacks instigated against them.
We thus ask the international trade unions to grant their support to these initiatives in their countries, to organize their own boycott campaigns and to coordinate international efforts to effectively implement boycotts, divestment and sanctions in order to:
1. Stop the crimes committed against our rights, above all occupation and the expulsion
of our people;
2. Tear down the wall of silence built up by the international community in order to finally shun the crimes of the Occupation;
3. Keep the conscience of the world alive and nurture respect for international human rights law while promoting its implementation;
4. Reach a just and comprehensive solution for the Palestinian cause.
Greetings to the Liberation Struggle of our Workers.
Greetings to those around the World Standing in Solidarity and Struggling for the Palestinian Cause.
Eternal Glory to Martyrs for Freedom Everywhere.

Signatories
General Union of Palestinian workers: Haidar Ibrahim (General Secretary)
Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions: Amneh Rimawi / for: Shaher Sa’ad (Steering committee)
Coalition of Independent Democratic Trade Unions: Muhammad al Arouri (Coordinator)
General Union of Palestine Labor Vocational Associations: Hassan Sharake (General Secretary)
Palestinian Farmers Union: Adel Abu Ne’meh (General Secretary)

In addition to the core protection of non-refoulement, the 1951 Convention prescribes freedom from penalties for illegal entry (article 31),

I've done a quick search on the theoretical right to cross borders and found the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees

The only exception is for people requesting refugee status.

Einstein discovered that all positions are relative; there is no "neutral".

They were not started with the intention of expelling the Native Americans from America.

No One Is Illegal is a phrase first used by Elie Weisel, a Jewish survivor from Nazi Germany, a refugee and a Nobel prize winner. He was speaking in 1985 in Tuscon, Arizona at a national sanctuary conference in the USA in defence of the rights of refugees to live in the USA . The sanctuary movement undertaken by religious communities in the USA (and to a far lesser extent in the UK) in support of those threatened by immigration controls is one of many pieces of resistance to controls. Over the last few years No One Is Illegal groups have been formed throughout Europe and North America — for instance in Germany (Kein Mensch Ist Illegal), Spain (Ninguna Persona Es Ilegal), Sweden (Ingen Manniska Ar Illegal), Poland (Zaden Czlowiek Nie Jest Nielegalny) and Holland (Geen Mens Is Illegaal). In August 1999 anarchists organised a demonstration in Lvov Poland against the deportation of Ukrainian workers under the banner of No One Is Illegal. In France the sans papiers campaign under the slogan personne n’est illegal/e. There have been No One Is Illegal/No Border camps at the joint borders of Germany, Czech Republic and Poland, and No Border camps at Frankfurt, southern Spain and Salzburg. In June 2002 there was a demonstration against war, globalisation and in defence of refugees under the same slogan in Ottawa, Canada. In England groups are emerging calling themselves No Borders. The demand for no controls, rather than being seen as extreme,operates as a rallying call to the undocumented and their supporters.

I think Judas is completely wrong, ignorant and guilty of what we used to call 'economism'. A leopard doesn't change its spots and neither does Histadrut.

The first thing that our leafy friend should ask is what is the nature of Histadrut, what type of organisation. How has it changed, when did it change from the primary colonisatory organisation in Palestine/Israel into a genuine trade union? Was it the Stability Pact and privatisation of its companies that turned it into a genuine trade union federation? Bear in mind that the position of first joining a federation and then a union in itself smacks of a corporatist 'union'.

Histadrut also took the dues off Palestinian workers in the occupied territories in exchange for providing representation that never materialised. It still does, some 1% of the wage packet and it keeps half. I don't see Histadrut as any different and its latest position merely reflects the fact that we have started putting pressure on this scab settler-colonial 'union'. So if Judas wants to relieve the pressure on them fine, because being an Israeli it will no doubt be easy for him to do so but in so doing he is actually aiding what was one of the key elements of the Zionist state.

Histadrut has not changed in any principled way, it has merely become weaker and less important in Israel. But as its importance in Israel declines, not least the competition from other non-racist workers' organisations, so of course it has had to adapt. And one of its roles is to sanitise Israel abroad inside the labour movements of other countries. So this anarchist is in reality helping to legitimise a scab settler union. Even the worst yellow union does what Histadrut does when the chips are down but this but it's nothing to do with precarity or other buzz words that Judas has transplanted from an entirely different situation in Europe.

Does Histadrut still only allow settlers in the West bank to join? Yes. Does Histadrut still campaign for the deportation of migrant workers in order that unemployment can be lowered for Jewish workers in Israel? Yes on a local level. Did Histadrut campaign or indeed say anything about the attempt of Israel rail to replace Arab Israelis with Jews last year? No. Has it ever campaigned against this racist phenomenon or the Wisconsin programme, which is directed almost exclusively against Arab Israeli and Ethiopian workers? No. I attach one article where Histadrut officials actually went on police raids against migrant workers.

So no I don't buy this nonsense. It has nothing to do with anarchism or socialism but to do with adaptation to national chauvinism.

Last month the Histadrut (claiming to be a general federation of trade unions) announced that it was "considering" setting up a trade union for foreign workers employed in Israel. While this is being "considered", it is becoming clear what kind of representation these workers are going to get.
The 13 September 2002 issue of the weekly "Tzafon 1" (= North 1) reports that
during the first weekend of September the Immigration Administration --
which is in fact a deportation police force, recently founded in order to execute the government's decision to deport 50,000 "illegal" migramt workers in one year -- went on a joint operation with the Histadrut in the Western Galilee. Here is how the operation is described in "Tzafon 1".

"Last Thursday morning, the Immigration Administration unit, headed by
Chief Inspectors Benny Fein and Yuval Knafo, raided the Tzinorot
Darom factory in the (Acre) industrial park and detained for questioning 11
foreign workers suspected of being in this country without valid visas.
Following questioning it transpired that six of them have no work permits
and are illegally employed. Later on, members of the unit raided
Hammefattel factory and detained nine more workers who did not possess the
required visas. All the workers apprehended were transferred to Ma'asiyahu
Prison in Ramleh and deportation procedure against them has been put in
motion."
And what did the Histadrut people do? Did they at least see to it that
before being deported the detained workers would receive their pay and all
other benefits owed to them? "Tzafon 1" reports:
"The Histadrut Chairman in the Western Galilee, Asher Shmueli, said
that this was the beginning of a process of defeating the phenomenon
whereby foreign workers without employment visas are employed in some work
places under most disgraceful slavery conditions, while Israeli workers
are rejected and are unable to find jobs."
If the Histadrut knew about workers being employed in conditions of
slavery, why did it not go into action and help them improve their
conditions of employment?

And what does it intend to do from now on?

"The Immigration Administration in collaboration with the Histadrut will
continue to locate work placed where foreign workers are employed," Shmueli
told "Tzafon 1". "We appeal to all workers who know that there are foreign
workers in their work place to report it to the Histadrut, even
anonymously, so that enforcement operations can be carried out to oust
those workers. In this way Israeli workers would once again be able to be
settled in jobs."

Thus far the report from the north. So, the Histadrut, which claims to
represent workers, volunteers for racist collaboration with the police
(and employers) against the workers; and it goes so far as to ask Israeli
workers to inform on their workmates. In fact, the idea of setting up a trade
union for foreign workers is also racist: if the Histadrut is so keen to
represent these workers, it could simply enlist them into its existing
unions. In fact, it is greedy for their membership fees, millions of
shekels each month, which would be levied by the employers and flow
directly into Histadrut coffers. By setting up a separate trade union for
"foreigners" -- workers in agriculture, construction, health services,
welfare and industry -- the Histadrut is saying that in its view there are
two classes of workers in Israel: Israelis, who are organized by
occupation, and "foreigners" who are organized separately by nationality.
Such an apartheid policy truly befits an organization which is ready to put
itself at the service of the mass deportation policy proclaimed by the
government, and should be exposed and condemned.

Histadrut has failed to represent any Palestinian workers inside Israel and the PGFTU is forbidden from defending Arab workers in such areas. It is very painful. We can see, witness, and hear of Israeli brutal exploitation of Arab workers, but we cannot do anything.

Who is Tony Greenstein?

It does have Arab members, and the local Communist party, which is Arab-dominated, has membership in its elected management. So it is a bit more like the AFL-CIO starting to take up immigrants, in terms of overall significance to the migrant workforce

I think you are defending Histadrut when you argue:

Quote:
It does have Arab members, and the local Communist party, which is Arab-dominated, has membership in its elected management. So it is a bit more like the AFL-CIO starting to take up immigrants, in terms of overall significance to the migrant workforce

Do most unions accept migrant workers, seek them out as members, run organization drives including them, etc?

AIW, it seems like you're just having a knee-jerk reaction as the news article is not criticizing Israel enough. Are you heavily involved in Palestine solidarity activities?

No, that article is misleading as to Histadrut's current position.

Maki, the original Israeli Communist Party, saw a split between a largely Jewish faction led by Moshe Sneh, which recognized Israel's right to exist and was critical of the Soviet Union's increasingly anti-Israel stance, and a largely Arab faction, which was increasingly anti-Zionist. As a result, the pro-Palestinian faction (including Emile Habibi, Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner) left Maki to form a new party, Rakah, which the Soviet Union recognised as the "official" Communist Party. It was reported in the Soviet media that the Mikunis-Sneh group defected to the bourgois-nationalist camp.

My intention was to put Histadrut in context.

Histadrut is not the BNP.

Maki (Hebrew: מק"י‎, an acronym for HaMiflega HaKomunistit HaYisraelit (Hebrew: המפלגה הקומוניסטית הישראלית‎, Arabic: الحزب الشيوعي الاسرائيلي‎ Al-Ḥizb ash-Shiū`ī al-'Isrā'īlī, lit. Israeli Communist Party) is a communist political party in Israel and forms part of the political alliance known as Hadash. It was originally known as Rakah (Hebrew: רק"ח‎, an acronym for Reshima Komunistit Hadasha (Hebrew: רשימה קומוניסטית חדשה‎, lit. New Communist List), and is not the same party as the original Maki, from which it broke away in the 1960s.
...
As a result, the pro-Palestinian faction (including Emile Habibi, Tawfik Toubi and Meir Vilner) left Maki to form a new party, Rakah, which the Soviet Union recognised as the "official" Communist Party.

If you have a look at my Electronic Intifada article from memory it gives the Arab membership at about 50,000. Very substantially down. In some workplaces of course it will be the norm to be a member, possibly even a condition for a job. Though it's also the case that Arab members are increasingly looked on suspiciously. I know the Communist Party used to have representation at all levels of the Histadrut, having made its peace with the organisation following Stalin's volte face at the UN in 1947. Previously Histadrut had co-operated with the British to have members deported!

But none of this changes the nature of Histadrut. The CP incidentally is not an anti-Zionist organisation and although it has always been an Arab dominated group numerically, its leadership was half-Jewish. Again I don't know whether this is still the case.

But I would support efforts to launch joint Jewish-Arab unions and workers associations. Histadrut is an inextricable part of the Zionist establishment and state, a declining component, but a part nonetheless. Why should Marxists and I assume you are to the left of the CP join an organisation which is rotten from the core? It is now, at best a settler union, nothing more. I don't think it's any accident that Amir Peretz, the former Secretary General in whom high hopes were invested, launched the Lebanon War and that Haim Ramon, another ex SG was the most hawklike of the cabinet that launched the Gaza invasion.

Anyway these are my views!

It is imperative to recognize that since its inception, the Histadrut has supported the Occupation and enacted racist policies against our workers, denying them their rights. It has kept silent in front of Israel’s crimes against our people throughout the decades of occupation.
We are thus asking the international trade unions to boycott the Histadrut to pressure it to guarantee rights for our workers.