PGFTU
Palestinian union hit on all sides
An article from the Al-Jazeera website detailing the repression faced by trade unionists in Palestine not only from the Israeli state but also from the 'national liberation' militias of Hamas and Fatah.
Taken from Al-Jazeera English, by Omar Khalifa.
With 47 per cent of the potential Palestinian labour force unemployed and a per capita income 23 times less than that of Israel, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) has a difficult enough job.
Interview with Rasem Al Bayari, Palestinian trade unionist
Being a trade unionist is a very dangerous business in Palestine.
Rasem Al Bayari, Deputy General Secretary of the PGFTU (Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions), an ITUC affiliate, knows that well: following the destruction of a PGFTU building in October 2006 and the firing of two rockets at his home in January, on 6 April Rasem Al Bayari was injured by masked men who attacked him while he was in a car with his family.
Health worker and bank strikes in Palestine
Banks in Palestine went on a one-day general strike yesterday after a bomb was detonated outside the Arab Bank in Gaza early on Friday.
Circumstances surrounding the explosion are unclear and attackers are unknown. A statement by the Association of Banks in Palestine suggested it may be a reprisal for their complicity in the unpaid wages dispute which led to mass strikes by public sector workers, pointing to stone throwing attacks on banks by strikers.
