Archaeology and Farm Workers Head WAC-MAAN’s May 1 Rally in Tel Aviv Hundreds of workers and youth, members of WAC-MAAN, marched on May 1 with the message: “No to unemployment! No to swine capitalism!” At the head of the procession…
Tag: labor
Abusive Employment Practices at the Israeli Antiquities Authority
Dozens working for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) at the archaeological site of Ras al-Amud near Jerusalem were summoned on January 8, 2009 by a representative of Brik, the personnel firm through which they were employed. He told them that…
Unconquered: Illegal Palestinian Workers in Israel
One day in 2005, Jonathan Ben Efrat of Video48 noticed Palestinian laborers waiting for jobs at a busy junction on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Stopping to talk, he learned that they were shabahim, illegal sojourners. To get around the checkpoints…
The Teachers’ Strike
From the Grass Roots Up A TWO-MONTH strike of Israeli high school teachers, their longest ever, ended in December 2007 when the independent High School Teachers Organization (HSTO) reached a compromise with the government. The strike went beyond a labor…
FNV Officials Study Israel’s Labor Market
THREE OFFICIALS from FNV, the largest trade union confederation in the Netherlands, recently met with Arab women at their jobs on an Israeli farm. The jobs had been organized by the Workers Advice Center (WAC), to which the women belong.…
Bread and Roses II: The Invisible Force
About 1200 people visited the gallery of the Minshar School in south Tel Aviv on November 10, 2007. Here, for the second straight year, Bamat Etgar held the art sale known as “Bread and Roses.” The walls were filled with…
The Pension Scam
IN JULY 2007 the Histadrut (Israel’s General Federation of Labor) reached a pension agreement with the Coordinating Office of Economic Organizations.1 “A historic accord!” said the signers. For the first time in Israel, the unorganized working poor would have a pension…
Wisconsin II: Cosmetic Changes but still No Jobs
IN JULY 2007, the Knesset gave final approval to a law that will replace the Wisconsin pilot, which was called Mehalev (“From the Heart,” an acronym based on a Hebrew phrase meaning, “From Income Maintenance to Becoming Part of the…
Palestinian Quarry Workers Organize
THE SAL’IT QUARRY lies in the desert north of the West Bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim, a bedroom suburb of Jerusalem. Its workers have decided to break through the Fear Barrier and wage a struggle for their rights. There are…
The Wall and the Sweatshops
Palestinian Workers in Abu Dis near Jerusalem SINCE MAY 2006, the 75,000 people of Abu Dis and other Arab villages near Jerusalem have been cut off from the city by the separation wall. Until then there were still openings here…