Israel

In Israel, lawmakers have tabled a bill aimed at preventing a union from launching a strike in solidarity with a cause that does not have direct impact on the work of its members. This would prevent unions from joining nationwide protests on various issues. The bill covers the right to strike of workers in the national electricity, water, ports, public transport and health sectors, as well as the Israel Stock Exchange and the Bank of Israel. Histadrut vigorously opposes this legislative initiative to restrict workers’ right to take strike action.

In Israel, workers at the Gulf Port have been denied genuine representation by their employer. The port management cooperated with the National Labor Federation in Eretz-Israel (NLF) to intimidate and pressure port workers into signing up with NLF. Workers were given no choice, as most of them were Chinese citizens, and their management withheld their work permits. The Histadrut filed a lawsuit before the National Labour Court which invalidated the signatures of port workers in light of the inauthenticity of the representation and of the pressure exerted by the management for workers to join the NLF.

In Israel, the Histadrut declared a labour dispute in April 2022, following unilateral actions of the Minister of Transport, which led to the privatisation of several wharves. The Histadrut denounced the government’s unilateral action in bad faith and in violation of social dialogue, with these privatisation measures following years of understanding between the parties.

In Israel, workers of Wolt Delivery, an app-based food delivery service, had organised as members of the Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (the Working and Studying Youth Union) and a national committee was formed. Several workers were suspended from the app for leading demonstrations to demand better and safer working conditions and one was banned from the app on spurious accusations of violence. No investigation was carried out and the worker had no means at his disposal to defend himself. The worker’s access to the app was finally restored after the Histadrut HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed interceded with the company.