TUFI’s monthly update looks at important trade union issues in Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Middle East Peace Process, regional developments, domestic Israeli and Palestinian affairs and primary issues affecting British trade union policy on Israel

UNISON turns its back on Palestinian advice, decides to sever relations with Israeli unions

Last year, UNISON (the UK’s largest union) conference mandated the leadership to send a fact-finding mission to Israel and Palestine and one of the key tasks for that mission was to find out what Palestinians and Israelis thought. A central question to be asked was – should UNISON maintain a relationship with Israel’s Histadrut, or not?

The mission talked not only to mainstream Israeli trade unionists, but to a whole range of smaller groups, including a number of groups which have long been hostile to the Histadrut. And they talked to a range of Palestinian union groups. And everyone told them, without exception, that it was essential for UNISON to continue to constructively engage with the Histadrut. The Histadrut, everyone told them this, is the main organised expression of the Israeli working class and it would be wrong for unions outside of Israel to sever relations.

The UNISON NEC proposed that the conference adopt the report of the mission – but following a debate, conference delegates rejected not only the union leadership position, but that of the Palestinians as well.

As a result, the union has severed its relations with the Histadrut.
This is a massive blow – but not to the Histadrut, which will do fine with the “constructive engagement” that had been proposed.

The blow is to the credibility of UNISON, a union that once really did want to help build peace in the Middle East — and now has turned its back on the peoples of Israel and Palestine.

UNISON used to play a positive role in promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace and dialogue. It would invite representatives of Israeli and Palestinian unions to its conferences.

This is why it’s so sad to report what has happened at this year’s UNISON annual conference, where the union decided to abandon any effort to play a constructive role, instead choosing to engage in anti-Israel posturing.

British trade union of university lecturers adopts motion on definition of anti-Semitism

The Universities and Colleges Union (UCU), the largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers and academic-related in the UK voted to distance itself from the European Union's working definition of anti-Semitism at its annual congress in Harrogate.

Delegates overwhelmingly supported the move on the part of the union's leadership, which believes the definition from the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia "prevents open discussion of Israel."
The union has a history of anti-Israel activism as again it voted through a boycott motion.

Moves to boycott Israeli academics two years ago had been dropped by the union after legal advice that this could breach laws against racial discrimination.
The definition of anti-Semitism includes any attacks on the Jewish people's right to self-determination.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council and the Community Security Trust wrote to the union and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) urging a rethink on the issue.

The Jewish organizations urged the union to adopt the definition of racism contained in the Macpherson report on the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. This defines a racist incident as one which is viewed as such by the victim or a third party.

EHRC chair Trevor Phillips wrote back saying he was surprised the lecturers' union had not consulted him before taking action on the issue.

Jeremy Newmark, chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council said: "After today's events I believe the UCU is institutionally racist."

100 workers gather before Knesset to protest Sderot factory closing

Some 100 employees of a Sderot-based bandage-producing facility, "Nisan,” gathered in front of the Knesset to protest the decision to close the factory. The Knesset's Labour, Welfare and Health Committee were discussing the issue. The workers' representatives and the Histadrut trade union are calling for the state to purchase the establishment.

Unfortunately at the time of writing the factory is slated for closure at the end of June, as planned, 100 employees will lose their jobs.

Bank of Israel: Minimum wage hike won't ease poverty

The Bank of Israel estimates that the minimum wage revision will reduce the incidence of poverty by 0.1%.

Raising the minimum wage will not alleviate poverty, concludes the Bank of Israel in a new report. It estimates that the minimum wage revision will reduce the incidence of poverty by 0.1%. The Bank of Israel said, "In order to reduce poverty by a significant amount, improved compliance with the Minimum Wage Law is required."
Moreover, the Bank of Israel estimates the upcoming minimum wage hike will increase direct salary costs in the public sector by NIS 427 million from 2011-13.

Under an agreement between the Histadrut (General Federation of Labour in Israel) and the Economic Organizations Liaison Committee in December 2010, the minimum wage was raised to NIS 3,890.30 in April, and will rise to NIS 4,100 in July 2011 and to NIS 4,300 in October 2012. The agreement was expanded to the public sector in March 2011. The current exchange rate is 5.50 NIS to the British pound.

The agreement's application to workers and employers in the business sector who are not represented by the organisations that signed it depends on an expansion order, which the Minister of Industry, Labour, and Trade is supposed to give. If the minimum wage hike is expanded to the overall economy, it will result in two 5% consecutive hikes to the nominal minimum wage, and increases of 5% and 2.4%, respectively, in real terms.

The Bank of Israel concludes, "A minimum wage is intended to assure a suitable standard of living for low wage workers, and to reduce the incidence of poverty and wage gaps between employees. However, the weak compliance with labour laws, particularly the minimum wage law, seen in data from Israel, takes away from the impact of these laws. There are studies which point to a weak negative impact of updated minimum wage on employment levels, and this is in any case dependent on the economic environment and on the industry. Due to the limitations of minimum wage to extricate people from poverty, many countries operate other tools which are intended to increase the income of low wage earners, such as a progressive tax system and negative income tax."

Annual survey of violations of trade union rights: What it tells us about Israel and Palestine

The International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) annual survey of violations of trade union rights is a must-read for all trade unionists.

This year’s report is no exception.

Though it highlights very severe violations around the world (including 90 murders of trade unionists, the majority of those in Colombia), it also focuses attention on violations of workers’ rights in Israel and Palestine.

Unlike many criticisms made of Israel by some on the far Left, the ITUC report is well-documented and considered to be authoritative. It needs to be taken seriously.

Among the issues it raises regarding Israel are these:

Police stopped a bus filled with Arab Israeli protestors. Workers were harassed while trying to form a union at the Haredi Institute in Jerusalem. The Schechter Institute is accused of mocking and harassing those who tried to join a union. A planned teachers’ strike was declared illegal by courts. Cleaners at a university were sacked for going on strike. The government engaged in strike-breaking when the diplomats’ union took industrial action. Labour laws are widely violated by employers. Palestinians working in Israel face a number of problems. A quarter million migrant workers (half of them “illegals”) are often abused and exploited.

At first glance, these will sound pretty familiar to trade unionists in other democratic countries. Employer harassment of union organising drives is widespread in countries like the USA, and public sector strikes are often blocked by courts. Migrant workers suffer in almost all countries.

These are issues of general concern, but it means that Israel is neither better nor worse than most Western countries.

And what does the ITUC have to say about Palestine?

It records one arrest and 19 dismissals (Israel had no arrests and 3 reported dismissals). Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have jailed journalists. Jewish settlers trashed a union building. Quarry workers went on strike, dealing with a difficult management. The UN refugee agency (UNRWA) refused to bargain with its employees. Workers at a Jewish-owned West Bank factory were sacked after striking. And the report also alleges that a delegation of South African trade unionists visiting Palestine was attacked by Israeli soldiers.

Again, none of this is very good — but it’s not exactly in the same league as, say, Colombia where 49 trade unionists weremurdered.

There were ten murders of trade unionists in Guatemala. Trade unionists were also murdered in Bangladesh, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, Pakistan, the Philippines, Swaziland and Uganda. A teacher trade unionist was hanged in Iran. Some countries completely ban trade unions – such as Saudi Arabia, Burma and the United Arab Emirates.

The report can only be comprehensive in countries where the ITUC actually can access information. That means that open societies (such as Israel) provide dozens of stories, whereas closed, totalitarian societies offer very little. Here, for example, is how the ITUC reports on violations of trade union rights in Syria:

Murders: none reported
Attempted Murders: none reported
Threats: none reported
Injuries: none reported
Arrests: none reported
Imprisonments: none reported
Dismissals: none reported

And that’s it. The Israeli page on violations of rights contains five paragraphs.

The Syrian page is blank.

In looking over the report, one has to ask – why are some unions keen on boycotting Israel, but have not a word to say about Guatemala, where ten trade unionists were murdered last year?

In Britain, dozens of unions are affiliated to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign — but where is the Guatemala Solidarity Campaign?

Where are the calls in trade unions to boycott goods from Colombia, Guatemala, Iran, or any other country where trade unionists are routinely shot or hanged?

Trade unionists in all countries should read this report and act on it, and build campaigns of solidarity with workers suffering everywhere.
But they should also put things in perspective, and prioritize, and realize that the violations of trade union rights in Israel and Palestine, while real, are nothing as compared to what goes on in dozens of other countries.

(Eric Lee)

Palestinian workers strike over collective wage agreement with Israeli employer

40 Palestinian workers at the Sal'it Adumim quarry near Mishor Adumim in the West Bank are demanding that management sign a collective wage agreement with them.

An unprecedented strike by Palestinian workers against an Israeli-owned business began in early June, over the demand to improve their labour conditions
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The 40 Palestinian workers at the Sal'it Adumim quarry near Mishor Adumim in the West Bank are demanding that management sign a collective wage agreement with them. The striking Palestinian workers during a meeting in a tent they erected outside the quarry.

For the past 18 months the workers have been organizing with the help of the workers’ rights group Maan.

After a long struggle, management finally recognised the workers' committee and began negotiating with it. About six weeks ago, management and labour reached a draft agreement, but workers say that management is refusing to sign it and is avoiding meetings with the workers' committee.

In mid June the workers decided to go on strike until management signs the agreement. The workers are asking for a gradual increase in wages, which now range between NIS 18 and NIS 26 per hour, a pension plan and safer and healthier working conditions.

They have complained about that they receive partial pension payments only, that salary payments are delayed and that dismissals are arbitrary.

"We work in the desert, in the heat. We have to be treated differently than in other areas," said Niaz Kadadha, of Ramallah, who has been working in the quarry for 17 years. "We aren't asking for anything out of the ordinary," he added.

Many Palestinians working for Israelis in the West Bank suffer from difficult working conditions, especially considering Israeli labour laws. Spontaneous strikes have broken out against such companies in the past, but this is the first time workers have organised and gone on strike to demand a collective wage agreement.

The High Court of Justice has in the past recognised, after a long battle by the Histadrut Labour Union, the right of Palestinians working in Israeli settlements to receive conditions according to Israeli law. However, the ruling has not yet been tested against a private company.

"This agreement brings the company from the 19th to the 20th century, not even the 21st. We didn't get everything we wanted, but it's something we can live with," Assaf Adiv, of Maan, said, adding that the workers would not go back to work without it.

Israel is not doing enough to promote women's equality

A large number of studies and statistics prove that advancing women's equality is good for the economy, the society and the country; it has been reported that the large number of laws that go unimplemented prove that laws are not sufficient.

They are all related to the fact that almost every woman also takes care of her home and family without pay. Even when it comes to salaried carers, in Israel 90 percent are women, while other professions related to education, social welfare and carers are considered “women’s’ work” and remunerated accordingly. On average, women earn only 60 percent of what men do. That perpetuates their dependence on men and leaves the power, positions of power and money in men's hands.

It was reported in June 2011 that Gertrud Astrom, an expert on economic policy, who visited Israel. Her goal, as it was formulated in Sweden, is that "Women and men shall have the same power to shape society and their own lives. That men and women shall decide equally regarding their own lives." That is the law that was passed there in 2006, which is called "Shared Power - Shared Responsibility." Astrom was one of its authors.

Under this policy, the overall budget and every line item in it is scrutinized to see how it affects men and how it affects women. In one Swedish town, for example, it turned out that 90 percent of those using public sports facilities were men, while 70 percent of the sports budget served men only. An examination of the welfare services demonstrated that requests for assistance by men were accepted more readily than similar requests by women - not out of objective considerations of real need, but due to the stigma that men are unable to manage alone.

Yet the large number of laws that go unimplemented, such as the law mandating equal pay for equal work or the one requiring suitable representation for women on public committees and negotiating teams, prove that laws are not sufficient. The decisive factor, as Astrom says, is political will and a determination to implement these laws fully.

New Israeli Ambassador to the UK announced

The current Israeli foreign ministry’s deputy legal counsel, Daniel Taub, has been announced as the new Israeli Ambassador to the UK. British-born Taub will replace Ron Prosor, who has recently become the Israeli Ambassador to the UN. Educated at the University of Oxford and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Taub is a regular spokesperson for the Israeli government and has also been a member of its negotiation teams with both the Syrians and the Palestinians.

Netanyahu reiterates the need for a ‘two state for two peoples’ solution; Israeli Labour MK outlines his plan for peace

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared in a cabinet meeting on Sunday (19 June) that there should be a Jewish majority in Israel and a Palestinian majority in Palestine. He has reiterated the need for a two state solution within clearly defined and negotiated borders. Palestinian plans for unilateral declaration of statehood in the UN are not certain, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas claiming Palestinians may not turn to the UN if given an “alternative” and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton saying the international community’s decision is not a “done deal”.

Israeli Labor party leadership contender and Member of the Knesset Isaac Herzog told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on 16 June that Israel should seek to attract the Palestinians back to talks by: freezing all settlement construction beyond the West Bank security barrier (i.e. those outside the major settlement blocs); advancing “significant economic projects” in the Palestinian territories; and granting thousands of Palestinians permission to work within Israel.

Israel begins dismantling section of the security fence after high court ruling

The Israeli Ministry of Defence has begun to dismantle parts of the security fence around Palestinian village Bili'in after the High Court of Justice ruled that it cut off the villagers land. Approximately 3 kilometres of the fence’s route will be adjusted in an area that has become a focal point for protests against the fence, and over the past 6 years villagers and activists have demonstrated every Friday night.

The 680 kilometre fence was constructed during the second intifada in which, after 5 years of sustained terror attacks, over 1 thousand Israelis were killed. The security fence has been credited for the vast reduction in terror attacks since its completion.

Fatah-Hamas talks collapse as Hamas refuse to relinquish violence

The unity deal between the secular-nationalist Fatah party and the Iranian-backed Islamist Hamas stalled on Sunday (19 June), following the collapse of a meeting which was due to decide the prime minister of the proposed unity government. The two factions had agreed a deadline of 6 June for announcing the composition of a new cabinet.

Disagreements became clear when Hamas vetoed respected economist and politically independent Salam Fayyad returning as Palestinian prime minister. Fatah’s central committee voted for Salam Fayyad in an effort to maintain international recognition and aid for the Palestinian Authority. Fayyad enjoys the popular support of the Palestinian people, with over 45 percent saying in a recent poll that they prefer him to Hamas’ proposed candidate – current Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh. The day prior to the collapse of the talks, Haniyeh asserted that any unity deal should maintain the “resistance weapon”.

The leaders of Fatah and Hamas, defined by the EU, US and Israel as a terrorist organisation, signed a reconciliation agreement on 4 May. Hamas continues to reject the Quartet principles of renouncing violence, accepting previous agreements and recognising the state of Israel’s right to exist. However it has come under pressure this week from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean which passed a motion on Monday (20 June) urging both sides to return to negotiations. The motion, agreed to by a number of Muslim nations including Egypt, Tunisia and the Palestinian Authority, was uncharacteristically friendly towards Israel, and demanded that Hamas accept the Quartet principles.

Speaking in the House of Commons on 7 June, Foreign Secretary William Hague said that that any new Palestinian government “should be composed of independent figures” and “should uphold the principle of non-violence, be committed to a negotiated two-state solution, and accept previous agreements of the Palestine Liberation Organisation”. He added that “Hamas will remain a proscribed terrorist organisation unless and until it abandons violence and commits to a two-state solution and we call again for the immediate release of Gilad Shalit”.

Israel allows over $100million of construction materials into Gaza

Israel has approved over $100million worth of construction materials for new houses and schools in Gaza, allowing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) enough materials to construct 1,200 houses and 18 schools. Guy Inbar, a military spokesman, said that the approval was immediate and that UNRWA could begin construction when they were ready. The news was welcomed by UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry who said that he “welcomes the significant step” and hopes that construction will begin in a “timely fashion”.

Israel, along with Egypt, tightened the border after the Islamist Hamas took complete control of the territory in 2007 from the secular-nationalist Fatah in a bloody coup. The blockade is to ensure that weapons do not reach Hamas, who fire thousands of rockets into southern Israel and continue to refuse accept Israel’s right to exist.

Labour Friends of Israel Event, 12 July 2011

Labour Friends of Israel are hosting a panel debate in Westminster at 6:30pm on 12 July on “Supporting Israel on the left: harder in opposition?” The speakers include Ivan Lewis MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and former Minister for the Middle East; Rt Hon Jane Kennedy, former Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree and Wes Streeting, Labour & Co-op Councillor in the London Borough of Redbridge and former President of the NUS. To book your place please email events@lfi.org.uk.