Workers in Israel’s day care centres run by Na’amat (formerly the Working Women’s Council of the Histadrut) are to hold a “warning strike” on Sunday morning, the Histadrut reported yesterday.

Gvt refuses to fund childcare worker pay increase

The strike will close down 250 centres which care for 18,000 pre-school children.  It follows a decision by the government to refuse to fund pay increases for day care centre workers.

Histadrut leaders say that the salary of the day care centre workers is extremely low, and demands that they be treated as educational workers with increased pay.

Increasing militancy of Israeli unions

They say that if a solution is not reached before the opening of the school year, the centres will not open and a complete strike will begin.

The struggle highlights both the increasing militancy of the Israeli unions as well as the fact that Israel remains a country with an extensive network of day care centres which serve families where both parents work.

Read earlier item

• Child care workers struggle reveals a new Histadrut

One effect of the economic crisis in most countries is that those who work in government job centres have to work harder — and often face cuts in staffing, reduced pay, and so on.  In Britain, for example, unions face the threat of loss losses in the public sector that could run into millions.

But in Israel, a strong public sector union announced this week that it had secured a one-off grant of NIS 4,800 (£812 / US$1,243) for all 800 employees of the country’s employment service.  The grant was negotiated to compensate workers for the extra effort they’ve had to make facing a rise in unemployment.  Further perks were also included, and all will particularly benefit the lowest paid workers.

Public sector unions in some countries that are leading the charge to isolate Israel’s Histadrut — such as Britain’s PCS and UNISON unions — might find it worth their while to pay attention to success stories like this one and to learn from the experience of an effective, powerful union that stands up for its members.

Female activist members of professional unions have defied Jordanian security policy to confront Egyptian embassy over their ban on union movement’s aid to  Gaza.

Security forces on Tuesday afternoon intensified their presence around the Egyptian Embassy in Amman and blockaded roads leading to the embassy ahead of the arrival of a number of protestors and members of the trade union led ‘Ansar I’ humanitarian aid convoy, which had failed to reach the blockaded Gaza Strip via Egypt.

(more)

The last few days have seen thousands demonstrate in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv but there will be little interest in the mainstream media as this story has nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  It doesn’t even fit into the category of religious versus secular conflict, which can provide colourful images for the world’s press.  But the demonstrations do tell us something important about the changes taking place inside Israel’s labour movement.

The demonstrators are child care workers, employed by Na’amat, an NGO which runs day care centers that care for some 18,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 4 years.  Some 3,700 workers are involved, protesting extremely low pay.

What makes this dispute particularly interesting is the historical context: Na’amat, which is the Hebrew acronym for the Movement of Working Women and Volunteers, was originally called Moetzet Hapoalot (the Council of Working Women) and was the women’s arm of the Histadrut, Israel’s national trade union center.

For decades the Histadrut was far more than a trade union, and owned huge chunks of the national economy.  It was the country’s largest employer.

Most of those businesses have long since severed their ties with the labour movement, freeing up the Histadrut to play the more traditional role of workers’ advocate.  Nowhere is this clearer than in the struggle today to support Na’amat’s child care workers.

The union-led Gaza blockade-busting convoy, stuck in the Jordanian port cityof Aqaba,  have started to point the finger at Jordan’s foreign ministry, blaming them for Egypt’s refusal to let them go on to the Egypt-Gaza Strip crossing point into Gaza.

The protestors have vowed to remain in Aqaba for the time being and organise activities to highlight the importance of their aid mission.

Egypt won’t let group thru because they don’t want to give Islamist unions a victory

The Islamist-dominated organizing committee has begun lobbying the Jordanian Prime Minister Samir Rafi and sent letters to union allies in Egypt calling for support for their campaign.

The Egyptian authorities concerned about the group being merely a propaganda stunt for groups allied with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have told the unions they  will not allow the convoy to travel through its territory.

(more)

Union activists in Jordan are angry that for the second time in less than a month their blockade busting aid convoy has been stopped from  entering Egypt to cross over to the Gaza Strip.

The convoy is stuck in the southern Joranian port-city of Aqaba.

The unions representing professional workers  issued a  statement on Thursday blasting Cairo’s “negative and unacceptable” position towards the people of Gaza, and called on the Jordanian government to exert serious pressures on the Egyptian to change their position.

Activists stage sit-in in front of Egyptian consulate

Jordan News Agency ‘Petra’ reported that activists from the ‘Ansar I’ convoy walked out of a meeting with Egyptian officials without reaching any agreement that would allow them to enter Gaza via Egyptian territories.

(more)

The political muscle of the Israeli national trade union centre, the Histadrut, which has increased dramatically in recent years under current chair Ofer Eini, was on show again this week during State Budget negotiations.

Stopped Gvt privatisation plans and defended pensions against freeze proposals

The Histadrut has stopped in its tracks the Finance Minister’s plans to privatise Israel’s postal service and the Merkava  tank production firm.

The union leader also stopped plans to freeze child allowances and the old-age pension.

(more)

According to this Associated Press report, Greek trade union activists (members of PAME) caused a two-hour delay to an El Al flight as they blocked check-in counters in an anti-Israel protest.  The activists claim they were protesting against the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the Jewish state’s “oppressive policies”.

(more)

The teacher’s union at Dawson College, Quebec’s largest CEGEP, recently voted in favour of the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Quebec’s (FNEEQ) decision to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. While the Fédération represents teachers at 41 CEGEPs province-wide, the fact that Dawson supported it has many people smarting. Dawson happens to have a significant Jewish faculty and student body, according to a report in the Jewish Tribune.