… and it’s got a fantastic poster this year:

(Click on the poster to see the full sized version.)

Sderot is famous around the world for being the favored target of Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets fired from Gaza.  As if the suffering of the local population over the last decade has not been enough, the local government decided to sack one-third of the town’s employees (100 workers) on the eve of the Passover holiday.  The Histadrut intervened with its legal team and managed to persuade the regional labour court in Be’er Sheva to rule against the sackings, and to compel the local authority to negotiate with the union.  According to the Histadrut’s Arnon Bar David, “we support a reform program for the municipality, but at its core it can’t be based on the living flesh of the workers.”

More on the Histadrut website (in Hebrew only).

On 22 May, Histadrut members – Jewish and Arab – across Israel will vote to select the next leader of the country’s national trade union centre, the Histadrut.  The incumbent, Ofer Eini, launched his campaign last Wednesday at an event attended by thousands at a sports hall in Tel-Aviv.  Eini’s campaign slogan is ‘leadership with responsibility’ and he won the backing of the fiery Gila Edrei, head of the railway workers union, who spoke at the rally.

Eini’s main rival is Labour Party Knesset Member Eitan Cabel, who has won the backing not only of former Histadrut head Amir Peretz, but of the left-wing Meretz and Hadash (Communist) parties.

In a show of solidarity with railway workers battling against outsourcing of maintenance, the Histadrut has threatened to close down Israel Railways this week — and may also shut down El Al and other transport companies.  Full details are here.

Thanks to a ruling by the Tel Aviv District Court late yesterday (Sunday) there is now, finally, some clarity about the fight for the leadership of the Israeli trade union movement.

Eitan Cabel MK will be challenging Ofer Eini, the incumbent, despite his failure to pay his membership dues on time.  Former Histadrut leader Amir Peretz will withdraw from the race and throw his support behind Cabel.  Cabel and Peretz are expected to meet today to map out a strategy to defeat Eini — who was Peretz’s deputy when he headed up the trade union body.

We’ve been reporting here recently on attempts by two political leaders, including former Histadrut head Amir Peretz, to challenge the leadership of Ofer Eini.  Now a retired judge has recommended to the Histadrut that the candidacies of Peretz and also that of Eitan Cabel, be allowed.  And the Histadrut’s own election committee has agreed.  However, the story doesn’t end there.

The Histadrut is demanding that Cabel – whose membership in the trade union has been questioned, as he apparently hasn’t paid dues for several years – re-submit the names of 5,000 supporters.

And the current Histadrut leadership intends the challenge the validity fo the signatures of both candidates, claiming that there are many duplicates and other examples of fraud.

Meanwhile, Amir Peretz continues to say that he will not run if Cabel’s candidacy is recognized.

So things are not much clearer now than they were a week or two ago.  We will continue to cover this story on the TULIP website.

The media both in the Middle East and around the world has been full of reports about the recent escalation of violence in Gaza and the south of Israel.  While pro-Hamas activists such as the trade-union backed Palestine Solidarity Campaign have condemned Israeli retaliation but not said a word about the hundreds of Hamas rockets fired at Israel, there are other issues that are barely noticed outside the country.  One of these is the hardship faced by working class people who stay home when schools are closed, as they were throughout the south of Israel, or who cannot get to work during the periods of violence.  The Histadrut has just announced that the Finance Ministry has agreed not only to compensate those who suffered during the current wave of attacks, but also to compensate those who will suffer in the future as well.  The Histadrut has long been committed to a negotiated peace based on a two-state solution.

In an extraordinary turn of events, it now appears that there will be only one candidate on the ballot to lead the Histadrut in May.

As we have reported earlier, the candidacy of Eitan Cabel, who was challenging incumbent Ofer Eini, was at risk as Cabel did not appear to be a paid-up member of the Histadrut.

When it became evident that Cabel may have his candidacy disqualified, former Histadrut leader Amir Peretz announced he would stand — but would step down if Cabel’s candidacy was declared to be legitimate.

Now it seems as if both candidacies are at risk, as the Histadrut’s central elections committee ruled on Monday night that neither candidate had produced the requisite number of signatures to run for the post.

It was claimed that a significant number of signatures were forged, that others are from people who are ineligible to vote in Histadrut elections, and in many cases, people signed up to support both Cabel and Peretz – disqualifying their signatures in both cases.

A hearing will be held later this week at which Cabel and Peretz will make their cases.

More details on the Times of Israel website.

First it was the general strike which paralyzed the country for four days.  Then postal workers threatened action in the fight against privatization.  This week, railway workers were in the news as the Histadrut tried to broker a deal over the outsourcing of maintenance contracts.  And today the nurses union has called for a one day industrial action on Sunday to protest against overwork.  According to a report in the Jerusalem Post today, nurses union head Ilana Cohen said her colleagues were “collapsing” due to the severe shortage of nurses and rising number of patients. “The situation is a catastrophe. This is an impossible situation that harms the quality of care for all Israelis. I feel I have the obligation to sound the warning bell. If no solution is found, the situation will just get worse.”