14 February, 2012On February 12 Histadrut (Israel Federation of Trade Unions) ended its national strike having gained considerable improvements in conditions of employment for precarious workers in Israel. Many temporary workers will be regularized and get higher wages and better conditions.
ISRAEL: Following a four-day national strike in solidarity with precarious workers organized by the Israel Federation of Trade Unions, Histadrut, thousands of temporary workers will be directly employed and will get better wages. The victory will improve the situation of thousands of public sector workers across the country. Potentially the move may also improve the situation for workers in other sectors. The total number of agency workers amount to 300 to 400 thousand people.
The labour dispute began in October 2011 with Histadrut demanding a reduction in the number of agency labour contracts in Israel by transforming these contracts into direct employment contracts. The first warning four-hour strike was held in November 2011.
Later, when the resumed negotiations with the Ministry of Finances came to a deadlock on February 8, Histadrut announced another all-national strike. Workers from different public sector services took part in the massive action across the country including railway workers, agencies, stock exchange, airport and seaport workers and others.
The strike resulted in two agreements signed by Histadrut with the Coordinating Bureau of Economic Organizations (Israeli employers' association) and the Ministry of Finances determining principles of employment conditions and improving wages for workers employed through labour agencies. One of the conceptual approaches of the unions was to render the employment through agencies economically not profitable stimulating the employers to choose direct relations with workers.
Full text of the Histadrut press-release with all achieved conditions is available at this link.