Histadrut
The Histadrut Ovdim Leumit or General Federation of Workers in Israel (GFWI) is an Israeli labour federation.[1]
In September 1950, the Histadrut voted to leave the World Federation of Trade Unions with Mapai supporters outvoting supporters of Mapam and others.[2] In June 1953, the Histadrut joined the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions after Mapai and General Zionist trade unionists outvoted Mapam and the Communist Party.[3]
South Africa
In testimony to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine in 2011, COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi accused the Histadrut of collaborating with Apartheid South Africa:
- Iskoor steel company, 51 percent of which was owned by Histadrut’s Koor Industries and 49 percent by the South African Steel Corporation, for example, manufactured steel for South Africa’s armed forces. Partly finished steel was shipped from Israel to South Africa, enabling the apartheid state to escape tariffs. Other Histadrut companies such as Tadiran and Soltam were equally complicit in supplying South Africa with weapons. Histadrut also helped build the electronic wall between South Africa/Namibia and neighbouring African states in an attempt to keep our liberation fighters out. This wall was, in many ways, a precursor of Israel’s apartheid wall.[4]
External Resources
- Dani Ben Simhon, The Unmaking of the Histadrut, Challenge 88, November/December 2004.
- Maxine Dovere, Histadrut Leader Seeks Cooperation, Unity with International Labor, The Algemeiner, 15 March 2011.
Notes
- ↑ General Federation of Workers in Israel (GFWI) Histadrut Ovdim Leumit, accessed 24 February 2012.
- ↑ Histadrut Council Votes to Leave Leftwing World Federation of Trade Unions, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 11 September 1950.
- ↑ Israel Labor Joins Pro-western Federation of Free Trade Unions, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 23 June 1953.
- ↑ Address by Zwelinzima Vavi, General Secretary of the COSATU to the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, District Six Museum, Cape Town, COSATU, 5 November 2011.
