Delegation Report: 22-27 January 2006
The Delegates
Mark Taggart, CWU National Executive
Colin O’Callaghan, CWU National Executive
Dennis Stinchcombe, USDAW National Executive
Vi Carr, BFAWU National Executive
John Hillon, BFAWU National Executive
Carl Creighton, BFAWU National Executive
Ray Ardron, Senior National Officer for Community
Jane MacKenzie, Labour Finance and Industry Group
The delegation also included Adam Hug, Doreen Gerson and Roger Lyons from TUFI.
Monday 23 January, Jerusalem
Following our arrival into Ben-Gurion airport late on Sunday night, the Delegation had a full day of sightseeing on Monday, starting with a guided tour of old city of Jerusalem. We visited some of the most important religious sites in the world, the Western (Wailing) Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, whilst CWU delegate Mark Taggart even managed to get up early enough to visit the Haram al-Sharif/ Temple mount site. The delegation visited the Davidson archaeological centre to find out more about the cities ancient past and explored the four distinct quarters (Muslim, Jewish, Armenian & Christian) of the old city with a tour guide.
Lunch was hosted at the historic King David Hotel (home of the British Mandate Period Administration of Palestine) by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs giving delegates the opportunity to discuss political and security issues and hear the perspective of the Israeli government. After discovering Jerusalem’s history the delegation visited the new museum at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial Centre near Jerusalem.
This was an amazing trip which will live long in the memory we could not have been brought closer to the heart of middle-east politics.
Colin O’Callaghan, CWU Executive
The last item on the busy Monday itinerary was a visit to the Angel Bakery. This gave the delegation and especially our three bakers from BFAW a chance to meet with shop stewards and management at one of Israel’s largest bakeries. We were taken on a tour of the plant followed by a chance to chat with workers and management to discuss conditions for their diverse workforce containing many Arab workers from East Jerusalem, and compare working practices with the situation in the UK.
Tuesday 24 January, The PGFTU in Nablus
The day we visited the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) in Nablus proved both fascinating and challenging. It was Tuesday January 24th, the day before the Palestinian Legislative Council elections and tensions were running high in Nablus, a mood exacerbated by the killing of Fatah activist Youssef Hasona by rival Fatah gunmen. We entered Nablus via the Hawara checkpoint, the busiest checkpoint in the West Bank with fleets of taxi’s on either side as few cars were allowed to pass through. We were met by Fathi Naser (Head of the Public Affairs Department) and Moyad Salah (Head of Youth Department) from the PGFTU. Following some eventful taxi rides that included a car accident, being mistaken for EU election observers and several delegates being dropped off in the wrong place, we met with the Governor of Nablus region Mr Said Abu Ali.
The Governor talked about the effects of the Second Intifada and the Israeli security measures that have made a massive impact on the town. He spoke of the effects of the Israeli Military Action ‘Operation Defensive Shield’ (launched following a wave of suicide bombings in Israel that had claimed over 125 lives) causing widespread damage to Palestinian infrastructure and claiming many lives. As a Fatah representative he spoke guardedly of his hopes for a Fatah victory (five of Nablus’ six seats would be won by Hamas) in the elections and hoped that movement could then be made in the peace process and steps could be made to improve the city’s infrastructure.
After meeting with the Governor the delegation met with our hosts the PGFTU at their headquarters. Following opening remarks by Fathi Naser, the delegation met with PGFTU General Secretary Shaher Sae’d. Shaher outlined the problems caused for Palestinian workers by Israeli security closures and particularly the effect this has had on Palestinian’s working in Israel. The numbers of Palestinians working in Israel has reduced from over 200,000 before the start of second Intifada to only 10,000 at the present time, a change that according to the PGFTU has cost the Palestinian economy $1.7 billion in lost income. He spoke of his desire for improvements in the Palestinian economy to help tackle the high levels of unemployment, finding investors willing to invest in Gaza and the West Bank and hope to expanding trade with other Arab countries as well as Israel.
The delegation met with representatives of the PGFTU women’s department including head of department Abla Masroujeh, who talked about the work they were doing to empower women in the work place and to encourage participation in the elections including helping them vote independently of their husbands. Further discussion continued about the economic effects of the occupation and whether any economic progress could be made until it had ended, a matter of disagreement between some of the PGFTU representatives. An important element in the discussions was hopes for an expansion of current dialogue with the Histadrut and the renewal of agreements made between the two organisations prior to the Second Intifada on issues including remittance of union dues to the PGFTU for Palestinians working in Israel.
The delegation was then taken on a tour of the historic Old City of Nablus. Every wall was covered with election posters, a far cry from elections in Britain. After stopping to try Nablus cake, a hot sticky cheese cake in a café filled with Hamas posters, our tour was suddenly interrupted by the sound of guns firing into the air, our hosts received a phone call telling them to get us out of Nablus and we proceeded quickly towards the main road. However as we approached the main road and taxis, a convoy of vans and cars with gunmen passed by firing into the air leading us to briefly take shelter in a nearby electrical shop before heading with some haste in taxis to the checkpoint. Waiting in line at the checkpoint the delegation saw first hand the difficulties that they cause for Palestinians, jostling in line to show permits (in our case passports) to young Israel troops, we were relieved that this was not part of our daily routine. That night we had dinner with representatives of Union of Clerical, Administrative and Public Service Employees (UCAPSE), the largest trade union within the Histadrut which covered members in a wide range of public and private sector areas.
Wednesday 25 January, The Histadrut
On Wednesday morning the delegation was hosted by the Histadrut in their offices in Tel Aviv. Initially we met with representatives of UCAPSE and discussed differences in labour laws between Israel and the UK and the similarities the effects of globalisation were having on pay and conditions. Of particular interest to the TUFI delegates was the statutory ‘studying fund’ as it initially was used to assist further study or training, a payment whereby employees pay in 2 ½ % of their salary and employers add equivalent to 7 ½ % to a fund for six years at the end of which the money could be used for any purpose by the employee. Similar stories were shared discussing battles with employers and governments over pension rights.
The delegation then had the opportunity to meet Ofer Eini, the Chairman of the Histadrut. He talked about the challenges he faced as its new leader having taken over from Labor leader Amir Peretz. Ofer outlined to the delegation the problems the Histadrut had with the former Likud-led government that had attempted to undermine collective bargaining, pension conditions and the right to strike. He noted that whilst the Histadrut remained strong in the public sector it had some weaknesses in the private sector and in new industries.
Under his leadership the Histadrut would seek to encourage workers rights through collective agreements rather than by legislation and that they would look to encourage a tripartite approach to industrial relations. The Histadrut member unions strike far more regularly than their British counterparts, with general strikes on an almost yearly basis, however Ofer said that the Histadrut would look to use strikes as a last resort as repeated strike action can be detrimental to public opinion.
Following our meetings with the Histadrut we were taken to visit the Blue Square Megastore on the outskirts of Tel-Aviv. After the tour of the premises we met with representatives of the shop workers section of UCAPSE and the management of the store to discuss working practices. We were then taken to lunch at Blue Square’s head office with representatives of the union. After lunch the chief executive outlined to the delegation Blue Square’s history as a co-operative organisation, its current approach in the Israeli food sector and its approach to employer/ staff relations. Interesting differences from what our delegates were familiar with included a thirteen month pay structure where an extra month’s salary is paid in two instalments during the year.
Nawaf Massalha the chairman of the Histadrut International Department, former deputy foreign minister and leading Israeli Arab politician visited the delegation at our hotel. Over coffee we discussed the current political situation in Israel highlighting as he saw it the three political earthquakes Israeli politics had just experienced: Amir Peretz victory over Shimon Peres in the Labor leadership election, the creation of the Kadima party and the incapacitation of Ariel Sharon. We discussed his hopes for a strong showing by the Labor party in the forthcoming elections and the hopes for reengaging the peace process once they were complete (this was before news of the Hamas victory). Discussing the emotive issue of Palestinian refugees he argued that it was wrong to try ‘to solve one tragedy by creating another’, if right of return for refugees and their decendents was to mean returning to their pre-1948 family houses in Jaffa or elsewhere in Israel there by displacing yet more people. He talked about the major social problems present in Israel today including the 1½ million Israeli’s living under the poverty line, 25% of the total population and 50% of the Israeli Arab population.
On Thursday the delegation visited the Israeli Security Barrier, called an ‘Apartheid Wall’ by some opponents and ‘the fence’ by some supporters, near the Palestinian city of Qalkilya. The delegation was met by a Major in the Israeli Army who outlined the position of the Israeli military towards the Security Barrier. The delegation was taken to a fence section of the barrier (as comprises 94% of the barriers total length) with its combination of barbed wire, sensor fence that notifies the command centre of any intrusion, ditches and the strip of fine sand used to notice footprints. The delegation was driven along the internal military road before being taken to a command centre to be shown the banks of monitors and camera’s that monitored every section of the barrier.
The delegation was finally taken to a wall section of the barrier (as comprises 6% of its total length at present) that separated the city of Qalkilya from Israel’s main motorway, Route 6. As the military representative argued that the wall section in this area was to prevent sniper attacks on cars using Route 6, as had happened earlier in the Second Intifada.
After a fascinating lunch at Kibbutz Barkai, the delegation visited Givat Haviva an organisation that works on Education projects between Jews and Arabs, both in Israel and around Middle East and runs a range of peace projects. Dudu Amitai spokesperson of Givat Haviva talked about its history and current work including operating some of the few mixed Jewish and Arab schools in Israel. Lydia Aisenberg, in a presentation that had a lasting impact on the delegates, explained the history of Israel’s Arab population and the many challenges they face. She also spoke about Givat Haviva’s work bringing Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs from the wider Middle East together for peace, dialogue and educational projects. Our visit was brought to a close with dinner at the British Ambassador that enabled delegates to discuss the aftershock of the Hamas victory with the Ambassador at his Tel Aviv residence.
TUFI would like to thank Avital Shapira-Shabirow, director of the Histadrut international department, for coordinating our delegation in Israel, the PFGTU for hosting our activities in Nablus and to the British Embassy in Israel.
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