Vol. 77/No. 3      January 28, 2013

“This is a breakthrough,” Haim Sahar, a worker in the sales department and a leader of the Histadrut union organizing drive, said in a phone interview from near Tel Aviv. “This is the first union at a cellphone company. Workers at other cellphone companies want us to help them get a union.” The Histadrut General Federation of Labor is the largest union federation in Israel.

“We started out with 300 strikers on the first day, by the end we were 1,000 across the country,” Sahar said.

According to Israeli law, once one-third of the workers at a company sign, the owners must recognize the union, but Pelephone refused. “The company had said there were 4,500 workers, but now they admit there are 3,835 employees. So with our 1,905 signatures we are half.”

During the strike, the company threatened to shut down the Umm al-Fahm call center where 100 percent were on strike. Workers there are Palestinian citizens of Israel. “The company now acts like they never made the threat” of closure, Sahar said.

The strikers also won a legal victory when the National Labor Court ruled Jan. 2 that employers do not have the right to interfere in organizing drives. The Histadrut had filed suit in response to complaints that Pelephone management was harassing union supporters.

When strikers went back to work, “everyone was laughing and hugging,” Sahar said. “We are stronger now.” Negotiations on a contract are scheduled to begin Jan. 20.
 
 
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