***** PALESTINE PAPERS
UNION-MADE by Michael Poulin
Issue: October 1989
Although they pay dues to the Histadrut, West Bank and Gazan workers are not entitled to vote in union elections, nor to take part in local workers' councils. They are even denied observer status on plant workers' committees.
A STATUE OF PAST ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER GOLDA MEIER stands in the lobby of the AFL-CIO headquarters building in Washington D.C. In the portfolio of AFL-CIO affiliate pension funds is over $300 million in Israeli bonds. Standing further with its Israeli counterpart, the Histadrut, the AFL-CIO does not recognize most Palestinian unions. In many areas of the United States, the secretary of the local labor council also stands as the secretary of the local Histadrut support committee.
These facts alone would suffice to explain the AFL-CIO's consistent opposition to Palestinian labor or criticism of anything Israeli, although further details of the relationship are abundant. Most recently, for example, top AFL-CIO officials Albert Shanker (American Federation of Teachers), John Joyce (Bricklayers International) and AFL-CIO Chief Economist Rudy Oswald formally raged against the "unfairness" of examining whether Israel violates internationally recognized standards for workers' rights in its treatment of Palestinian workers. That question was recently before U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills, who is charged with determining compliance with the General System of Preferences trade law granting certain duty-free privileges to "developing" countries. Israel is a major beneficiary of the GSP program, exporting over $500 million worth of duty free goods yearly to the U.S. Not surprisingly, Ms. Hills found Israel fully in compliance.
Because Israel for the past twenty-one years has prohibited any form of Palestinian economic or agricultural development in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinians living there are almost wholy dependent upon Israeli employment for their livelihood. Much like South African blacks, Palestinians from the Occupied Territories must commute several hours every day to cross into Israel, where many Palestinians were born but where they may neither sleep nor live. Most are service, agricultural and construction workers doing the dirty jobs Israelis will not do. Most have regular jobs and are unionized. Many are subject to the whim of the "slave market" (irregular day labor).
Where Palestinians and Israelis in the same union do comparable work, Palestinians are normally paid one-third the wage of the Israeli counterpart. Marty Rosenbluth discusses an example in the 1987 November/December issue of International Labor Reports:
"Two years ago, workers at the Berman Bakery in Jerusalem walked out in protest over poor pay and conditions. All 35 were from the West Bank and were registered with Israeli government labour exchanges. Some had been at the bakery for several years. Yet they were making one-third of the wages paid to an Israeli for the same job. They complained to the plant's workers' committee but the union did nothing. Haim Maman, spokesperson for the Histadrut, the General Federation of Workers in Israel, told them, 'We have no commitment to West Bank workers.'
Legally, all workers in Israel, regardless of nationality, are covered by the contracts reached between the Histadrut federation and employers. All doing the same job should be paid the same wage. In reality, this rarely happens . . .
. . . All West Bank and Gaza workers who work through government labour exchanges pay a fee to the Histadrut. The government deducts an "organisation tax" of 1% from their wages and gives it to the Histadrut to provide "trade union protection." The Histadrut claims to be unable to give such protection as it lacks access to the necessary records. The result is that collective agreements go unmonitored and employers benefit by paying discriminatory wages.
Although they pay dues to the Histadrut, West Bank and Gazan workers are not entitled to vote in union elections, nor to take part in local workers' councils. They are even denied observer status on plant workers' committees."
Histadrut is much more than a counterpart of the AFL-CIO. It is Israel's second-largest (after the government) employer, owning and operating hundreds of industrial concerns. Koors Industrial Holding Company alone owns some 130 industrial concerns. Many Histadrut-owned companies are armaments manufacturers who, like Koor Indurstries' subsidiaries Soltam and Tadiran routinely sell to all buyers, including South Africa. At least one Koors subsidiary, Iskoor Steel, is jointly owned with South Africa.
Apart from the moral implications of AFL-CIO investments in Histadrut-owned industries, including Koors, the financial condition of these investments leave much to be desired. They just don't make it with Standard and Poor. In fact, a number are close to bankruptcy. Obviously, the AFL-CIO has more than its membership's pensions in mind when making these investments.
<http://www.sonomacountyfreepress.org/palestine/union.html> *****
***** Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 17:14:47 GMT Sender: Activists Mailing List <ACTIV-L at MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU> From: Labor Committee on the Middle East <melblcome at igc.apc.org> Subject: AFL-CIO Still in Israel's Pocket
AFL-CIO still in Israel's pocket?
By Jeffrey Blankfort, in Middle East Labor Bulletin 18 March 1996
Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, the AFL-CIO leadership has been an integral part of the pro-Israel lobby, providing funding for pro-Israel Democrats, investing the union's pension funds in Israel Bonds, and blocking international efforts to punish Israel for its exploitation and abuse of Palestinian workers.
Lane Kirkland, the recently retired AFL-CIO president, used to boast that he had attended more Israel Bonds rallies "than any man alive," and no one challenged him.
During Israel's invasion of Lebanon, the Kirkland regime responded to a half-page ad in the NY Times, signed by labor officials condemning Israel's actions, with a full page ad backing the invasion underneath bold headlines, which read "The AFL-CIO is not Neutral, We Support Israel!" The ad was paid for someone with a Park Avenue address, presumably not a blue collar worker.
The new regime of John Sweeney appears to be giving us more of the same. Instead of speaking out against the collective punishment being used by Israeli government against Palestinian workers, prohibiting them from working in Israel or going to their jobs in the West Bank, Sweeney and the AFL-CIO CEO's on the Executive Board bought more than $10 million worth of Israel bonds at a champagne brunch during the AFL-CIO's mid-winter meeting in Bal Harbour, Florida, according to the Jewish weekly Forward, (3/1).
In addition, Sweeny and executive VP, Linda Chavez-Thompson, are both planning trips to Israel, according to the paper.
Several years ago, during the intifada, the executive board of Sweeney's SEIU, was reportedly, believe it or not, about to pass a resolution opposing an Israeli action against Palestinian workers. Seeing the situation getting out of hand, Sweeney, called for a break in the meeting, during which he apparently let those supporting the resolution know that they were treading on dangerous ground.
When the meeting resumed, the resolution was tabled. And that was the end of it.
Jeffrey Blankfort Middle East Labor Bulletin
<http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45b/080.html> *****
***** AFL-CIO Pension Funds Invested In Faltering Israeli Institutions
By Israel Shahak
December 1988, Page 17
One of the most important and least discussed pro-Israeli pressure groups influencing US Middle East policies is the American labor movement, as represented by the AFL-CIO. Because of the reluctance of the American media to discuss in any detail the internal operations of the pro-Israeli forces in the US, information concerning the Israeli connections in the AFL-CIO comes instead from the Hebrew press in Israel.
An exceptionally revealing article was printed August 30 in the Hebrew newspaper At Hamishmar, written by the newspaper's Washington correspondent, Daly Shkhory. Some excerpts from the article, based upon Shkhory's talks with Daniel Bloch, the retiring Israeli labor attache in Washington, follow:
"Although the position of the Israel labor attache is formally under the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by a long-standing custom Histadrut, the all-encompassing Israeli labor organization, recommends the candidate who is to be approved by the ministry. Thus Daniel Bloch was nominated by Histadrut. In addition to his routine duties, Bloch was asked to cultivate personal connections in the Democratic and Republican parties and report on the rising forces in these parties.
"Bloch was interviewed in the midst of arrangements for his departure from Washington. Bloch said his special task had been to mobilize and to use US trade union political and media influence in favor of Israel in the US and internationally. The AFL-CIO is an important pressure group, particularly in the Democratic Party. It has 15 million members and its president, Lane Kirkland, is a great friend of Israel.
Israel's Beneficial Relations with US Trade Unions
"Good relations with the trade unions also have an economic benefit for Israel. US trade unions have large pension funds. They buy shares of the (Israeli) Development Loan. They also donate to the Histadrut Appeal and to institutions like ORT (Israeli Vocational Schools) and to the Israeli/American Friendship League. They prefer to conduct their business with the Hapoalim Bank and Ampal Investment Co. The labor attache's job is to encourage and increase these activities.
"Can he point to successes? It's a delicate question since he acts behind the scenes to ensure that decisions taken in international conferences will be pro-Israel or, at least, not against it.
"A short time after Bloch arrived in Washington, the AFL-CIO convention passed resolutions condemning Israel's invasion of Lebanon. The Israeli government at the time was a Likud one while Histadrut supported the Labor Alignment. Bloch had to move delicately between the two forces to prevent further US labor condemnations of or unfriendliness toward Israel.
"Bloch said, 'This time of the intifadah is a challenge. I did not tell US labor contacts never to criticize Israel, but I insisted, successfully, that specific criticisms not interfere with overall relations with Israel, and the special connections with Histadrut and the Israeli labor movement.'
"US trade unions are helping to elect candidates to the House of Representatives and the Senate. Bloch told me about some cases where he had succeeded in influencing the trade unions to take into consideration the attitude of the candidate toward Israel. For example, US labor unions in 1984 supported Rep. Paul Simon (D-IL) in his campaign to unseat Sen. Charles Percy (R-IL), who was not known as a friend of Israel. The unions would not have taken this stand if Simon had not been a labor movement supporter. But, in marginal cases where both candidates have demonstrated equal support for labor, it was possible to influence the unions to support the candidate who sympathizes with Israel.
"During his period as labor attache, relations between the labor movement and the White House were not good. Notwithstanding the fact that the labor unions did not have influence in the White House, they helped Israel several times by employing personal connections. Lane Kirkland is a good friend of Secretary of State George Shultz, and during the first year Shultz was in office, there were several cases in which Kirkland intervened on behalf of Israel.
Intervention on Israel's Behalf
"An example this year was help offered by the trade union to the platform committee of the Democratic convention in Atlanta, both in the formulation of the platform and in the rejection of modifications sought by Jesse Jackson's camp. The labor representative consulted Bloch as to which version to agree with and which to reject."
Not only does Shkhory's article reveal a little-known aspect of Israeli influence in American political affairs, it also touches on some other aspects of a strange relationship which surely verges on breach of trust between the AFL-CIO leadership and its rank-and-file dues-paying members.
The Histadrut-owned Hapoalim Bank is near bankruptcy. Anyone who would invest in it or in the many other bankrupt or nearly bankrupt Histadrut enterprises would be considered a fool in Israel. The very survival of this bank is dependent on handouts by the Israeli government. So much money will be needed to save Histadrut-owned businesses from financial collapse that nothing less than a huge emergency grant from the US Congress will be able to save them. It would certainly have been safer had US unions prudently invested their members' pension money in American securities instead of risking it in unsound investments in Israel.
ORT, referred to above, is a system of Israeli vocational schools that by their structure serve to perpetuate anti-Palestinian discrimination. Most of these schools are located in Jewish towns and villages. Except for a few Druze villages, no ORT school is to be found in any Palestinian town or village. The Israeli government bars the founding of Arab private vocational schools so as to keep Israeli Palestinians at the bottom of the social and economic ladder. Support for ORT is therefore support for discrimination and racism.
Behind-the-Scenes Influence
The extent of behind-the-scenes Israeli influence in American labor politics is impressive. One can compare the relations between the Israeli labor attache and the US unions to the relationship between the boss and his "yes" men. What makes it worse is that, unlike most other kinds of political conspiracy, this one is unlikely to be exposed because of the habitual silence of the American news media whenever it comes to domestic news that might reflect unfavorably upon Israel or its influence upon American domestic politics.
The self-censorship practiced by the American media with respect to news concerning Israel is remarkably similar to that practiced by the media in a totalitarian state. It is not possible that all of the reporters in Atlanta during the Democratic convention could have been unaware of the intervention of Israeli labor attache Bloch in platform committee proceedings.
Many members of the AFL-CIO, whether or not they favor either the Israelis or the Palestinians, would be indignant to learn that their pension funds have been invested in nearly bankrupt Israeli institutions. It is a sad commentary on the US media that US union members can only find out through translations from the Israeli press.
Dr. Israel Shahak is a veteran Israeli peace activist. Introductory issues of his translations from the Israeli press are available at no charge from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
<http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/1288/8812017.htm> *****
Yoshie