“If what the press reports materializes, and workers committees at monopolies are declared a monopoly themselves, we will oppose it with determination up to declaring a general strike. We will not let the right to strike to be infringed,” said Histadrut (General Federation of Labor in Israel) Trade Union Division chairman Avi Nissankorn in response to a “Globes” economic newspaper report earlier this week that there is a neo-liberal initiative to declare workers committees at monopolies are declared monopolies themselves.

Histadrut headquarters in Tel-Aviv (Photo: Pikiwiki)

At a panel moderated by “Globes” editor-in-chief Hagai Golan at a conference on Wednesday, Nissankorn said, “The right to protest and to sign labor contracts is a basic right. We will not permit any infringement of this right. We favor reform. However, it should be understood that if the reforms affect the workers, we have the right and duty to participate. Workers are not the enemy, and understandings should be reached with them. The real problem in the economy is inequality. The things that the government is doing won’t narrow gaps, and may exacerbate them. There is a conceptual distortion here.”  Nissankorn is the number 2 man at the Histadrut and the frontrunner to succeed Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini, who announced in November that he is stepping down.