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Israel
The Histadrut
The Histadrut (short for HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz
Yisrael--The General Federation of Laborers in the Land of Israel)
was founded in December 1920 as the primary representative of
Jewish labor in Palestine; it has accepted Arabs as full members
since 1969. When founded the Histadrut claimed 4,500 members;
in the 1985 Histadrut elections more than 1.5 million members
were eligible to vote.
Much more than a labor union, the Histadrut was also, next to
the government itself, the second largest employer in Israel,
through its many cooperative economic enterprises--in industry,
building trades, banking, insurance, transportation, travel agencies,
dairy cooperatives, and so on--organized under Hevrat HaOvdim,
the Histadrut's holding company (see Overview of the 1948-72 Period
, ch. 3). The Histadrut also operated pension and social service
programs, the most important of which was Kupat Holim (the Sick
Fund), the largest provider of health care to Israelis (see Health
, this ch.). The Histadrut published Davar, a liberal
Hebrew daily newspaper, and owned Am Oved, a major publishing
house. In addition, the collective and cooperative agricultural
settlements--kibbutzim and moshavim--founded by the Labor-Zionist
parties belonged to Histadrut, which marketed their products through
its various cooperatives. The dual character of the Histadrut,
as both the largest trade union federation in the country and
the second largest employer, has sometimes led to difficulties
with both the government and labor. A long doctors' strike in
the summer of 1983, for example, caused much rancor.
Data as of December 1988
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