El Al fires one ground crewmember and suspends another for inciting wildcat strike

El-Al ground stewards decided to bypass the company's excess weight charge in a wildcat responding to months` neglect in addressing grievances. In retaliation, the company rooted out the alleged ring-leaders, fired one and suspended the other.

See libcom.org's article...

Israeli Coffee Bean workers win agreement

Workers at the Coffee Bean coffee chain in Israel have won significant gains after a series of strikes over the last few months. The agreement marks the first recognition deal between the Histadrut union and a restaurant.

The agreement means that management will now allocate 10 percent of the chain's yearly profit to its employees, give workers employed for at least a year benefits between 50% and 100% of their salary, pay salaries and overtime on-time and according to the law, and give a one-off payment to compensate for not receiving tips between May 2006 and May 2007. The employers have also agreed to pay workers' taxi fares at night and on weekends when there is no public transport.

During the dispute, union organiser Alon Green, 19, was victimised and dismissed from his job at a Coffee Bean coffee shop. However, in November the Tel Aviv labour court ruled that this was unlawful, and instructed the company to rehire him.

Around 180 employees at 12 Coffee Bean branches in Israel are now represented by the Histadrut labour federation.

Another Israel: dissident voices from Israel

12th March 2008, 7:00pm, NUT, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, off Euston Road, London NW1


Speakers include

* Michel Warschawski (founder of the Alternative Information Centre),
* Eyal Weizman (architect, author of The Hollow Land)
* Eyal Sivan (film-maker of award-winning documentaries on Palestine-Israel)
* Daphna Baram (journalist, author of Disenchantment: The Guardian and Israel)
* Matan Cohen (from Israeli 'Anarchists Against The Wall')
* Judith Keshet Israeli Writer and Activist

Israeli jets bomb Palestinian trade union HQ

On the night of February 28th Israeli jets levelled the five-storey Gaza headquarters of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)with three heavy F-16 missiles.

The "Folk House building" in Gaza City had been used for union-administered health care as well as organising. But this fresh Israeli atrocity has changed all that.

The complete destruction of the building not only means severe hardship for Palestinian trade unionists, but the death of one Palestinian and 37 other casualties, many of them children. It badly damaged numerous homes, and destroyed the area's electricity and water supply.

The attack came as part of Israel's continuing "collective punishment" of Gaza, which in one four-day period killed one hundred and ten Palestinians, one third of them children.

"The occupation doesn't need any justifications to commit crimes against Palestinians," said Nabil al-Mabhouh, acting head of the PGFTU in Gaza. But the building was targeted because "we at PGFTU are supporting the rights of tens of thousands of Palestinian workers."

The PGFTU has put out a call for solidarity, commenting "We call for an appropriate and effective response from the international trade unions and the International Labour Organisation to put compel Israel to compensate the PGFTU for the destruction of the Folk House in Gaza."

- Demonstrate against the Israeli onslaught - 4pm, Saturday 8th March, Downing Street, London (Westminster tube)