The Histadrut is the general workers' union. Workers in different endeavors each have smaller unions that are affiliated with the Histadrut.
The Histadrut is a very controversial organization. Many people see it as a self-serving group of people who are interested in maintaining their own job but are somewhat less interested in advancing the rights of the workers. There record is questionable at best and generally little more than disappointing. They developed a system whereby people in the different fields of endeavor are linked to others thereby making it impossible for any single group to gain a serious advantage. The argument of the government, possibly justified, is that if they raise the salary of one then they will have to raise the salary of everybody who is linked, which means that there is no real improvement in the wages. There is some justification to this claim.
It is also difficult to determine how to negotiate or who the negotiating partners really are. The Treasury determines how much money will go to each Ministry, but the Histadrut does not negotiate directly with the Treasury. It negotiates with the representatives of the government.
In a country that is based on power struggles it is not surprising that the Histadrut uses the threat of strike more often than the possibility of sitting down and having serious negotiations.
The government for its part generally threatens to fire a large percentage of the workers and it feels that if its demands are not met.
That's not a way to negotiate. That's a way to cause animosity.
Which is a good way of summarizing the situation of labor relations in Israel.
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