Workers' unions should not have the power to force their members to go on strike in opposition to policies not directly related to them – including against the government's proposed judicial reform, MK Simcha Rothman said in an interview on Ynet Radio on Wednesday regarding his law proposal to limit the power of workers unions, which he laid on the Knesset floor on Monday.
Rothman holds right-wing economic views but admitted that the motivation for the legislation was connected to the widespread demonstrations against the government's judicial reform, which he as chairman of the Knesset Constitution Committee is responsible for.
"In recent weeks, I have received many inquiries, both from lawyers and attorneys in the public sector, members of professional organizations, who tell us, 'We support the reform, but the head of the organization came to us and told us to stop working because he opposes the Override Clause.'"
The Override Clause is part of the judicial reform, and according to the reform's current version, it enables a 61-MK majority to override High Court rulings.
The bill on worker's unions
The bill on worker's unions is intended to "rebalance the relations between worker's unions and employers, and between workers and worker's unions, in a way that promotes fairness, responsibility, and protection of individual rights, all with an emphasis on safeguarding the public interest," according to the bill's explanatory section.
This includes giving the Knesset power to shut down a protest for 30 days, which can then be repeated, in circumstances where there is a "special interest, extreme economic damage, significant disruption of the public's routine, or the public's safety, or strikes in essential services".
The law also blocks workers from announcing a labor dispute due to Knesset's legislation or the repercussions of state actions made in its "governing capacity," unless these directly affect the workers' terms of employment; repeals the requirement for all employees in a given workplace to join a union if just a third of other employees are members; gives workers the freedom not to join a union and not to be part of a collective salary agreement; requires funds collected by worker's unions to be spent only on "work relations" and on behalf of the workers; and more.
"This is a law that has already been submitted in previous Knesset terms by many Knesset members, some of whom are also sitting in the opposition today. It is not a law that sits on the usual coalition-opposition fault lines," Rothman explained in the Ynet interview.
"It is not possible for a workers' union, just because the union's chairman wants to do a political campaign, to keep all his workers [hostage] … and he, using the organizational power of the State Attorneys Organization or the Lawyers Union, will come and tell them, 'Go out and demonstrate against the reform because I want to do launch political campaign,'" Rothman said.
"With all due respect, workers' organizations are meant to protect workers' rights" and not protest against government policies, Rothman added.
The law proposal came after the State Attorney's Organization and the Lawyers Union warned in a letter on January 24 that it may announce a labor dispute since the reform enables government ministries to use private judicial representation, which would render their services unnecessary.
Acting Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David slammed the bill as an "attempt by extremist elements to weaken the status of workers in Israel and erode one of the fundamental socio-economic rights of democracy," adding that "exercising the right to strike is one of the main tools to protect the disadvantaged populations in the economy, and I will not allow any element to harm the workers. I knew how to stand up to this delusional threat in the past, and I do not propose to try us this time."
Bar-David is currently in a delicate position. On one hand, he is facing having his organization, the largest union in the country, join the protests. On the other, Bar-David is in the midst of negotiating a new collective salary agreement for workers in the public sector with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich – who is the leader of Rothman's party.
Leader of the Labor Party Merav Michaeli said in response that "the Netanyahu-Rothman government wants to turn workers into slaves."
"You want to take time off from work - you can't. You want to stay at home because you are sick and feeling dreadful - you can't. You have been working very hard for five years and you deserve a raise - the boss doesn't like it, so what are you going to do to him?" Michaeli said in a video she posted online.
"The Netanyahu-Rothman government wants to turn workers into slaves. They want to take the most basic rights away from us, rights that workers in the western world enjoy, our most basic rights - working hours, vacation days, sick days, study funds, pensions - all of this they want to take away from us by canceling the right to strike and the right to organize.
"The Labor Party is the home of all these things. We are your home and we won't let that happen.
"When we are at the demonstration on Saturday night, we will also protest against this new and dangerous madness," Michaeli said.