The Histadrut signed 365 agreements over the past year, including collective agreements and extension orders promoting workers’ rights during the ongoing war. Significant agreements included protections from firing for reserve soldiers in the 60 days after their release, days off for released reservists’ partners, and an extension order mandating payment for those who missed work as a result of the war.
“The Histadrut has once again proven its strength and importance in routine times as well as times of emergency,” Histadrut Chair Arnon Bar-David said of the past year. “The Histadrut is a beacon of stability and responsibility even during the complex days we have experienced. We will continue to work and strive to advance the public and private sectors to benefit all residents of the state of Israel to move the economy forward.”
Several important agreements were signed as part of the negotiations with the Finance Ministry regarding the 2025 budget. The Histadrut managed to get several items removed from the negotiating table, including plans to freeze the minimum wage and freeze entitlement programs.
The government also agreed to stand by its commitments to raise sector public wages as agreed to in the 2023 framework agreement, although the timeline for raising wages will be delayed and wages will initially drop slightly. The budget will leave public sector pension rights unharmed and will also mandate eight new paid long weekends across the next two years.
In the private sector, the Histadrut signed significant agreements with companies in the fields of high tech, telecommunications, transportation, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and more, improving pay and working conditions for myriad workers across Israel.
Important deals in the public sector included agreements improving pay and working conditions for workers in the Education Ministry, the military, Israel Railways, the Antiquities Authority, the ports, and more. Perhaps the biggest win for the public sector was an agreement to raise public sector psychologists’ salaries by 40%—a boon for workers and for all of Israeli society, which is still dealing with ongoing trauma from the war.
In the nonprofit sector, the Histadrut signed deals this year with the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Israeli Opera, the Adi Negev rehabilitation village for disabled people, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and more. An important extension order was also signed expanding benefits for public sector social workers to apply to social workers employed by private contractors as well.
New unions formed in 2024 include unions for workers at the Mifratz port in Haifa, pharmaceutical workers at CTS and Floris, Nokia Israel workers, bus drivers for Egged’s Jerusalem subsidiary, and more.
The Histadrut also played a role in important legal cases this year, such as a case in which Tower Semiconductor was required to pay 600,000 shekels (about $164,000) as result of restricting its workers’ right to organize.
“The Histadrut continues to act to improve the conditions and rights of employees even during this challenging period of emergency and rising prices,” said Adam Blumenberg, director general of the professional union department and Histadrut deputy director-general for economics and policy. “The scope of the agreements signed this year, which grant extensive wage increases and deepen the social security net, testifies to this.”
This article was translated from Hebrew by Leah Schwartz.
