The arrest yesterday of Histadrut trade union department head Shlomo Shani was only the most recent example of the war being waged against Israel's trade union movement. In recent days, striking Haifa Chemicals workers were subjected to brutal physical attacks by paid company goons. And all this in the context of an employers' offensive to end collective bargaining agreements and replace these with individual contracts throughout the economy. The government's new budget is part of Netanyahu's war on the poor and working people. And the new budget is especially hard on working women, whose income tax credit has been reduced.
Strikes are a legitimate weapon in a democratic society.
But in Israel, the right to strike is being questioned today. Netanyahu is trying to create the impression that the whole country is against the strikes. Even the ostensibly independent television news is covering the strike primarily by showing people suffering because of the inconvienence used to them. It seems as if there's a permanent news crew posted at Ben Gurion Airport whose job it is to show enraged tourists whose flights have been delayed. Imagine if television news channels had shown the great strike waves which brought down authoritarian regimes in Eastern Europe, the Philippines and elsewhere from the point of view of stranded tourists.