Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Israeli and Palestinian trade unions show how it's done

Eeeeek, politics time!

Whilst some of our proud, upstanding unions are busy organising boycotts of Israel, over in the middle east Israeli and Palestinian trade unionists are actually doing something positive; co-operating:
Brussels, 6 August 2008 (ITUC OnLine): The Israeli national trade union centre Histadrut and the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), both of which are affiliated to the ITUC, have reached a landmark agreement to protect the rights of Palestinian workers employed by Israeli employers, and to base future relations on negotiations, dialogue and joint initiatives to advance “fraternity and coexistence between the two peoples.” The current agreement draws on the terms of an initial 1995 agreement, which it had not been possible to fully implement in the intervening years.
Hmmmm, trade unionists on the ground vs middle-class Guardian readers with too much time on their hands......hmmmm.......who to support.

2 comments:

amityb said...

Hmmm...perhaps the Israeli union leaders felt the absence of the mighty pound due to boycotting efforts and are in turn trying to save face by implementing fair labor practices with the Palestinians? Probably not though, middle class Guardian readers never have as much influence on the world at large as they'd like to purport.

BTW I have a blog too!!! But not one with music videos quite as good )-:

SteveF said...

Amity! I have checked out your blog a few times. Wouldn't proclaim to be a regular reader, but then I couldn't possibly become a devotee of someone who is so clearly a Republican supporter!

Anyhoo, in this case the boycott isn't an economic one, it's academic. Which is pretty reprehensible in my opinion. I think some groups have some sort of economic boycott (which also pisses me) off, but I'm not entirely sure.

As for middle class Guardian readers, I hear they had an influence on the last election in Clark County. Just not the one they wanted. Back to the organic tofu methinks.

PS, I am of course a middle class Guardian reader. Just not one of this particular kind of middle class Guardian reader.