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Labor in Israel: Beyond Nationalism and Neoliberalism

Online ISBN:
9781501717130
Print ISBN:
9781501717123
Publisher:
Cornell University Press
Book

Labor in Israel: Beyond Nationalism and Neoliberalism

Jonathan Preminger
Jonathan Preminger
Cardiff University
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Published online:
20 September 2018
Published in print:
15 April 2018
Online ISBN:
9781501717130
Print ISBN:
9781501717123
Publisher:
Cornell University Press

Abstract

This book analyzes worker organizing and union revitalization following the decline of neocorporatism, the transformation of industrial relations and the rise of neoliberalism. Given labor’s critical role in the Zionist state-building project, it also discusses organized labor’s relationship to the political community in light of Israel’s complex relations with the Palestinians. The book asserts that despite the weakening of trade unions and the Histadrut, undermined by political and economic elites, the fragmentation of labor representation has created opportunities for those previously excluded from the neocorporatist regime. Moreover, workers are taking advantage of vestigial neocorporatist frameworks and new liberal legislation to impede neoliberal policies and renegotiate union democracy. However, the common political framework between labor and capital, the nation-state, has been subverted: capital has spread beyond “national” borders and labor has been brought into them from outside, entirely annulling labor Zionism’s premise in which “the (Hebrew) worker” was almost synonymous with “citizen.” Organized labor has lost its legitimacy. As even the right to organize is challenged, labor fights a rearguard battle, renegotiating its status vis-à-vis “old” social partners and a public which, for the most part, does not identify itself as “workers” and does not accept labor’s claim to represent it.

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