Union Density in Israel 1995–2010: The Hybridization of Industrial Relations

Abstract

In the past the Israeli industrial relations system was corporatist, characterized by high levels of membership in trade unions and employers' associations, as well as broad coverage of collective agreements. The corporatist system gradually eroded from the mid‐1980s, but its major transformation came with the removal of the Ghent‐like system in 1995. The article observes data collected since the transformation, distinguishing between membership and coverage trends. These distinctions aid in revealing that a hybrid of two distinct industrial relations subsystems has developed. The notion of hybridization suggests that unlike past accounts, which described the substitution of the corporatist industrial relations system by a liberal‐pluralist system, what actually emerges is their coexistence. Despite the path‐determined nature of the Israeli hybrid, the interaction between coverage and membership is instructive for understanding strategic choices made in other European countries in which a similar gap emerged. The article notes the potential for synergy between the two subsystems and notes the actual development of rivalry and friction.

Organizing Matters

“…4 Another reason for the partial membership outcomes is that while a great deal of effort is being put into organizing, an ageing membership body is reaching retirement age. In the first years of organizing in Israel, membership rates continued to decline, despite organizing success, because the gains were offset first and foremost by retirement, but also owing to privatization and workers who moved out of organized establishments into unorganized establishments (Mundlak et al 2013). Similarly in Germany: 'I succeeded in organizing 200 workers, in five companies where there are a few hundred workers in each.…”

Organizing migrant care workers in Israel: Industrial citizenship and the trade union option

“…Agencies operate in a competitive environment; targeting one establishment instead of engaging in industry-wide collective action could therefore significantly degrade that establishment's competitiveness. Such organizing attempts in other sectors of the Israeli labour market have encountered strong anti-union animosity, giving rise to union-busting strategies (Mundlak et al, 2013). If such strategies are readily used in large industrial and service corporations that employ Israelis, how much more forcefully are they likely to be deployed against the organization of migrant care workers?…”