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Labor in Israel: Beyond Nationalism and Neoliberalism
Using a comprehensive analysis of the wave of organizing that swept the country starting in 2007,
Labor in Israel
investigates the changing political status of organized labor in the context of changes to Israel's political economy, including liberalization, the rise of non-union labor organizations, the influx of migrant labor, and Israel's complex relations with the Palestinians. Through his discussion of organized labor's relationship to the political community and its nationalist political role, Preminger demonstrates that organized labor has lost the powerful status it enjoyed for much of Israel's history. Despite the weakening of trade unions and the Histadrut, however, he shows the ways in which the fragmentation of labor representation has created opportunities for those previously excluded from the labor movement regime.
Organized labor is now trying to renegotiate its place in contemporary Israel, a society that no longer accepts labor's longstanding claim to be the representative of the people. As such, Preminger concludes that organized labor in Israel is in a transitional and unsettled phase in which new marginal initiatives, new organizations, and new alliances that have blurred the boundaries of the sphere of labor have not yet consolidated into clear structures of representation or accepted patterns of political interaction.
Organized labor is now trying to renegotiate its place in contemporary Israel, a society that no longer accepts labor's longstanding claim to be the representative of the people. As such, Preminger concludes that organized labor in Israel is in a transitional and unsettled phase in which new marginal initiatives, new organizations, and new alliances that have blurred the boundaries of the sphere of labor have not yet consolidated into clear structures of representation or accepted patterns of political interaction.
252 pages, Hardcover
Published April 15, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
August 28, 2026
UPDATED REVIEW:
Listened to the whole thing. I was hoping for an engaging and worker-centered labor history narrative, but this is a sociology-style historical summary of organized labor.
Of the three parts, the first and second were dry and felt unnecessary, even to someone not familiar with Israeli labor.
To summarize the first two thirds: the Histadrut, considered as *the* labor federation in Israel, is rather a economic powerhouse formed for Zionism, only later acquiring the "union" effort. It's interests and power were never in the workers, and it continues to side with employers and politicians against grassroots militant unions. I wish he shed more light on the inner workings of the Histadrut, what efforts there have or could be to reform it from the inside (or, less preferably: outside) or ideally build separate unions.
Part three was somewhat interesting, shining a light on the Palestinian perspective, demonstrating how that Arab population is to Israel what Mexican immigrants are to California (quoted by parallel read: Shock Doctrine) -- doing the hard/dirty work for cheap. This part also became more opinionated, with Preminger chipping in his own thoughts (right, wrong, how to improve), and I wish this happened in the aforementioned two parts.
OLD REVIEW:
Just a quarter of the way in, and I might stop. I can't think of who this book would actually be good for. The best analogy for this book would be a undergraduate research paper that a student writes in a class, then extended to 266 pages.
It's not deep research; stories, campaigns, and overall timelines are all over the place; writing is uninspired; basic definitions are sometimes repeated or never introduced at all; ~700 MLA style citations make up nearly three percent of the text; among other issues.
Despite being completely foreign to Israeli union history, the only meaningful thing I've learned thus far in 80 pages is that the Histadrut, considered as *the* labor federation in Israel, is rather a economic powerhouse formed for Zionism, only later acquiring the "union" effort. As such, it's interests and power were never in the workers. That, although, took only two sentences.
Listened to the whole thing. I was hoping for an engaging and worker-centered labor history narrative, but this is a sociology-style historical summary of organized labor.
Of the three parts, the first and second were dry and felt unnecessary, even to someone not familiar with Israeli labor.
To summarize the first two thirds: the Histadrut, considered as *the* labor federation in Israel, is rather a economic powerhouse formed for Zionism, only later acquiring the "union" effort. It's interests and power were never in the workers, and it continues to side with employers and politicians against grassroots militant unions. I wish he shed more light on the inner workings of the Histadrut, what efforts there have or could be to reform it from the inside (or, less preferably: outside) or ideally build separate unions.
Part three was somewhat interesting, shining a light on the Palestinian perspective, demonstrating how that Arab population is to Israel what Mexican immigrants are to California (quoted by parallel read: Shock Doctrine) -- doing the hard/dirty work for cheap. This part also became more opinionated, with Preminger chipping in his own thoughts (right, wrong, how to improve), and I wish this happened in the aforementioned two parts.
OLD REVIEW:
Just a quarter of the way in, and I might stop. I can't think of who this book would actually be good for. The best analogy for this book would be a undergraduate research paper that a student writes in a class, then extended to 266 pages.
It's not deep research; stories, campaigns, and overall timelines are all over the place; writing is uninspired; basic definitions are sometimes repeated or never introduced at all; ~700 MLA style citations make up nearly three percent of the text; among other issues.
Despite being completely foreign to Israeli union history, the only meaningful thing I've learned thus far in 80 pages is that the Histadrut, considered as *the* labor federation in Israel, is rather a economic powerhouse formed for Zionism, only later acquiring the "union" effort. As such, it's interests and power were never in the workers. That, although, took only two sentences.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review