Labor agencies and the temporality of struggles: A comparative study in the Israeli periphery (2016)
Authors: Meirav Aharon-Gutman
Abstract: In November 2011, workers of Peri HaGalil (PG) – a factory in the town of Hatzor – protested outside the Israeli Knesset against the owners’ plan to lay off fifty of them. The demonstration was part of a campaign to pressure Members of Knesset (MKs) to approve the transfer of a 12 million New Israeli Shekels (NIS) grant that would prevent its closure. Inside the hall, the Chairman of the Workers’ Board pleaded with MKs to prove their solidarity with workers by voting in favor. Speaking passionately, Mr. Haziza asked, ‘What did we ask for? Give [us] the right to work’ (Committee on the Economy, 2012: 11). Later that week, having received financial assurances from the government, the owners reversed their plan and workers returned to work. The Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor (MOITAL) explained the decision, ‘It was clear to me that closing the plant would be a death blow to the town’ (Yefet and Avital, 2012).