Arab Tactics Force Ilo to Abandon Probe of Trade Union Rights in Israel’s Administered Territories

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has “abandoned an attempt at an impartial assessment of trade union rights in the Arab territories occupied by Israel because Arab obstructionist tactics have made a fair hearing impossible,” according to a report from Geneva published in the current issue of the AFL-CIO News. Francis Blanchard, director general of the UN agency, informed the ILO governing body of that decision, the report said.

Blanchard had commissioned a Norwegian labor expert, Prof. Torken Opsahl, who is a member of the Human Rights Commission, to undertake the task. It stemmed from a resolution rammed through the ILO’s 1974 Conference by the Arab states and their Communist and Third World allies which “condemned Israel for allegedly practicing a policy of ‘racial discrimination and violation of trade union freedoms’ against Arab workers.” It called on the ILO to “put an end” to the alleged violations.

The AFL-CIO News observed that “This condemnation was voted without first invoking long established ILO machinery for ascertaining the facts when charges are made of violations of trade union and human rights.” It noted that was one of the reasons why the U.S. served two-year notice to quit the ILO unless it returned to its basic goals of improving the conditions of workers and their families.

The trade union paper reported that “Despite the Arab railroading tactics,” Israel agreed to Blanchard’s suggestion to have Opsahl “put the record straight by making an on-the-spot examination of the rights enjoyed by Arab workers. However, the Arab governments objected so vehemently on the grounds that they had demanded ‘action’ by the ILO and not an examination of the facts that Blanchard decided there was no further reason to pursue the issue,” the AFL-CIO News said.