Histadrut Secre- tary General Yitzhak Ben Aharon charged yesterday that Arab workers were being exploited in the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba hear Hebron and said that Histadrut would act to organize both Arab and Jewish workers in that region. Ben Aharon, who spoke at a meeting of the Jerusalem Labor Council after visiting Hebron, said he was appalled to have found Arab youths working in Jewish owned factories in Kiryat Arba for as little as IL 5 a day.
“You cannot be pioneers and build the land on the backs of exploited Arab labor,” the outspoken trade union leader told a group of small businessmen from Kiryat Arba. The settlers were urging Histadrut to provide day care centers and clubs for the Kiryat Arba residents. Ben Aharon said that Histadrut was primarily a trade union movement and its first duty was to protect the rights of workers anywhere under Israeli control, regardless of the political or geographic factors involved. He said when labor was properly organized in the area, Histadrut would then consider providing other services.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
