An all-night meeting of the Histadrut Council, policy-making board of the labor federation, concluded at dawn today with the adoption of a resolution approving the decision of the Histadrut executive to disaffiliate the group from the leftwing World Federation of Trade Unions. The vote, 109 to 74, was split strictly along party lines, with the Mapai majority outvoting the Mapam and splinter groups.
The Council also voted, by 111 to 71, to approve the government’s rationing and wage control policy. The resolution declared that “only by the rationing of essential goods and rigid control of prices is it possible to ensure an equitable distribution of essential commodities.” It also denounced blackmarketeering for raising prices.
A Mapai offer to the Mapam to run a joint slate in the forthcoming municipal elections was turned down, and the General Zionist Laborites also refused to participate in a single list. The Mapai representatives said that although national politics were not involved, a unified labor slate would be a reply to the growing strength of the rightwing parties. The Mapam representatives said that since the two parties remained separated on political issues in the Knesset there was no point to unity on the municipal level.
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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.
