President Ephraim Katzir and Premier Golda Meir addressed the opening of Histadrut’s 12th national convention here last night, attended by Cabinet ministers, diplomats, representatives of American labor and the international trade union movement. Katzir, who recalled his own youth as an ardent Histadrut supporter, called on educators and intellectuals to propagate the tenets of Histadrut which, he said, were equality, mutual aid, farming and social security. The convention, which will elect a new secretary general, moved to Tel Aviv this morning to continue its sessions.
In his keynote speech, Histadrut’s acting secretary general, Yehuram Meshel, urged Israeli workers to demonstrate the same unity and maturity in the future that they displayed in the Yom Kippur War emergency. He said that while Histadrut was waiting for the new government to decide its overall economic policies before deciding its own wage policies. It would certainly demand a higher minimum wage, retention of automatic cost-of-living allowances and a fairer distribution of the tax burden. He called for higher taxes on industries which recently received massive new orders from the defense establishment.
Meshel said Histadrut would continue to fight for higher wages for manual workers in order to encourage people to take manual jobs. He also pledged to fight for equal wages for women and special benefits for working wives. He urged free education “from ages 3-18” instead of 5-15 as at present and said the school curriculum should include the history of Israel’s labor movement.
All did not run smoothly last night. The festive opening session was plagued by constant heckling from Black Panther and Moked delegates. They chanted “Golda resign” when Mrs. Meir stepped to the podium wearing a sad smile. Meshel was unable to finish his speech. Nor did the hecklers spare an American visitor, AFL-CIO representative Michael Mann, who drew catcalls and shouts of “Watergate” when he spoke in support of Israel’s demands for secure borders. Mann brought greetings from AFL-CIO president George Meany.
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