By an overwhelming vote, the Israel Parliament today approved the first reading of a law which will transfer control of the labor exchange from the Histadrut, the general federation of labor, to the government. The vote was 54 to one, with the deputies of the Mapam and Achdut Avodah, government parties, ostentatiously abstaining.
In addition to transferring the employment services to the government, the “Employment Law” provides that employers can hire manual laborers and other types of unskilled labor only through the exchanges.
The leftist abstentions had the consent of the governing coalition, but will not be repeated in subsequent votes on the measure. In this fashion, the Cabinet skirted a crisis which might have split the coalition. Premier David Ben Gurion had demanded collective responsibility on this measure and the Mapam and Achdut Avodah had threatened revolt. The compromise left them in the position of offering “token resistance.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
