The membership of the Histadrut, Israel’s Federation of Labor, has risen to over 500,000, it was reported here today at the opening session of the Histadrut’s national convention, which is attended by 200 delegates. Mordecai Namir, secretary general of the organization, told the delegates that the members of the Histadrut plus the members of their families compose more than half of the population of the country.
Speaking of the plans of the general federation of labor, Mr. Namir said that it expects to invest 500,000 pounds in the industrial development of the new Israeli port of Elath, at the head of the Gulf of Akaba. He called for increased productivity on the part of Israeli workers and pledged that the Histadrut would continue to press its policy of wages plus cost-of-living bonuses to keep up with the inflation.
Several hundred immigrants today demonstrated here in front of the hall where the Histadrut is holding its convention, to demand the labor federation’s assistance in their request that the Jewish Agency and the government erect permanent homes on the site of their present temporary work villages rather than remove them to permanent homes in new areas.
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